0/5

Foxtel renews deal with WWE

Deal in its 18th year covers WWE programming live in Australia.

Foxtel is renewing its deal with WWE for an 18th year.

The deal covers WWE programming live in Australia, including WWE’s flagship shows Raw and SmackDown as well as WWE pay-per-views, including WrestleMania and SummerSlam.

“We are thrilled to extend our long-standing partnership with one of the biggest brands in entertainment,” said Stephen Baldwin, Foxtel’s Director of Channels. “WWE has such a passionate fan base in Australia, and Foxtel is pleased to bring this popular content to our customers.”

Michelle Wilson, WWE Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer, said: “Foxtel is a long-time, valued partner who shares our vision and passion for engaging and entertaining our fans. This agreement allows us to continue showcasing our unique blend of action-packed, family friendly entertainment across Australia.”

Foxtel’s FOX8 televises Raw live at 10.00am Tuesdays and SmackDown live at 10.00am Wednesdays.  Following their live broadcast on FOX8, both programs are available to watch from Foxtel’s on demand library, or streamed on demand on Foxtel Now.

Fans can also order all WWE specials live on Foxtel’s pay-per-view channel Main Event, including WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series and Royal Rumble. 

17 Responses

  1. Just noticed that 9GO are having WWE RAW on Thursday at 11:00 PM and WWE Smackdown on Friday at 11:30pm, both are 1 hour shows so likely the edited Hulu US and International version (as India have and etc).

    1. Update: Looking at the TV Guide now it has Entertainment 2012 written on it, so these must be 5 year old ones, like how ONE are showing 2015 MMA Bellator shows.

    2. just checked the Freeview TV guide online and it has Raw at 11pm to midnight on a Thursday Night on NineGo! and Smackdown (in its 20th year btw) on Friday Nights (ironic) from 11.30pm to 12.30am.

      1. Yeah should have been clearer, it has that RAW and Smackdown are ‘Entertainment’ and the year date for the programs says ‘2012’ wasn’t saying there was another show listed.

    1. They actually have their own drug code, which has been developed over the past 20 years or so. Given their steroid trial of 20+ years ago, you’d think they know what they’re doing.
      So its safe to say any full time athlete within their system is a clean athlete.
      Unlike a lot of other sports, they’re actually on the front foot about avoiding concussions and head injuries and impacts too.
      Yes, not perfect.

    2. I actually made that point in the Australian Ninja thread on not drug testing them, the WWE has been sidelining people for using for years even for prescription pain medicine if they don’t submit the prescription info a timely manner. They intially get a 30 day suspension, repeat offence 60 day suspension, another repeat offence 90 days and then booted out, so 3 strikes and you’re gone, they even have to submit if they use any asthma medication or they can be suspended if taces are found and the company has not been informed. There have been suspensions for marijuanna use as well.

      Goes back to 2006 when it was implemented properly and the Chris Benoit case in 2007 made it even more predent. Then with Linda McMahon (owners wife) running for the Senate as a Republican from 2009 onwards they became even more careful to the extent of making the show PG (now she is in the Trump…

  2. It would be interesting to know how many people are still buying the PPVs on Main Event. It must be enough to warrant them to keep showing them.

    1. I’ve been wondering the same, with the WWE Network App on most TV’s (and devices) now and at $9:99pm plus them putting all PPV’s on there lately, the Main Event option is almost redundant.

    2. I agree: it would be a interesting number to look at: whether or not, the WWE Network has impacted the number of WWE PPV buys in Australia.

      Remember, that the WWE Network doesn’t need proprietary equipment or a Foxtel subscription, like Main Event does (and is cheaper than Main Event, including having on-demand content).

      However, Foxtel needs to seriously look at diversifying the wrestling product it carries, to move with the times: I wouldn’t mind if they negotiated to bring NJPW on AXS (New Japan with English commentary for the US market) and Lucha Underground to their platform, even possibly bringing GFW (formally TNA) Impact back. All three products I mentioned are likely heavily downloaded by AU wrestling fans these days.

      1. Needs more Tommy Dreamer House of Hardcore! They just did a huge tour of Australia and drew amazing figures, 1200 in Sydney, 600+ in Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide with Tommy Dreamer, Young Bucks, Jack Swagger, Billy Gunn, Matt Cross and many more including some of the local wrestlers like Andy Phoenix, Robbie Eagles, Ali Vaez

      2. I said similar in another article (UFC), with GFW, NOAH, AAA and Lucha Underground now sharing talent, those would be the ones to look at for mine. However I’d prefer if say TEN picked it up and put it on ONE, with them showing MMA Bellator they should look at these. Lucha Underground would be a good start seeing as it’s seasonal, Season 3 is not far from being over and they could start showing Season 1 – 3, they need to satrt at the begining of course as it does play out storylines (a bit Spanish Soap Opera meets Fantasy meets Wrestling).

        With WWE RAW getting 34,000 viewers on Fox8, then they would at least get that on ONE I would think.

          1. More than likely for Fox8 at least, I remember when WWE and Fox8 had a dispute and it never aired here for a while with PPV’s not on Main Event either and shown at Cinemas (I put up satellite dishes and etc., for it at them). Fox8 for a time had TNA Impact on and when they resolved the issues with WWE and it returned to Fox8, within a couple of months TNA Impact was gone from air (later turned up on FUEL TV).

          2. Foxtel has shown other wrestling products in the past– TNA Wrestling during different stints and showed OCW (Outback Championship Wrestling) on one of it’s channels at one stage.

            I’m assuming it’s less about what the WWE wants and more about Foxtel not seeing a market in the independent wrestling scene.

Leave a Reply