Vince McMahon Talks PPV Buys Being Down, WWE Network, Oprah & More
Here are some excerpts from yesterday's earnings call in which WWE CEO Vince McMahon discussed the Q3 2011 results. To read the entire transcript, click here.
PPV Buys and RAW Ratings:
Pay-Per-View buys are slightly down as well — about 4% — a lot of less than in past. RAW television ratings remain flat to last year, which is good news. And most of our declines in key metrics support our view that we are gradually improving the general status of our overall financial health.
Varying successes of other networks and how it affects the new WWE Network:
I would say I suppose the one of the notorious ones would be the Oprah Network... which is a miserable failure on all accounts because you have a brand like Oprah and it does take a genius to figure out that, okay. Why don't we have Oprah do what she does best in our very own network and that's the one thing that doesn't happen.
So in terms of the introduction of a network theory, Oprah is an example, you're saying, okay, let's take Oprah, but let's don't use, let's not whatever we do, we don't use her and what she does best. Let's just try and take an Oprah name and try and brand that in a big round about way, which obviously from a common sense standpoint, it doesn't make sense... we know what our WWE attributes are. So we have the opportunity to enhance all of that and bring further viewers, lapse viewers, and as well as current viewers and new viewers from a younger age set of two to 11 into the network, which will be extraordinary, (inaudible) because we are giving the audience what they want, not what they don't want.
On partners for the new WWE Network:
There is no partnership, it's going to be solely owned by WWE and we just said that.
If existing shows will remain in place once the network is launched, at least for the duration of their existing contracts:
Yes, that's important for us to have some of our core programming on a broader base network in order to promote the network. And I think it would be silly to know to turn our back on right fees, substantial right fees as well as the broad based exposure that we have, on the networks that we're currently involved in. If you continue that at some juncture especially on an elevated basis then the network it self would benefit from that exposure and cost promotion, because we believe that it is good for WWE, it's good for all of our partners much likely NFL model and it's been proven with WWE.
When the current RAW distribution agreement expires:
The agreement was a five year agreement through 2014, I believe October 2014.
Source: Seeking Alpha