By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
TKO stock opened the day at $96.16 per share. As of 11:43 a.m. CT, the price has dropped to $88.49 per share.
Powell’s POV: The stock hit seems to be in reaction to WWE announcing its new Smackdown television deal with USA Network. Despite reports of WWE gaining a 40 percent increase over its current deal with Fox, apparently the now former shareholders were not happy with the deal.
Cable TV access, through traditional means or streaming, now constitutes less than 50% of the US, meanwhile OTA channels have more reach than ever. Getting 40% more money means nothing if the exposure takes a massive drop.
TGO is spot on
Look at that STUPID deal MLS did with Apple. They make a few bucks but how many eyes do they get on their product?
I don’t know how you guys can call this a stupid deal without knowing what the other offers were.
MLS did the right thing. Their viewership on TV was extremely low, often in the 150-200k range. They’ve now got over 2 million subscribers to their platform on Apple+. Live attendance to games is also higher than ever before. They needed consistent game times more than anything else, and signing that Messi fella doubled their subscriber base in a single month.
Nope. Take a look back to the late 80s deal the NHL did with Sportschannel. They took a bigger $ offer but it took them off ESPN. As such they lost a lot of audience AND espn under-covered them as a sport overall. It set hockey back at least a decade
You put MLS on fox on Friday nights and a hell of a lot more eyes are gonna see it than trying to find it on Apple.
The NHL deal with Sports Channel America was in 89-92. It was so profitable that the league added San Jose as an expansion team in 1992, and then Ottawa and Tampa Bay in 1993.
It did no damage, whatsoever.
The most successful thing the NHL has done in the last 50 years is the Winter Classic and that was an NBC creation.
Oh, and ESPN’s coverage of the NHL has always been sporadic with the only times where they’ve been the exclusive broadcast partner being 85-88 and then 00-04. The NHL hasn’t skipped a beat after leaving them at any time.