— As noted late last night, The Wrap reported that Warner Bros. is in talks
with WWE to acquire the company’s full tape library. The site has spoken with
two people with knowledge of the negotiations, who say that the deal would
include the full library which includes nearly 150,000 hours of content. That
includes TV shows, PPVs and house shows going as far back as the 1950s as well
as “a large selection of the visual history of modern professional
wrestling.”
The library is currently held by Cinedigm, an independent content distributor
in the US that has direct relationships with Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, iTunes,
Netflix, Amazon and many other retailers. According to an insider with knowledge
of Cinedigm’s contract with WWE, there is no end date for the contract but that
the company is “transitioning away from the library.”
It should be noted that this would mean to the WWE Network is not currently
clear. Cinedigm handles WWE’s home video releases; it would suggest that WWE is
looking to license the rights to Warner Bros. in order to alter their home video
release strategy. Another possibility is that they would sell the library to
Warner Bros. and then license the content for the WWE Network. WWE has worked
with Warner Bros. as of late for their Scooby-Doo films.
— Here are tonight’s confirmed WWE SmackDown matches:
* The Usos, Mark Henry and Big Show vs. Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, Goldust and
Stardust
* Bo Dallas vs. Justin Gabriel
* Non-Title Match: Paige © vs.
Summer Rae
* Arm Wrestling Contest: Mark Henry vs. Rusev
* Dolph Ziggler
and R-Truth vs. The Miz and Damien Sandow
* Seth Rollins and Randy Orton vs.
Chris Jericho and Roman Reigns
