In five days, ESPN and WWE will embark on the first step of a five-year journey.
On Saturday, ESPN will broadcast Wrestlepalooza exclusively on its new direct-to-consumer app. It’s the first Premium Live Event (PLE) under a new five-year, $1.6 billion deal with WWE inked last month. And WWE is going all out.
The event will feature Brock Lesnar’s first match in two years as he takes on John Cena. Superstars like CM Punk, Seth Rollins, AJ Lee, and Becky Lynch are also headlining the card. Wrestlepalooza will be of great interest to both WWE diehards and casual wrestling fans alike.
The problem? Nearly one month after ESPN launched its brand new direct-to-consumer app, a large swath of would-be users are still on the outside looking in.
In the lead-up to the app’s launch, ESPN could not have been clearer with its marketing “All of ESPN. All in one place.” A key pillar of that marketing campaign was the idea that no matter how or where you purchase ESPN, you’ll be able to access all of the bells and whistles associated with the new app, including exclusive programming. If you want to pay $30 per month to ESPN directly, great, you now have that option. But if you’re one of the more than 65 million pay TV subscribers that access ESPN through a traditional bundle, you’ll be able to authenticate into the app too.
That avenue of access will face its first real test on Saturday as millions of wrestling fans descend on the ESPN app for Wrestlepalooza. But unfortunately for some, their pay TV bundles still don’t have access to the premium tier of ESPN’s app as was promised.
Comcast and YouTube TV subscribers will be the largest groups impacted. Comcast has approximately 12 million pay TV customers, while YouTube TV has over nine million. That’s more than 20 million consumers currently paying for ESPN through traditional pay TV bundles that will not have access to Wrestlepalooza unless Disney is able to strike new distribution agreements with Comcast and Google in the next five days. Add Dish, Sling TV, and Cox to the mix — all of which are in the same boat as Comcast and YouTube TV — and that number climbs even higher.
The only way for these paying customers to access Wrestlepalooza on Saturday, assuming no new deals are struck, is by subscribing to ESPN directly for an additional $30 per month. When you promise “All of ESPN. All in one place.” but don’t deliver that to tens of millions of subscribers that should be able to authenticate into the app, that’s a problem.
Come Saturday, there will be mass confusion. Unless you’re following the ins and outs of the industry like us here at Awful Announcing, it’s not reasonable to expect people to know which distributors have access to the full version of ESPN’s new app and which do not.
How many Comcast subscribers will try and click into Wrestlepalooza this weekend only to learn they have to shell out an additional $30 to watch? Will ESPN do anything to better inform customers who will and who won’t have access to these WWE PLEs through their pay TV providers?
So far, the network has been mum. Maybe that’s because deals are imminent. Maybe that’s because it’s not in ESPN’s best interest to talk about it as negotiations are ongoing. Maybe that’s because the network knows it can pickup some unknowing subscribers on Saturday who are desperate to watch WWE.
We know Google has a distribution deal with Disney that expires next month. No doubt, similar to when ESPN would put important programming on ESPN2 or ESPNU to secure more lucrative carriage fees for those channels back in the day, they’re treating the new ESPN app similarly. Wrestlepalooza is the start, but soon enough ESPN will be putting even more exclusive live programming on its app, forcing distributors into favorable terms to secure access.
For now, it seems like ESPN is willing to use Wrestlepalooza as a sacrificial lamb to maximize its leverage. Comcast and YouTube TV subscribers will be unable to access the event via their current pay TV package, those subscribers will (rightfully) get upset but (wrongfully) direct blame at Comcast and YouTube TV, even though it was ESPN who misled them with their marketing.
As usual, it’s the fans getting hung out to dry in these negotiations.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.