Will WWE Network kill streamers/torrents?

[TWJC: The Beginning]

It's no secret that we (IWC) torrent/stream PPVs. All the damn time. PPVs are just so expensive. WWE knows we do. That's why PPVs are priced so high (this does actually make sense). People who have normal income won't buy a PPV if it's 20 dollars even because 20 is still greater than 0. So the people who buy PPVs are people to which 20, 40, 70 dollars is all the same to them. In other words, the actual market of people who buy PPVs is a sub group of wrestling fans with inelastic demand for the PPV due to their income. This is all my speculation of course, but it makes economic sense to me. That's all going to change though.

With the WWE Network, you essentially get every PPV for just 10 bucks, oh, and a bunch of other really cool shit. I mean, I could torrent old shows if I want, but that's a hassle to download and seed. Plus 10 dollars isn't that much at all considering cable bills are 70+ dollars.

So my question (and hypothesis really because I think it will), will WWE Network kill off streaming/torrent sites? I think it will because the cost is so low, the hassle is supposedly low, and the utility is massive. Plus no choppy stream. This is all also why I think the WWE is smart for doing the network the way they are (on top of the fact that cable and TV as we know it is dying and everyone under 30 is moving to streaming/VOD anyways).

 

[Slbrey]

I for one purchase every WWE ppv and the next day will download it to add to my WWE vault hard drive which I do for every WWE broadcast...so I for one even tho I buy the shows I will still download them for my personal collection.

I think it will have a impact on illegal streaming but some people are so cheap they would rather watch a shitty quality of stream for free rather then pay 10 a month for a legit hd stream.

 

[Hard Hit Prince]

What about us, the non-us residents? I think that if anything, the WWE Network is going to be a ramp for more torrenting. Downloading stuff from media outlets like that is by far, easier I believe. You only need a good computer, a program that tapes your desktop that are a dime a dozen and you are free to either stream it or save it to upload it.

Also since we are talking about the WWE Network, the fact that PPV providers are dropping them is great for the Network because US residents won't have another alternative and they'll find that subscribing for the Network is by far the better deal. WWE has a fanbase that watches Raw weekly of 4 million plus - it's a three hour show people!! Having 4 million over the three hours!? That is fantastic... I'll probably get a VPN and make myself an "US" account to buy it, much like I did for Hulu+ for a month so that is also that and I live in Europe.

 

[metalbran88]

I know that I have only bought the royal rumble and wrestlemania, and the last few years only wrestlemania, otherwise I've streamed the ppvs. As long as the WWE has the network, I will be giving them my money, if you think about it, its money they wouldn't have gotten from me otherwise lol.

 

[ThePhenomLives]

There's still us on the other side of the pond and, in general, non-US residents. Torrenting will never die, but yes it could affect it, at least in America.

 

[A11oftheLights]

The Network is going international i believe just not immediately its why sky sports renewed the deal for raw however the article (I'm pretty sure it was on WZ but maybe it was another site) noted that it was an interesting decision seeing that the network was going global late 2014

 

[Wald]

I think it will. Just look at what Spotify and Netflix has done for the music and film industries for reasons why it will work. I genuinely haven't torrented any music in years because of my Spotify subscription and I rarely torrent movies as well, mostly because I still go to the cinema and I'd rather just watch something random from Netflix than search for something to torrent and download it. As Netflix grows and takes in more movies from the cinema in a quicker time I'll just stop altogether.

If I can watch a PPV or a repeat on the Network for $10 a month than I'm definitely going to do that.

 

[bko]

Its already been said but what about the rest of the world, WWE is freaking massive world wide. The world wide audience out weigh America big time. I love how Americans love to think they the only country that counts for anything. I'm from Australia myself, even when it does come here I'll still be doing it to be honest.

 

[GeneralKarim]

Not it wont.There still people who will download it.Here in Romania we rarely get a RAW, and when we do its at 3am and its not even live, its like 1-2 episodes back.And I think other countries are in the same position.

Torrenting is the only option and I prefer it since I can control what segments I want to watch and not have to be forced to watch all the boring and stupid ones.

 

[Ryan1025]

Of course not. There's Netflix, but still movie torrents. Even stuff that's "free tv" (NBC, ABC, the stuff you can pick up with a $5 antenna) gets posted and downloaded. It might make a little difference, but I don't think it will be that big of one.

 

[New Hot Fed]

People will always go for the free stuff rather than paying money.

I think buying a wrestling PPV was worth it when it was during the Monday Night Wars when wrestling was at its apex and people wanted to keep those shows forever. But nowadays with all the shitty booking? Why bother.

 

[MCMG]

Like you suggested, $9.99 is a lot more expensive than $0. Many won't be able to afford the network but have a PC. Plus the people overseas who simply don't want to pay for every PPV.

Personally, I think the network is an incredible deal. If it was available in the UK; I'd be damn excited.

 

[strangephish]

I will admit that I'm getting the WWE Network so I don't have to watch low quality streams. If the price ever goes up then I'll reconsider but for $10 I can spare that.

 

[Danger Burger]

I, personally, will continue to torrent my weekly HD Raw and monthly HD PPV's. I don't have a tv, or the money to waste on entertainment rather than my rent or my desire to eat at least twice a day.

Netflix is great, I'm not a member, but I download all of their shows. The shows they produce themselves are straight on to the torrent sites; just ask the new season of House Of Cards sitting on my hard drive.

I actually think this will make streaming easier. Thins like twitch.tv allow people to broadcast whatevers on their monitor. With RAW streaming straight to them, live, I can see it going straight through to a streaming site.

Vince ain't getting my pennies either way.

 

[closet_fan]

I, personally, will continue to torrent my weekly HD Raw and monthly HD PPV's. I don't have a tv, or the money to waste on entertainment rather than my rent or my desire to eat at least twice a day.

While the network is cheap compared to other sites like it, I definitely understand where you're coming from. $120 doesn't seem like a lot, but when you figure it can go towards other things that you need just to survive, it's not worth it.

Since I don't check out results from the PPV the night before, there is a site I go to that shows every PPV, RAW and SmackDown in very high quality. Not HD, but it's not as bad as other sites I've seen. I just have to watch them Tuesday, Saturday or Monday instead of live.

However, the fact that you can watch the Network on any smart device is what sold me. Not the money for the events, but being able to watch it on something outside a tv and computer is what is going to push me to get it.

Back to the original question. If anything, this will allow people to get it on free sites in even greater numbers and with better quality. YouTube will always have free matches and events. No matter how hard WWE will try and stop them, they won't.

I'm not sure why people get so pissed that others get for free what they pay for when they can do it to.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The UK side of things will see more torrenting and streaming, they will try and crack down but it will just hurt them. Signing this deal with Sky was a greedy move, pusing all the PPV's to Box Office where there were 4 that weren't each year. It means that they will no doubt delay the Network in the UK as long as humanly possible so we subsidise the loss of PPV revenue for a bit. Cynical..

Frankly they have to expect some torrenting, there's never going to be a scenario where they can kill it completely, the record industry has been trying for 15 years and movies 10... all they can do is offer a great product and SERVICE to customers world wide, instead of focusing on the US all the time... seriously, TNA seem to have it right at the moment when it comes to the UK and Vince has several British talents he's going to WANT to push, but he's pissing the market off at the moment with new Sky Deals, Delayed Network and Sending Talent from UK shows to the German one like Punk and Bryan... They tried making big soccer games PPV a few years back and it bombed... that was at 4pm on a Sunday, they have little chance getting people to pay to watch live when they have work/school in the morning or to pay full price for a re-run when spoilers and streams are out there...

 

[JJ15776]

What about us, the non-us residents? I think that if anything, the WWE Network is going to be a ramp for more torrenting. Downloading stuff from media outlets like that is by far, easier I believe. You only need a good computer, a program that tapes your desktop that are a dime a dozen and you are free to either stream it or save it to upload it.

I saw somebody else say this too and, just to clarify, this will have absolutely no impact whatsoever on the ease with which shows are streamed and torrented. WWE already offers their PPVs through their app and their website, so nothing will change from that perspective with the launch of the WWE Network.

Its already been said but what about the rest of the world, WWE is freaking massive world wide. The world wide audience out weigh America big time. I love how Americans love to think they the only country that counts for anything. I'm from Australia myself, even when it does come here I'll still be doing it to be honest.

What the hell are you talking about? This an American website discussing an American company and their American decision to launch an American Network in America and the American impact it will have on said American company in America. Do you see me going on an Aussia Football League website and saying "what about the rest of the world??? I love how Australians think they are the only country that counts." on their message board? Seriously, just think about the asinine stupidity of what you wrote right here. zOMG, Americans are focused on the things that impact them most??? THEY'RE THE ONLY COUNTRY THAT DOES THAT!!!!!111

Oh yeah, FUN FACT: WrestleMania 29 had 1,050,000 buys...650,000 came from America. (Yes, that's significantly more than the 400,000 that came from the rest of the world combined.) And, no, that's not an aberration. Going back to the beginning of 2010, WWE has seen about 15,000,000 total buys for all PPVs combined - with about 9,000,000 of them coming from America. So there goes your "the world wide audience out weighs America big time" theory. Not only does America outweigh the worldwide audience, it's not particularly close.

With that out of the way, to answer the original question posed here, while it's obviously impossible to completely eliminate streams and torrents, this will absolutely dramatically reduce them.

 

[Pedigree1]

as far as the US side goes,I think it will help out a little. Most people can afford 10 bucks a month,especially for all the quality your going to get. Its a steal and a half.. Take the UFC for example,their fight pass is well whacked to put it nicely. They charge the same price 9.99 a month,but dont offer PPVs or current fights that are in the past.. Its only good for shows in other continents,and on top of the 49.99 they charge,they want you to pay an additional 10 bucks a month to view their prelims.

I will be honest i have only streamed maybe less than three times,its shit quality i much rather pay to watch it in HD! But 10 bucks a month it will help out in the US i believe,there will be some who prefer paying zero and getting bad streaming quality. Outside of america,im not sure on what your services provide. Judging from the responses on here,i expect streaming to go up,because maybe the technology is not quite as good as it is over here in merica!

 

[I_Like_All_Wrestling]

I think there's a few things wrong with this. First, I don't think that the people currently buying PPV's are wrestling fans who are so economically well off that the cost doesn't matter to them. I think the people generally buying them are groups of people. I've actually never known anyone who has bought a PPV that wasn't some sort of group pitch-in except when I was a small child, and then it was basically bought as a party for a group of children.

Second, I don't think WWE's main focus is stopping torrenting and/or streaming. I think their main focus is to make money. Now, that may line up with an incentive for stopping torrenting/streaming, but I don't think that's the initial goal. I would also argue that the people who go out of their way to watch in that manner are people who would not be purchasing a PPV anyway.

I think the main target is the fans would by Wrestlemania and either the Rumble or Summerslam (maybe Survivor Series in the past). They mentality here, which WWE seems to be driving home weekly, is that "for the cost of these two that you're already buying, you get all the PPVs and more!" They're upselling fans that either a) are focused on price, meaning they either can't or don't want to pay for all the PPVs, or b) fans who are interested and don't care for the overall quality of the product to pay.

I'm sure WWE must have done exhaustive pricing models to figure out what price point would bring in the most money.

 

[tvcolosi]

for the picture quality alone I'll stop... I even paid $5 to torrent sites for a better resolution a few times

 

[Marshyishere]

I saw somebody else say this too and, just to clarify, this will have absolutely no impact whatsoever on the ease with which shows are streamed and torrented. WWE already offers their PPVs through their app and their website, so nothing will change from that perspective with the launch of the WWE Network.



What the hell are you talking about? This an American website discussing an American company and their American decision to launch an American Network in America and the American impact it will have on said American company in America. Do you see me going on an Aussia Football League website and saying "what about the rest of the world??? I love how Australians think they are the only country that counts." on their message board? Seriously, just think about the asinine stupidity of what you wrote right here. zOMG, Americans are focused on the things that impact them most??? THEY'RE THE ONLY COUNTRY THAT DOES THAT!!!!!111

Oh yeah, FUN FACT: WrestleMania 29 had 1,050,000 buys...650,000 came from America. (Yes, that's significantly more than the 400,000 that came from the rest of the world combined.) And, no, that's not an aberration. Going back to the beginning of 2010, WWE has seen about 15,000,000 total buys for all PPVs combined - with about 9,000,000 of them coming from America. So there goes your "the world wide audience out weighs America big time" theory. Not only does America outweigh the worldwide audience, it's not particularly close.

With that out of the way, to answer the original question posed here, while it's obviously impossible to completely eliminate streams and torrents, this will absolutely dramatically reduce them.

Chill out dude, go eat some super size meals.

Just kidding.

But in all seriousness, it does suck that the rest of the world isn't getting it at the same time, considering it is launching on the World Wide Web... Hopefully using a VPN will work for me. I'd much prefer to stop torrenting WWE and start streaming it.

Unfortunately, there will always be people who do the wrong thing and would rather steal than pay a small fair amount for something, but at least the opportunities are being provided to us more reasonable people who don't mind paying a fair amount for the stuff we consume.

 

[AhSpicyDrop]

I actually think it will have the opposite effect, as far as streaming goes. More people will be watching the PPVs, which means more people will have the ability to stream the show.

I used to stream but the quality has gotten worse over time, and it's almost like watching something on a bad VHS tape at times. Here in the past 6 months I've actually been shelling out the money for the PPVs with a group of friends, which has been costing me about $10 + alcohol.. So buying WWE will be an easy select for me.

 

[Reflection]

Thanks to Ten Sports, we here at India and Pakistan get all PPV's at great quality for free in less than 12 hours of the Live airing, so thankfully the launch of the WWE network won't have any effect on us.
I don't have much idea about streaming, but I doubt the WWE would be able to prevent the upload and sharing of their free shows and PPV's on Torrent sites to any extent. There doesn't seem to be any way to prevent people from downloading the files for future use, which is a good thing for us.

 

[HBKistheHOF]

Of course not. There's Netflix, but still movie torrents. Even stuff that's "free tv" (NBC, ABC, the stuff you can pick up with a $5 antenna) gets posted and downloaded. It might make a little difference, but I don't think it will be that big of one.

^This. Also I concur with all those non-U.S. residents. The entire world isn't getting the WWE Network & from what I've heard it isn't supposed to be available anywhere outside of the U.S. until late 2014/early 2015. So that is already a ton of people still streaming.

Not to mention I'm a U.S. citizen & perfectly able to purchase the WWE network but I still prefer streaming all of the PPV's & buying select WWE DVD/blu-rays (which come with things like bonus features, artwork & packaging that as of now none will appear on the network. As well as the fact that you own them for life & not just a 6 month commitment) over being charged monthly for a subsription to the Network.

So I think even if the WWE Network effects things, there will still remain a huge amount of people streaming & torrenting.

 

[NaptownMVP]

It might not eliminate torrents, but it will eliminate the sites that make you pay $5 for a stream of PPVs. Especially when WWEN goes global.