The WWE Network will launch in the UK and Ireland on January 19th at a price of £9.99, the wwe.com website confirmed on Sunday night. The news was accompanied by a video from Vince McMahon, in which he thanked fans for their patience. The promotional blitz is well underway, with Stephanie McMahon appearing in the UK's best selling newspaper this Monday morning. She told The Sun that the Network would be the same as the US version, "There are no differences with the exception of the price point it is £9.99 in the UK and 12.99 in Ireland." She also looked to clarify that this move would not be hurting the WWE's long relationship with Sky. "It is important to note we continue our very strong relationship with BSkyB and we are proud to be their partner. But the WWE Network is exclusively owned by WWE so it is important for subscribers to know they can only sign up via WWE.com." Stephanie's statement seems divorced from reality. How can the WWE undercut Sky's pay per views like this and expect relations to be healthy? Sky are just starting out on a new WWE deal that will see all special events as pay per views, starting with the Royal Rumble on January 25th. As part of this new deal, Sky raised the pay per view prices from £14.95 to £19.95. Now they've got WWE swooping in with the Network offering the Royal Rumble at £9.99. It could be the case that WWE will offer Sky compensation for the undercutting. When the UK Network was supposed to launch in November, the price point was $9.99, meaning roughly £6.50. Interestingly, the UK Network is now being sold as £9.99. Perhaps Sky will get some of that added money. It was noted by the WWE that the Network delay in November was due to negotiations with other partners. Despite the price increase, this is still a fantastic deal for UK fans. The promise from WWE is that the Network will be the same as the stellar US version. You'll get all the pay per views and the wealth of on-demand action. You'll be able to watch it on a variety of devices such as Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku streaming devices, Sony Playstation 3, Sony Playstation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Smart TVs including Sony and Samsung. On the go you'll be able to watch on iOS and Android devices. Many fans in the UK and Ireland have already been enjoying the US WWE Network, via a simple geoblock unblocking service such as Unblock Us. This equates to paying the WWE £6.50 and Unblock Us £3.30. When the UK Network went live in November, WWE simply lifted the geoblock, meaning that US subscribers could login to UK devices without using the geoblock service. When the WWE Network officially goes live on the 19th, existing US Network subscribers should be able to cancel their geoblock subscription and enjoy WWE Network on their UK devices for the cheaper £6.50.
