By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE WWE President and Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan spoke with The Wrap regarding WWE Network’s move to NBCU’s Peacock. The following are highlights of the interview, which can be read in full at TheWrap.com.
Khan on how the deal benefits WWE and whether it’s a cost-cutting move to not host WWE Network: “No, so here’s what it is. Vince McMahon and the WWF, at the time, were the first movers from closed circuit to pay-per-view in the early ’80s, the first mover in the sports/entertainment space, outside of Netflix, to the SVOD model in 2014, and we believe the first mover, again, in this deal to partner with a massive conglomerate that has significant reach, in order to serve our fans and expand our audience.
“So I’ll give you an example: Peacock is free in the [24 million] Comcast cable and Cox cable homes, as I’m sure you know, so…for the first time ever, WrestleMania, which is our Super Bowl, is going to be available for free to those homes. In addition to that, it cuts the cost for our consumers from $9.99 a month for WWE Network to $4.99 a month on the ad-supported tier of Peacock, where they’ll get not only WWE but EPL, ‘The Office,’ Dick Wolf and so many other titles.”
Khan on what the deal with NBCU means for WWE’s relationship with Fox: “We’re confident and happy with our Fox/Smackdown relationship, which still has multiple years left on it. So nothing has changed in that arena.”
Powell’s POV: The story also includes quotes from NBCU executive Rick Cordella, who said the company has no plans at this time to increase the $4.99 price for the ad-based version of the Peacock streaming service. Unfortunately, Cordella did not have any new news regarding negotiations to get Peacock on the Amazon Fire devices. A big takeaway from Khan’s comments is that if you are a Comcast subscriber and you get Peacock free as part of your subscription, you’ll be getting WWE Network for no extra charge.
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