When WWE Network was first announced it was back in 2012, and the original plan was for it to be a premium TV channel, similar to HBO. Surveys were conducted, conclusions reached, and the WWE Network was scheduled to debut on April 1, the same day as WrestleMania XXVIII. They even went so far as to add a countdown clock to WWE.com, but this was quietly removed before the scheduled launch date. Eventually, WWE Network launched as we know it today as the over-the-top subscription service. But when it went international, Canada received quite a different service. Through a deal with Rogers Cable, WWE Network is instead a premium television channel airing twenty hours of content drawn from the larger WWE Network archive, as well as limited on-demand content through a cable set-top box. While this was met with a lot of anger and frustration from Canadian fans, a lot of this comes from their lack of access to the over-the-top Network. While WWEs deal with Rogers prevents them from having both in Canada, theres no reason WWE couldnt add a television channel to their line-up at some point to draw in the less tech-savvy wrestling fan who cant, or doesnt want to access the standard WWE Network.
