FloSports and WWN Live issued the following press release late Monday afternoon:
FloSports Announces Five-Year Agreement With WWNLive To Live Stream All Events on FloSlam.tv
Exclusive Worldwide Partnership Includes EVOLVE, SHINE, Full Impact Pro, and WWN Supershow
Austin, TX (Oct. 24, 2016) – FloSports today announced a five-year partnership with World Wrestling Network Live (WWNLive) to make FloSlam.tv the exclusive worldwide streaming partner of all WWNLive properties, including EVOLVE, SHINE, Full Impact Pro and WWN Supershow.
The agreement begins Friday, Nov. 4, with live coverage of SHINE 38 from Ybor City, Fla. There will be live coverage of approximately 60 events annually on FloSlam as part of this deal.
“We’re excited to serve die-hard pro wrestling fans with live streams of some of the best independent promotions in the world,” FloSports co-founder and CEO Martin Floreani said. “This is a groundbreaking agreement that will take WWNLive to new heights.”
In addition to live coverage and replays of all future WWNLive promotions, FloSlam will host archives from all WWNLive events dating back to 2003 and will produce a series of original documentaries focusing on the lives and stories of the athletes who compete in pro wrestling events across the world.
“Everyone at WWN is excited to be partnering with such an innovative and groundbreaking company like FloSports,” said Sal Hamaoui, President of WWN, Inc. “I recently had the opportunity to meet and speak with their senior management and take a firsthand look at their operations in Austin, Texas. To say that I was impressed with the overall knowledge of their team, the quality of their live streams and their user-friendly platforms would be an understatement. This relationship will allow us to continue to serve and expand our loyal, passionate fan base who will have access to all WWN-branded events at a very affordable monthly or annual price.”
Top independent pro wrestling stars including Timothy Thatcher, Matt Riddle, Zack Sabre Jr., Tony Nese, and Drew Gulak will be featured in upcoming events.
FloSlam users can access all live streams and premium content on the site via monthly ($20/month introductory price) or annual ($150/year) FloPRO subscription. Annual subscribers to FloSlam receive a universal pass to all premium content across the FloSports network, including FloWrestling, FloGrappling, FloCombat, FloKO and others.
In addition, FloSlam content is available on all screens now with the recent launch of the FloSports’ Roku and Apple TV apps.
Analysis: If you’re already buying two or more WWN-branded shows a month, then you’re spending what the FloSlam new service costs. And if you’re a fan of any of Flo’s other programming, then the annual subscription to FloPRO gets you those, too. As for the value proposition, it’s an improvement over WWN’s current model, especially in light of this tweet from Evolve’s Gabe Sapolsky:
This deal means you can get all WWN Family events for $20 a month or $150 a year at @FloSports. There will be at least 5 events per month.
— Gabe Sapolsky (@BookItGabe) October 24, 2016
Obviously, if FloSlam adds more promotions, that becomes an even better value.
As for the hype for the announcement from PWTorch’s Wade Keller on both Twitter and his website, it appears that it’s based around the type of money Flo is willing to spend on shows. If it really is substantial enough to be a game changer, then you can understand the hype, since it changes the business model for “buzz-worthy” indies.
Also, we have to keep in mind that WWE was part of the group that invested in Flo Sports recently. While it appears that they have no direct involvement with decision making (after all, this competes with the planned new WWE Network tier), it’s still interesting that Flo’s first signing is a promotion that WWE has close ties to.
