The WWE Network is a future cable television network owned by WWE, to be launched in 2012. The current goal is to form a "hybrid" network incorporating a traditional TV distribution model with online/mobile distribution. It was announced on the September 5, 2011 edition of WWE Raw

WWE RAW

WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...

that the WWE Network will launch sometime in 2012.

Overview

The WWE Network will be available for between $7 and $12 a month with 30 additional channels, including the NFL Network

NFL Network

NFL Network is an American television specialty channel owned and operated by the National Football League . It was launched November 4, 2003, only eight months after the league's 32 team owners voted unanimously to approve its formation...

, NBA TV

NBA TV

NBA TV is a television specialty channel that is dedicated to showcasing the sport of basketball in the United States. The network is financially backed by the National Basketball Association , which also uses NBA TV as a way of advertising their out of market package NBA League Pass, and partner...

, NHL Network, MLB Network

MLB Network

MLB Network is an American television specialty channel dedicated to professional baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball. Comcast, DirecTV, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications have minority ownership of the new network, with MLB retaining a controlling two-thirds share...

, Fuel TV

Fuel TV

Fuel TV is a U.S. cable and satellite specialty channel that launched on July 1, 2003. It focuses on the cultures of such extreme sports as skateboarding, snowboarding, wakeboarding, motocross, surfing, BMX and FMX. It is a unit of Fox Cable Networks and is currently available to 26-million...

, and Fox Business Network

Fox Business Network

Fox Business Network is an American cable news and satellite news television channel that began broadcasting on October 15, 2007. It is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation...

.

In an email sent to WWE fans who might be interested in the WWE Network, WWE surveyed fans for their thoughts about the WWE Network showing WWE's big four pay-per-views (Royal Rumble

Royal Rumble

The Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced every January by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. The event was created in 1988, with its inaugural event taking place on January 24, 1988 at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario...

, WrestleMania

WrestleMania

WrestleMania is a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced annually in late March or early April by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut...

, SummerSlam

SummerSlam

SummerSlam is a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced annually in August by professional wrestling promotion WWE. The inaugural SummerSlam took place on August 29, 1988 at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York and was broadcast via pay-per-view, unlike the Royal Rumble of that...

, and Survivor Series

Survivor Series

The Survivor Series is an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view event held in November by WWE. It is one of the "Big Four" events, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble and SummerSlam, as It is one of the original four pay-per-views produced by WWE....

) for free to subscribers. WWE issued yet another survey regarding the upcoming network – this time, asking fans if they would change cable providers in order to get the new WWE Network. The survey noted that WWE’s eight ‘secondary’ pay-per-views would be featured on the network while the “big four” (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series) would remain on pay-per-view. The network will also feature repeats of Raw

WWE RAW

WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...

 and SmackDown, as well as footage from WCW

World Championship Wrestling

World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...

, ECW

Extreme Championship Wrestling

Extreme Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1992 by Tod Gordon and closed when his successor, Paul Heyman, declared bankruptcy in April 2001...

, NWA

National Wrestling Alliance

The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...

 and AWA

American Wrestling Association

The American Wrestling Association was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 to 1991. It was owned and founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo...

. The WWE Network will also debut two new in-ring shows and an interactive show. Also, the WWE Network will be airing a new reality show starring some of the craziest legends in WWE history.

On October 17, 2011, WWE announced on their website the name of their first WWE Network show, Wrestlemania Rewind. According to WWE, it will "transport the WWE Universe back to a single WrestleMania in a three-episode series, starting with the Show of Shows' thrilling debut at Madison Square Garden in 1985, all the way to WrestleMania XXVIII

WrestleMania XXVIII

WrestleMania XXVIII is the forthcoming twenty-eighth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by WWE. It is scheduled to take place on April 1, 2012 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida...

 in Miami".

On November 27, 2011, WWE launched a website encouraging fans to notify their television service provider of the WWE Network. The website features a countdown clock that will expire on April 1, 2012, the same day as WrestleMania XXVIII.

External links

• The WWE Network Article at The Wrestling Cafe
• WWE Network on Facebook
  Facebook
  Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...