The WWE has been in the process of agreeing a new television deal in the United States. We will find out soon how successful these negotiations were, with several potential broadcast partners having taken a look at the WWE product. What's been really interesting about WWE trying to woo distributors is that they haven't presented Raw as an entertainment programme instead they have positioned themselves as live sports. The company has taken this course because they believe they can earn more money as a sport brand. Vince McMahon is expecting to double his earnings from the new TV deal, he sees much more value in the position of WWE as sport rather than entertainment. The reason for this? Live sport is Network gold, it means people are more compelled to watch on the night of broadcast. That means more people in front of the TV, more eyes on commercial breaks. In contrast, entertainment programmes are something we can DVR and then fast forward through the adverts. There isn't the same inclination of a must watch feel on the night. WWE Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer, Michelle Wilson, commented;
"We should be valued like sports, from that perspective it is like live sports, we have more average total viewers than any sport, except NFL."
John Cena also recently commented that the brand will be evolving and Undertaker predicted as far back as 2003 that the WWE would end up more like sports such as UFC. Sport is DVR proof, we have to watch instantly, we have to sit through the adverts. This new position of enhancing the sports in 'Sports Entertainment' will be popular with purist wrestling fans and will in the long run make the WWE a lot more money from TV. The company genuinely believes they are along the same lines (and can be bigger) than NASCAR. After years of Vince McMahon insisting he is an Entertainment company similar to Disney, it looks like a massive philosophical industry changer is about to happen. Here are 10 ideas to develop the vision of the TV rights, to make the WWE product more like sports ...
