WWE/Sky in new television deal

Crockerinho

Press Release Source: World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.


World Wresting Entertainment And BSKYB Sign Unprecedented Five-Year Television Deal
Monday October 4, 10:15 am ET
New Agreement Provides Extensive WWE Programming in the UK


STAMFORD, Conn. & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 4, 2004--World Wrestling Entertainment®, Inc. (NYSE:WWE - News) has expanded its 18-year relationship with British Sky Broadcasting (LSE:BSY.L - News) in the UK, signing a new five-year distribution agreement for WWE's weekly programming, and pay-per-view specials, which takes effect in January 2005.

Under the new agreement, BSKYB - which provides WWE® programming to more than 10 million households in the UK and Republic of Ireland - will carry all nine first run hours of WWE's seven weekly programs. WWE RAW®, WWE SmackDown!(TM), WWE Heat(TM), WWE Velocity(TM), WWE Bottom Line(TM), and WWE After Burn(TM) on Sky Sports Channel, and WWE Experience(TM) on Sky One. Six monthly Specials will also be shown on Sky Sports.

BSKYB will show eight events annually on Sky Box Office, including perennial favorites WrestleMania®, Royal Rumble®, Summerslam® and Survivor Series®.

Shane McMahon, Executive Vice President, WWE Global Media, hailed the new agreement as the start of an expanded presence in the UK. "We value the UK market, and see it as a natural stepping off point for furthering expansion of the WWE brand around the world," said McMahon. "We have had a long and beneficial partnership with BSKYB. WWE is excited about our expanding relationship and the business opportunities it offers."

Andrew Whitaker, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, WWE International Television Distribution, added, "The new agreement takes WWE and BSKYB into a third decade of business together. There is no greater testimony to the mutually beneficial nature of this special relationship. We look forward to further expanding our programming and presence in the UK working with BSKYB."

Vic Wakeling, Managing Director of Sport at BSKYB, said: "WWE Wrestling has been with us since our network began and a generation of fans have enjoyed their events and weekly shows on Sky. Now we can offer our viewers WWE for the next five years - and we'll have more shows for them, too."

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:WWE - News) is an integrated media and entertainment company headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto and London. Additional information on the company can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com.

Trademarks: The names of all World Wrestling Entertainment televised and live programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans and wrestling moves and all World Wrestling Entertainment logos are trademarks which are the exclusive property of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.

3D

Eight..... EIGHT freakin' pay per views per year?

And the best ones too?! They got SS, Summerslam AND Mania as well as the Rumble? The fucking bastard bitch assbags!

I liked having Mania for free.. Grr..

3D. Wrestling Clique, Monksdiner, JimmyVan and KnowYourNews' Crafty Old Veteran.

The Half Boy

I'm guessing those were the eight they had anyway. Setanta Sports had the others. My guess is that from next year, every event is gonna PPV, instead of free.

Tomorrow's Just An Excuse Away,
So I Pull My Collar Up And Face The Cold, On My Own.
The Earth Laughs Beneath My Heavy Feet,
At The Blasphemy In My Old Jangly Walk.

AudioSavior

About time you fuckers paid like the rest of us. Cheap bastards.

Creature of the Night

Ida we've gotta pay subscription for the channels that hold WWE Wrestling too! Its not like theyre totally free. This is f**king ridiculous. I resent having to pay Sky extra cash for the events that I bought the channels for anyway (apart from Football coverage). I pay a good £40 a month for my satellite service, thankfully it includes my subcription for PVR services through Sky+, but its extortionate. W***kers! They knew that we wouldnt shell out for shitty PPVs so theyre PPVed all the big 4! Ridiculous!

At least we don't have to pay for all of them. But having to pay for 8/14 PPVs is stupid.

The Half Boy

We'll still have to pay for the ones that Setanta Sport own the rights to. As far as I'm away, they're still lecensed to show all the ones that used to be shown on Channel 4. I could be wrong though. My guess would be that if we'r elucky, we'll get two free PPV's a year. Probably the GAB, and Taboo Tuesday.

Tomorrow's Just An Excuse Away,
So I Pull My Collar Up And Face The Cold, On My Own.
The Earth Laughs Beneath My Heavy Feet,
At The Blasphemy In My Old Jangly Walk.

AudioSavior

Pfff, I have to pay for digital in order to be able to order the PPV's too. You get it for free and it bugs me when you complain about having to pay for something that I been paying for since PPV's came out.

Crockerinho

If you read the article right 8 PPV'S will be on Sky Box Office and 6 will be on Sky Sports

Creature of the Night

Ida, but its sold to us on the basis of free PPVs :p You get Raw and SmackDown free!

You wouldnt like it either if you were given something free for years and then made to pay for it. Get off yer high horse of paying for PPVs :p

Crockerinho

Raw is not fee in the U.S its on a subscription channel