WWE Planning “Big Changes” to WWE Network for Early 2019

There are “big changes” being planned for the WWE Network and the plan is to implement them by early next year, according to PWInsider. Plans are already underway to “tweak the company’s strategies for original programming, to finally shape the long planned tiered version of the WWE Network and bring other interactive aspects to the streaming service,” PWInsider says.

Vince McMahon is personally overseeing the planning and is working one-on-one with head producer Kevin Dunn and WWE chief of staff Brad Blum.

It has long been rumored that WWE Network will implement a tiered payment system, with the possibilities of cheaper or even free tiers and a more expensive tier that would include programming from other promotions.

WWE has the rights to the video libraries for UK promotions PROGRESS and Insane Championship Wrestling and those will likely be included as part of WWE Network’s new programming. Other possible promotions in a tiered system may be WWN / EVOLVE, which also has a strong relationship with WWE and is often used as a “farm system” for WWE/NXT.

One very interesting possibility would be the inclusion of the Impact/TNA video library on WWE Network. Last month, WWE and Impact had a meeting where WWE was reportedly pitching something to Impact. Rights to stream Impact’s video library is definitely something they could have been talking about, given the timing. Impact has said that their video library is not for sale, but that doesn’t mean that they couldn’t sell the non-exclusive rights for WWE Network to stream their content without them buying the library outright.

The plan right now is to lock in the future plans for WWE Network within the next month, PWInsider says, and to hopefully implement them by early 2019. WWE Network launched on February 24, 2014 in the US.

WWE has sent out several surveys in the past asking people what they’d like to see added to WWE Network. That included programming from Impact/TNA or ROH, and perks like early access to merchandise, early ticket sale passwords, and more.

In 2016, WWE explored the following possibilities for a tiered WWE Network (via PWInsider):

2016’s Plan One – FREE, featuring five hours of archived material, five minute video clips, and a 24/7 live stream that would feature WWE content without PPVs, NXT and the Cruiserweight Classic. The idea would be that this would be a free service, featuring commercials, that would be available to watch on all devices. Think Hulu’s free content without a subscription.

2016’s Plan Two – Priced $4.99 a month would feature the WWE Network as it currently exists, with the exception of NXT and its Takeover specials, would feature limited commercials and access to only the “Big Four” WWE PPV events. The tier would also feature a VOD proponent that would add all new WWE “live events” (assuming this would mean Raw, Smackdown, etc.) 30 days after they air. This content would only be available for those watching via phones and tablets.

2016’s Plan Three – Priced at the still-current WWE Network price of $9.99 would offer the WWE Network as it currently exists, except WWE NXT would air live every week (similar to how Raw and Smackdown currently air). This would also have limited commercials.

2016’s Plan Four – Priced at $14.99, this version would feature a commercial free version of the WWE Network with all the current bells and whistles, a live version of NXT, a weekly Cruiserweight Classic series, and “access to independent wrestling content such as TNA & Ring of Honor” plus additional “Fan Perks” including early ticket ordering access, the right to vote in the WWE Hall of Famer, “offline” content download, small group online chats, exclusive second screen content and invites to exclusive in-person VIP meet-ups.