WWE CFO George Barrios took part in a presentation at the Global Technology, Media & Telecom conference in Boston, MA earlier this week and here are the highlights courtesy of PWinsider.com
* The Monday Night Wars will debut “in the fall” on the WWE Network.
* They need 1.3-1.4 million WWE subscribers to break even, assuming they lose the all of their PPV business. These are based on estimates based on the number of homes buying 3-4 PPVs a year given what information they have from cable and satellite providers.
* On 3/30, they had “about” 500,000 subscribers for the Network. By WrestleMania Sunday 4/7, they had 667,000 subscribers. They will announce numbers quarterly going forward.
* The belief is with the Network, they lower the price of the PPV content to $10 and give people far more as a way to increase the number of homes buying the content vs. the price of traditional three hour PPVs. This is their way to make lifetime subscribers.
* Apple gets 30% of any subscribers made through them. There are similar deals for other platforms, such as a Roku.
* They have discussed advertisements on the Network, but haven’t made a decision on that. Their current evaluations do not contain potential money from advertisers.
