--Most aspects of business are overall steady, and the news overall is not as bad as it could have been because even though expectations on the network number couldn't have been as low as came in, the cost cutting has been ramped up and money losses for the quarter were a lot lower than almost all analysts expected and that WWE projected with this level of subscribers. So, the number was far worse than expected, and it seems to show that most of those interested internationally bought the network before it was "officially" offered so the growth was tiny from the 170 country launch.
--The new pricing structure will be interesting. I expect tons of sign-ups in January and March, but there's no economic incentive for those people to stay. It's a very different mentality than when it launched. There will be far more people in theory signing up Mania week than last year because of no six month commitment, but they are also only paying $9.99 instead of $59.94 for the six-month commitment, even though tons opted out early anyway.
--The big thing they were pushing is that their core product TV deals that produced $130 million in revenue in 2013 will produce $235 million in 2018. That's all contracted increased income, basically showing that they will have significant growth guaranteed from that sector even if other stuff doesn't grow much and the network doesn't ever hit projections. They didn't phrase it that way of course.
--This was a huge day and we'll talk more about it, but long-term, the key is that they have contradicting priorities. They have to create tons of free content for their rights fees revenues, but in creating so much free content, it lessens interest in more content, particularly with PPVs feeling less important except the big 2-3. The new TV deal in India appears to be a big win as well. For next year, they can be at break even in OIBDA (which is not the same as profits) next year by averaging 800,000 network subscribers for the year. That's doable, and they've underestimated cost-cutting in the past few months.
-- Losses this year are going to be nowhere near WCW 2000 and for a time it looked, even with more subscribers than they ended up getting, that it would be in that range. But for this year and next year, they would have been far better off had they never ventured in this direction.
--In short form, this wasn't a good day for WWE as shown by the stock market reaction. Right now, stock is down 64 cents per share to $12.63, which a decline but not the kind of decilne that network number would have brought without the good news on the losses side. With the losses being so much less than expected and lower break even for next year, it's not anywhere near as bad as it would have been based on the company's own guidance three months ago. That's why the stock drop isn't a whole lot worse.
--One thing that should be noted in the drop of the B shows from 99,000 worldwide buys for Battleground to 48,000 for Night of Champions is NOC was on Sky Sports and not on PPV, while Battleground was on PPV. That doesn't make up anywhere near 51,000 difference, but would make up some of that difference.