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WWE Looking to Sell It's Tape Library?

In this article on TheWrap.com, it says that the Warner Bros. is in talks to buy the WWE tape library. Although both the WWE and Warner Bros. have declined to comment, the story claims that the WWE is transitioning away from using their video library due to disappointing Network subscription sales

Here is the link

http://www.thewrap.com/warner-bros-in-talks-to-acquire-entire-wwe-library-exclusive/

Comments

  1. Holy shit. I hope this happens because the fallout would be super interesting.

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  2. After some further reading, my guess is that WB is in talks to take over distribution, not buy the library.

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  3. That would...not be a terrible idea.

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  4. Agree

    They have done a bad job at maximizing their tape library to it's potential

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  5. Apparently the company mentioned in the article, Cinedigm, handles WWE distribution. They don't have anything to do with library or network. I can see how The Wrap could have gotten the story mixed up.

    Although maybe in negotiations, WB threw out a number for the library and it was too good for WWE to ignore.

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  6. I wouldn't agree with that. Pre-Network, they were great with their DVDs.

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  7. I don't know how reliable The Wrap is. Nikke Finke and deadline used to hate them, but Finke is a crazy person, so who knows.

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  8. They did great at discs of the current stars and specials on other territories but as far as all of the matches and tv shows they have of the all the promotions they brought out, it just seems like 95% of what they have will never be seen

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  9. LOL yeah I read her tweets a few months back and she is out there for sure

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  10. That's because it wasn't really reasonable to release some of that stuff. You can only release DVDs of stuff that will sell.

    That's why the network is so great, they can just dump that on there for the hardcore nerds and forget about it. But even that may not be worth it because of the server costs.

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  11. My question: how would changing distro change what happens with WWE now? Serious question, I really don't know

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  12. I should have clarified that I was referring to stuff that will never be seen on the network. They wouldnt sell a 100 copies of DVS's filled with Smoky Mountain matches. I doubt we get any other territories TV shows or big events on the Network

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  13. Other than a WB logo appearing on the side of DVDs, my guess would be not much.

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  14. She started NikkiFinke.com and had to immediately shut it down. Deadline is doing fine in her absence, it's nice to read news without the congratulatory snarkness on getting the scoop.


    But The Wrap has definitely gotten stuff wrong before

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  15. The Network is less than a year old. You gotta figure shit like that will eventually find it's way there when they need something new to hype.

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  16. Not familiar with the Wrap but this story is popping up everywhere on wrestling sites so thought I would toss it up here.

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  17. What else is there to hype? PrimeTime Wrestling and Suerpstars/Challenge?


    They should rotate territories in and out, IMO, just to get the stuff out there

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  18. Deadline is indeed doing fine without Nikki Finke although Deadspin sure went down the tubes ever since they dumped the Virgilbag for no valid reason.

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  19. One thing that might happen if WB takes over distribution is a giant re-release of DVDs and Blu-Rays. When WB took over distribution for Paramount, they re-released all their blu-rays at reduced prices and slapped a WB logo on them.

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  20. Of course and I'm glad you did. Just expressing my skepticism about The Wrap.


    I think this might be the case of something that ends up not being a big deal in the long run? WB buying back its WCW footage though...amazing

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  21. Virgil is in my friend's movie. I'm waiting for deadspin to post about that

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  22. $9o/h0ur pavivdv by G0ogle, I am making a go0d salary from h0me $55oo-$7o00/week , which is amazing, under a year ag0 I was j0bless in a h0rrible ec0n0my. I thank God every day I was blessed with these instructions and n0w it's my duty to pay it forward and share it with Every0ne...
    ...............yah0o/w0rks/5/3..

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  23. There should be a website that tracks all the other sites that runs rumors and lets you know how often they get it right.

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  24. That's actually a great idea.

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  25. This would be a monumentally STUPID move on WWE's part. That tape library is a gold mine, and at the moment, it seems like it's all that most of their audience is interested in buying from them. Outside of Cena, I don't think many wrestlers are moving a ton of merch, the Network is failing, and their film studio sucks a giant bag of dicks. What the hell else do they have to fall back on?

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  26. Does Cinedigm own Vivendi? Because Vivendi's the company I always see listed as distributor on the back of WWE DVDs.

    TheWrap probably confused ownership with distribution. This just means Warner Home Video would handle DVD and Blu-Ray distribution for WWE.

    It's no different from 20th Century Fox handling MGM's DVD distribution even though they have no ownership stake in MGM or its film library.

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  27. And buying back the WCW name.....hmmm

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  28. Metarumour or something

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  29. I thought they figured out how to make the film studio work. With the exception of a few films, it doesn't seem like the films go wide, which means they don't cost that much, and they probably end up making some money

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  30. 99.9% of DTV movies lose money, so even paring their studio down hasn't really helped.

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  31. I don't know the exact numbers on sales or anything, but general consensus that I've been able to gather is that seeing the WWE logo on movies is a HUGE "NOPE" for a lot of people. I don't think I've ever read a really GOOD review for any of their movies, and I seem to read a lot of bad things about the quality of the films themselves.

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  32. Cinedigm bought Vivendi.

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  33. I was going to say....even if the latest abortion starring the Miz or whoever sold a thousand copies from the $5 bin at Wal Mart, they would still be losing cash on the deal.

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  34. People rarely notice the studio logos at the beginning of a film unless it's one of the famous ones. I bet you 9 out of 10 people couldn't name one outside of the major ones like WB, Fox, Paramount etc

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  35. The economy is down and all that stuff, but WWE can't get even 700,000 or whatever the actual numbers are in the USA to sign-up. That's a fail on so many different levels.


    We've talked about this, but what could be the problem?


    Technology?
    Marketing?
    Lack of interest in the current product?
    Incompetence?
    Severe miscalculation of fan base?

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  36. Even a shit looking movie like that costs a couple mil at least to produce.

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  37. Thought so. Just read article about Cinedigm being in negotiations to buy Millennium Entertainment and their sizable film library (the 1990s-late 2000's First Look Studios and DEJ Productions library that consisted of roughly 60% of Showtime's on-air schedule during that timeframe).

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  38. I remember going to the movies, and getting trailers for OCULUS and SEE NO EVIL 2, and the showed the WWE logo at the start of both trailers. The people behind me let out an audible "Oh, no!" at the OCULUS one, and a wave of groans passed through the entire crowd for the SEE NO EVIL 2 trailer.

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  39. I don't understand why the network subs are so slow, I thought everyone wanted to watch Living Dangerously 2000 five times in a 6 month period?

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  40. Yeah, the only way to recoup that money is if the movie gets a premium cable run and sadIy, HBO and Cinemax stopped showing new DTV movies a decade ago (quite unfortunate too because those channels were a lot better with those movies).

    Showtime has that market cornered now but they seemingly only buy DTV horror movies so WWE is still fucked in that regard.

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  41. This is possibly the stupidest goddamn thing I've ever heard WWE consider.

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  42. F'N Body Slams - Dan SelbySeptember 11, 2014 at 11:54 PM

    We, the people, like to talk a lot.

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  43. F'N Body Slams - Dan SelbySeptember 11, 2014 at 11:55 PM

    I really appreciate h0w y0u use 0's instead of o's.

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  44. Netflix has 50 million subscribers. That forever kills WWE's little theory of people not yet adjusting to new technology, so it's definitely not for that reason.

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  45. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomerySeptember 12, 2014 at 12:00 AM

    It's not for me, because Brie and Nikki are still front and center on RAW.

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  46. I'm under the impression this spambot learned how to spell from Vince Russo.

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  47. I often wonder if it's something as simple as a large portion of their core fan-base not being old enough to have their own credit card or able to convince mom and dad to sign up for a $9.99 a month commitment. If you're a 12 year old Cena fan and want the Network, what do you do?

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  48. That article is so vague and badly written that I don't know what the fuck they're going on about. They can't even describe who's "distancing" themselves from the library, WWE or Cinedigm.

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  49. Not true. Its just the distribution rights.

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  50. It's entirely possible the people behind you were wrestling fans. Even if the WWE brand is more recognizable to most, non fans recognizing 1. A new logo that has barely been in use 2. A logo that doesn't feature the word wrestling or even hints at it and 3. The letters WWE when most non fans still use the WWF term because that is how much their out of them loop, is assuming a lot.

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  51. Probably why it's not a great idea to alienate adult males in favor of kids who have no money.

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  52. This is entirely probable. I wore my CM Punk hat to a grocery store the other day and ended up in an hour-long conversation with one of the stockers about when (and IF) Punk, Bryan, or Batista would ever be back. My area has a lot of wrestling fans.

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  53. "Yep Mode" ABeyAnce1©September 12, 2014 at 12:20 AM

    That whole segment was just sad.

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  54. "Yep Mode" ABeyAnce1©September 12, 2014 at 12:21 AM

    Good, false alarm. A new distribution partnership isn't a bad idea.

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  55. Who's saying it's a huge success in Canada?

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  56. How did we go from the great story of Daniel Bryan fighting the Authority to having the Bellas botch the seemingly un-botchable task of simply speaking like a normal human being?

    Oh, that's right. Bryan is porking one of them. Gotcha.

    *facepalm*

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  57. Stupid shit.. I lost Classics-on-Demand for this stupid little network full of Countdowns and Post Game Shows.. Can we just go back to airing PTW, TNT, WWWF '75, and NWA Saturday Night from '87 ???


    Their on-demand channel was perfectly fine..

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  58. Literally everything they put on Classics is on the network right now.

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  59. You could be right.. TNT '86? PTW '89? WWWF Championship Wrestling, in chronological order starting with Graham's title win? WCWSN in chronological order?

    I got the trial twice.. Both times they didn't have any of this..

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  60. I forgot about the weird random shows they put on there. But I'll take what is on the network now over what classics was any day.

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  61. lol @ the LITERALLY put everything on the Network .... well except this, this, this and this.

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  62. I'm sure there's good stuff on there.. The SNME & COTC are worth $10 a month.. I just don't have enough time as it is to watch the current shit.. Maybe after baseball season.. I already spend a minimum of 2 hours a day doing that, alone..

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  63. You're only missing like 10% of stuff from classics on demand. So not exactly literally but it's hardly the most egregious use of the word on the internet.

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  64. Hrm, this might be interesting. WWE could change.

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  65. I highly doubt it. Like a said in another post, the only change will probably be a WB logo on their DVDs.

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  66. Parents have money...


    Just whatever you do, don't appeal to 20ish white guys, cause we do not pay for ANYTHING.

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  67. Maybe the editing will get better?

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  68. Yeah but they aren't going to buy everything their kid asks for.

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  69. On DVDs? Ever since they stopped blurring out the scratch logo, I haven't noticed any editing problems.

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  70. YOU'RE GAY LIKE FARVA WAS BEFORE HE DIED OF TRUCK AIDS.

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  71. YOU MAY BE GAY... YOU FAG.

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  72. STUPIDEST THING I EVER HEARD? SOMETHING YOU SAID ONCE.

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  73. WHAT'S GAY IS YOU. NOT FARVA'S CORPSE, BUT YOU.

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  74. I'LL RAPE YOU GOOD.

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  75. WHAT WOULD BE TERRIBLE IS YOU TRYING TO SEDUCE A WOMAN, FAGGOT.

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  76. It's like I always have said, guys... a cunt is a cunt is a cunt, even if said cunt is wrapped with a man's ass cheeks.

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  77. Hey so like... what's the deal with Sami Zayn, anyway? Does the WWE really need another white babyface?

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  78. I don't know who's a better wrestler... Tom Billington or Fred Savage.

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