There has been a lot of talk in the industry regarding suitors for WWE’s television package, which will include RAW and SmackDown. Outside of the cable networks that we reported on last week, WGN is another station that has expressed legitimate interest in attracting the WWE television package to their channel.
Currently, WGN is available in 73 million out of the 99 million homes that have access to cable television. One of the key reasons WGN has shown serious interest is because of their belief that adding WWE to their network would expand their cable reach, as well as give them the ability to charge cable systems more for carriage.
While WGN doesn’t draw the strongest ratings, they do apparently have a considerable amount of money. In fact, in 2008 they were said to be one of the few legitimate bidders for WWE programming besides the USA Network. Additionally, they were one of the highest bidders for “Better Call Saul,” which is the spin-off of the widely popular “Breaking Bad” drama series.
WGN is currently getting just under ten cents per home per month, but if they could increase to 90 million homes and get to 25 cents per month with the addition of WWE programming, that would take the station from $87.6 million in revenue from carries to $270 million. That, along with ad revenue, could justify the company making an offer of $250 million or greater to WWE, as long as they are willing to overspend to help build the station.
From the WWE perspective, WGN presents similar issues to those surrounding FOX Sports 1 as a potential option, as the availability of the cable channels are less than some of the other high-profile options currently on the table. WWE would, however, like to get the word out about the interest from WGN, as their high financial offer would likely help to drive up the price that WWE could get in securing a new cable home.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
