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Tag: SmackDown

  • WWE reports a fall in operationg income for Q2

    WWE reports a fall in operationg income for Q2

    MUMBAI: World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., (WWE) has announced financial results for its second fiscal quarter ended 27 October, 2006.

    Revenues totalled $96.2 million as compared to $88.9 million in the prior year quarter and operating income was $11.7 million as compared to $18.9 million in the prior year quarter. The company reported net income of $10.4 million as compared to $11.7 million, or $0.17 per share, in the prior year quarter.

    In India WWE airs on Ten Sports.

    WWE CEO Linda McMahon says, ” The current quarter reflects the absence of all domestic cable advertising revenues under our arrangement with USA Network, which accounted for revenues of approximately $5.6 million in the prior year quarter. Our effective tax rate in the current quarter was significantly lower as a result of a beneficial settlement of a state and local tax audit. The prior year quarter also included approximately $3.4 million in positive legal settlements. We accomplished several operational objectives in the second fiscal quarter that are important for our continued development.

    “We launched Friday Night SmackDown on the new CW network, allowing us to broadcast into three million additional homes domestically. We successfully released our second feature film, The Marine in October and the results are firmly in line with our expectations. We have also positioned our home video business for long-term growth by securing a new distribution deal.”

    Revenues from WWE’s live and televised entertainment businesses were $64.3 million for the current quarter as compared to $63 million in the prior year quarter, a two per cent increase. Pay-Per-View (PPV) revenues were $18.6 million as compared to $18.8 million in the prior year quarter. There were three Pay-Per-View events produced in each quarter.

    Beginning in Q1 of the 2006 transition Period, the North American retail price of its PPV events was increased by $5 to $39.95 in order to bring the price more in line with similar live events. International buys comprised approximately 36 per cent of total buys in the current quarter as compared to 40 per cent of total buys in the prior year quarter.

    Live event revenues were $17.6 million as compared to $13.0 million in the prior year quarter, primarily due to the timing of international tours. There were 101 events, including 11 international events and 27 ECW branded events, during the current quarter. In the prior year, there were 78 events, including only 2 international events.

    International events generated approximately $4.6 million in the current quarter as compared to $1.3 million in the prior year quarter. Television rights fees revenues were $21.8 million as compared to $20.4 million in the prior year quarter. This increase is primarily due to the rights fees received from ECW telecasts.

    Television ad revenues were $1.5 million as compared to $7.7 million in the prior year quarter. This decline was due to the earlier mentioned television distribution agreement with USA Network, which became effective in October 2005.

    Due to this change, WWE no longer participates in domestic television advertising sales. Advertising revenues in the current quarter include sales of advertising on the Canadian television programmes.

  • Indonesian TV station stops WWE after mishap

    Indonesian TV station stops WWE after mishap

    MUMBAI: An Indonesian television station Lativi TV has stopped airing several wrestling programmes amid allegations that a nine-year-old boy may have been killed by children imitating the moves of their wrestling heroes.

    Media reports state that the station pulled SmackDown and all other World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) programmes following weeks of pressure from parents and educators who said the shows encouraged violent behaviour in children. In India WWE action airs on Ten Sports.

    Reza Fadillah died on 16 November in the Indonesia’s West Java city of Bandung -several weeks after three of his friends threw him to the ground and pinned him ‘SmackDown-style’.

    His father, Herman Suratman, said that the boy’s X-rays showed internal chest wounds.

    WWE has issued a statement saying that The chief of the Detective Bureau charged with investigating the highly suspicious nature of the child’s death specifically has stated in the media that there is no reason to believe the death of this child had anything to do with watching wrestling.

    WWE says that it first learned on Thanksgiving Day of sketchy and incomplete information that a father of a child in Indonesia was attempting to blame WWE’s SmackDown program for the death of his child. Now it says that the chief of the Detective Bureau charged with investigating the highly suspicious nature of the child’s death specifically stated in the media that the accusations of the family could not be taken at face value and that there is no reason to believe the death of this child had anything to do with watching wrestling.

    Indonesian Broadcasting Commission member Ade Armando was quoted in reports saying, “We have SmackDown posters, shirts, cards, and other things. It has become some kind of specific culture with its own community. If there is no television show, we assume those other things will lose audience. So our conclusion is stopping the show altogether. We will not tolerate its showing anytime.”

    Suratman said, “Let my son be the last victim. This is a lesson, not only for Lativi and the government, but also for us parents to pay more attention to our children. In this era of multimedia, bad influences can easily reach our boys and girls.”

    WWE meanwhile notes that unfortunately, this is not the first time that false allegations of this type have been used to deflect attention away from those directly responsible for the death of a child. It has urged caution in making such unsubstantiated, and now repudiated, statements, especially in light of the ongoing police investigation into the actual and true circumstances of this child’s death while in the custody of others.

    The police noted an autopsy was forbidden by the child’s family for religious reasons. As a resultthe police have indicated in the mediathat because there is no permission to conduct the autopsy, they are currently asking for the child’s medical records from the hospital.

    Although the death of any child is a tragedy, WWE says that it is confident that the investigative conclusions will be that the death of this child had nothing to do with WWE programming.

  • WWE in DVD deal with the Weinstein’s

    WWE in DVD deal with the Weinstein’s

    MUMBAI: Genius Products in the US has entered into a multi-year agreement with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to be the exclusive home entertainment distributor of all WWE DVD titles.

    The deal takes effect from 1 November, 2006. 

    The Weinstein Company is the majority owner of Genius Products. WWE chairman Vince McMahon says. “Home entertainment is a major part of the WWE’s business, and we believe we have found in Genius a company that understands our brand and will help us continue to drive our company’s growth. Bob and Harvey Weinstein have a tremendous track record. We are excited about this partnership and its long-term potential.”

    WWE says that it has successfully used its core businesses of live events, pay-per-view, and producing television content for broadcast and cable networks to establish a vibrant global brand with a presence in more than 130 countries. The company has significantly expanded its line of popular licensed consumer products, such as video games, toys, books and magazines, to territories around the world.

    WWE is focused on spreading its sports entertainment content to new media platforms, and has experienced success with subscription video on demand, broadband and mobile services, online advertising and ecommerce. It also has created a film division focused on the production of feature films, and other film and television projects.

    Bob Weinstein noted, “WWE is not simply a brand; it is an American Icon. Harvey and I very much relate to Vince McMahon’s entrepreneurial style and entertainment philosophy. We love what Vince has done in making WWE the leading sports entertainment franchise in the world, and we are very interested in expanding our relationship beyond DVD distribution to other facets of WWE’s global entertainment empire. We view our relationship with WWE as a major alliance with great growth potential.”

    Under the terms of the agreement, Genius will be the exclusive US distributor for all WWE DVDs. New releases will include content from WWE’s 90,000-hour video library, the largest of its kind in the world, featuring content from Raw, SmackDown! and ECW, pay-per-view events, including WrestleMania, and past and present Superstar profiles, among others.

  • WWE inks deal with Canadian broadcaster for ECW property

    WWE inks deal with Canadian broadcaster for ECW property

    MUMBAI: World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has signed a deal with Canadian broadcaster Global Television Network.

    The deal is for its property Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). ECW will premiere on the Global Television Network on 11 August. In India viewers can catch WWE on Ten Sports.

    WWE Canada president Carl DeMarco said, “This is great news for WWE and ECW fans in Canada. We’re very happy that we’re able to deliver ECW to 12.2 million homes in Canada.”

    In addition, Global Television Network has also committed to adding both Raw and SmackDown! to their programming lineup in Quebec.

    In the 1990’s ECW was a hardcore wrestling promotion whose fearlessness and innovation caused a tremor that is still being felt today. It has a take-no-prisoners mindset

  • New WWE magazine to launch on 11 July

    New WWE magazine to launch on 11 July

    MUMBAI: World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) will launch a new men’s lifestyle magazine on 11 July. The new WWE Magazine will focus on the lifestyles of WWE superstars and divas, their activities outside the ring, and what they like in movies, music, gadgets, fashion and other items of interest to young men in their twenties.

    “This is a complete rebirth of our publishing division. We’ve been planning on giving our audience a look behind the curtain for years and now is the perfect time to do it. The new WWE Magazine is what our fans won’t see on TV,” said World Wrestling Entertainment executive vice president global media Shane McMahon.

    A significant marketing blitz is planned for the magazine’s launch, with WWE using its television, live event and online assets to promote the new venture.

    WWE hired two publishing industry veterans to fold its preexisting magazines RAW and SmackDown into one new title.

    Bob Lee, the new vice president and publisher of WWE’s Magazine Group, is overseeing all distribution, marketing, and advertising sales. Prior to joining WWE, Lee served as publisher of Sync Magazine, where he launched the first men’s tech-tainment magazine. Previously, he was publisher of Gear Magazine and has worked at Discover, Elle and US Weekly.

    Lee says he was attracted to WWE because of the connection between the WWE superstars and WWE fans. “The connection is unmatched in any other property. Our fans are the ultimate consumers of goods which are affiliated with our superstars. The new WWE Magazine is designed to attract a larger segment of the WWE fan base, and to appeal to a wide range of advertisers that target readers of lad titles and other men’s lifestyle magazines. The agencies to which we’ve spoken have been very receptive to the new look and broader appeal of our magazine,” he said.

    Tony Romando, the new vice president and editor-in-chief for WWE’s Magazine Group, has built his career on successful magazine launches, including Jane and FHM and has been involved in the rebranding of magazines like Rolling Stone and Men’s Fitness.

    “I’m looking forward to the launch of WWE magazine as much as anything I’ve done in my career. One of the things that drew me to WWE was the company’s tremendous media presence, and how it uses that presence to create a 360 -degree approach to marketing,” said Romando.

  • Ten Sports launches new, racy WWE brand

    Ten Sports launches new, racy WWE brand

    MUMBAI: Ten Sports will launch its third original World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) show of the week with the start of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW).

    The other two shows are Raw and SmackDown!

    ECW will debut on Ten Sports on 29 June at 11:30 pm. The late night wrestling show will settle into a regular Friday night 10:30 pm slot once the Indian cricket tour of the West Indies has ended.

    The new roster of wrestling stars is designed to create a more extreme form of the sport. Ten Sports has decided against showing ECW to a daytime audience. The action will be the raciest by far and will be restricted to a new late night slot. The show replaces Velocity.

    Ten Sports says that ECW has already proved a ratings success in North America where the ECW team of wrestlers has begun taking on the existing teams of Raw and SmackDown!.