Free Tier Of WWE Network Launches

Beta version of service quietly rolled out yesterday.

by Benjamin Richardson
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WWE Network

Anyone navigating to the WWE Network over the past few days may have noticed something a little bit different about the portal: there's now a 'free tier' of accessible content.

The homepage now shows several banks of videos that can be viewed right away for no up-front cost, including Raw and NXT highlights, WWE Top 10s, and select full matches. Alongside them are carousels of paid Network content bearing a lock symbol, as an enticement to sign up.

For the most part, videos available free of charge have been cribbed from WWE's YouTube channel. According to PWInsider, this is temporary; the plan is to use the current configuration as a live beta to test the free service, before there's an official launch sometime next week.

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Though there is no confirmation of this at present, the rollout of a free Network tier presumably paves the way for a widely mooted multi-tier system, featuring a premium service offering additional and independent content at an additional cost.

At present, a WWE Network subscription will still set you back $9.99 a month.

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Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.