Finally...The WWE Network

First there was this...

Then there was this...

But finally, three years later...there's this!

So the idea has been banded around for quite some time, and it's pretty different from what was originally announced in 2011, however I'm pretty hyped for the WWE Network.

Okay, so it probably won't be heading to the UK until 2015, believed to be due to WWE's contractual negotiations with Sky, and it might be slightly more expensive over here, but what the WWE Network is offering for the price that it is offering it at, is pretty spectacular.

The biggest thing that will catch people's attention is that all 12 WWE PPV's (including Wrestlemania) are included for $9.99 a month (roughly £6 or £7), now I'm not entirely sure how much WWE PPV's come in at in the US, but I'm pretty sure it's three or four times that! So if you're buying every WWE PPV or the majority of WWE PPVs, I don't see why you wouldn't jump at this deal, considering that there's a ton of other content involved as well. 

Old school fans are catered for with the Network boasting EVERY WWE, WCW and ECW PPV in HD, as part of an on-demand service, which again is pretty darn impressive for the price. Yes, most of these can be found in some form on Youtube or Dailymotion, but rarely are they in great quality and will usually have some error somewhere along the line.

Whilst Raw and Smackdown Pre-Shows and Post-Shows don't really appeal to me, I'm sure there will be other who will be licking their chops at the idea of watching four hours of Raw every Monday Night! Personally, that's a little too long to watch one thing for, and whilst I might make an exception for a PPV, I'm not too interesting in doing so every week.

I'm interested to see what original programming WWE will come up with in order to fill their 24/7 idea, we've already seen that Legends House, Countdown (not the one with Carol Vorderman), Wrestlemania Rewind, Monday Night Wars, NXT and Superstars will be shown on the network, but surely they are going to need to come up with a lot more content to keep the service streaming 24/7. It wouldn't make much sense to put old PPVs on, seeing as they will be part of the On Demand service, although old episodes of Raw or Nitro in a chronological order could be an interesting idea. I'd also imagine that we'll see WWE Films airing on the Network at some point down the line, which is another idea that isn't particularly appealing to me. 

It's going to be a really interesting time for WWE as they continue to change their model of business in 2014. On demand and streaming services seem like the way forward at the moment and we'll find out on February 24th exactly how succesful the service is and if it can handle the demand from the consumer. Until then expect Michael Cole to telling us how to use the Network on Raw, Smackdown and pretty much every where he can.