In 2013, PPV was still a profitable and large source of revenue for the WWE. It provided over $34M in OIBDA (operating income before depreciation and amortization) and $82.5M worldwide revenue. Each WWE Network subscriber no longer needs traditional PPV coverage to get wrestling PPVs. Therefore, WWE worries that "distributors may decide to no longer carry such programming and we cannot require them to do so." The problem is that many WWE fans aren't going to order the network, and don't want to be left in the cold. We've already seen DishTV pulling the plug (leaving about 17% of PPV subscribers in the dark, some of which likely do no have broadband plans that make WWE Network feasible). What would happen if DirecTV followed suit? In order to cover a total collapse of domestic PPV ($66.9 million in 2013), that would require the WWE Network to maintain over 559,000 annual subscribers.
I'm a professional wrestling analyst, an improviser and an avid NES gamer. I live in Saint Paul, Minnesota and I'm working on my first book (#wrestlenomics). You can contact me at chris.harrington@gmail.com or on twitter (@mookieghana)
