Friday, March 29, 2024
NewsThinking Out Loud: Breaking Down The Network

Thinking Out Loud: Breaking Down The Network

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The launch of the WWE Network has always been something I wanted. Ever since I was little, I always thought how cool it would be if my favorite form of entertainment had it’s own TV Network. Just the fact that I could turn on a TV set and watch Andre and Hogan, or DX invading WCW was such a sweet thought. Well, in the year 2014, my wish is half granted.

Just a few days ago, WWE took center stage at CES and announced the plan for the brand new WWE Network. The “Network” would be an online stream of live WWE Programming with all of WWE’s past content now on-demand. The best part about it? It is only 10 bucks. That’s right, 10 bucks. Man was I thrilled when I saw the announcement. So much that I literally ran to my brothers room, and told him every little detail. It was as if my inner kid came out and said “Remember when you wanted a WWE Network? Well here you go!”

Now the hard part of this column is to take away the little kid in me, and break down the network piece by piece, and see exactly what the positives are, and what the negatives are. Sigh. This might be harder than what I want it to be, but someone has to do it. …

Well for starters, the price point is 10 bucks. Everyone essentially knew it was going to be between 10-15 bucks thanks to a survey that WWE put out last year. The results must’ve been that people were only willing to pay the minimum ammount. WWE simply took that info and ran with it. It wouldn’t make financial sense to charge people double what they asked for considering that they know what they are able to spend, and what they aren’t willing to spend. Besides all of that, I think that 10 bucks is way more than fair. With the 10 bucks, you are able to watch everything on nearly every device. What could possibly be better than that?

That brings me to my next point. The content. Well, there is far more than enough to keep the average, or even the most hardcore wrestling fan in the loop. The fact that WWE is throwing up literally everything in their library on this “network” is amazing. Going back and re-watching that episode of Nitro that really stood out to you, or ECW Barely Legal…Or maybe it’s one of the older Starcades you prefer. Whatever the case may be, WWE went through (I’m sure) Hell to not only digitize all of the videos, but to make sure everything was HD for you. Now you have no more reason to complain about the quality of a video on YouTube when WWE likely has it on the Network.

Another great advantage is the ability to watch Wrestlemania. Use to pay 80 bucks for it? No? What about watching a stream of it on your laptop (Oh come on, don’t be shy) Well, that 80 bucks (Or however much it is) is now nothing since it’s again…Only 10 bucks. What about streaming it on the good ol’ laptop? Well, that’s fine, but the quality may not be the best, or it constantly freezes. Well, again it’s all now a thing of the past.

But don’t let my fanboy-ism stick out. There are negatives in all of this. The main one kind of connects with the online presence. What if the stream of the WWE Network freezes? You could potentially miss that one moment that changed the course of history. If you do that, you’d be willing to call customer support and voice your opinion. The only huge negative of that is WWE atleast entertaining the idea of bumping up the price in hopes for a better stream.

Lastly, what if WWE pulls content? Granted it’s not all that likely, but what if some content is just not popular enough from the On Demand side of things, and they decide to kill it? What if WWE decides that the old ECW PPV’s are too violent? Or what if they think that seeing WCW is a bad idea considering that they were the one time rivals of WWE? While it’s not likely by a long shot (And trust me, I know that) it’s still something to really consider.

…Yeah, there weren’t too many negatives that I could think about.

Well, that will just about wrap it up! In the meantime check out my Twitter page @NiFederico for all things geek!

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