UPDATE: WWE/Warner Bros. Talks Inaccurate

Sep 12, 2014

UPDATE 3: A source close to the situation has informed us that The Wrap’s story about WWE selling their tape library to Warner Bros. is inaccurate. Also, Multiple sources who are close to the situation report that the story from TheWrap.com regarding WWE selling off their entire video library of 150,000 hours of content to Warner Bros is not true.

What is in discussions right now is a deal between Cinedigm and Warner Bros to acquire the home video distribution rights to the entire WWE library.

More as we get it ……

UPDATE x2: During their conference call last month, Cinedigm confirmed that they will be parting ways with WWE, noting WWE underperformed expectations. They stated the following during that call…

Through that process for instance, WWE will leave us to the end of this year as they did not accept a renewal proposal that allowed us to earn an acceptable return. This was an easy decision for us as WWE has underperformed expectations and is at best a lower volume breakeven customer. This will be addition by subtraction.

UPDATE: The Wrap has edited their article, and have now removed all mention of Cinedigm. The Wrap said that Cinedigm owns the library, but WWE is the one that owns its own library, which includes over 150,000 hours of footage. Cinedigm is merely the distributor of WWE DVD releases but it doesn’t actually own the content. According to a WWE source, WB is only trying to take over distribution rights. (Credit: Wrestlezone)

ORIGINAL: The following is an article from TheWrap.com:

Warner Bros. is in talks to acquire the WWE library, two individuals with knowledge of the negotiations told TheWrap.

Warners Bros. and the WWE decline to comment.

While the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, the library is estimated to have nearly 150,000 hours of content, consisting of television shows, pay-per-view events and house shows dating back to the 1950s. It also contains a large selection of the visual history of modern professional wrestling, and is currently held by Cinedigm.

An insider with knowledge of Cinedigm’s WWE contract told TheWrap there is no end date as yet, but the company is transitioning away from the library.

The WWE Network, which launched in February, has made use of the library but hasn’t received enough monthly subscribers to make up for its lost pay-per-view orders. At $9.99 per month, it needed 1.3 to 1.4 million subscribers, but the company closed its first quarter with just under 670,000 subscribers and declining PPV revenue. The WWE Network believed it would reach one million subscribers this year.

The WWE Network is a 24/7-streaming network that features 12 WWE live pay-per-view events, original programming, reality shows, documentaries, classic matches and more than 1,500 hours of video on demand at launch.

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