The WWFE has announced it will no longer be offering its PPV programming on DirecTV, starting with the 'No Mercy' event on Sunday, October 21. The organisation, which handles the TV rights deals for the WWF, stated that it is encouraging fans who are DirecTV subscribers to seek alternative ways to view the upcoming event as well as future wrestling content.
The two parties have been in ongoing negotiations ever since the previously existing contract, which gave DirecTV one PPV event each month, came up for renewal last January. WWF had granted several extensions for the coverage to DirecTV during the talks but with no outcome arising has finally decided to cut off the satellite broadcaster completely.
During contract negotiations a dispute had broken out how revenue from the broadcasts was collected - a row that had at one point seemed to be on the verge of resolution but now looks to have had the ultimate effect on a positive outcome.
Stuart Snyder, president and COO of WWFE, commented: "As the leading content and revenue provider in the pay-per-view industry, WWFE is simply asking for a fair split in the revenues."
DirecTV, the US' leading satellite platform with ten million subscribers, could stand to lose substantially from the loss of WWF content - a consistent ratings winner for the broadcaster.
Other platforms who will now be bidding for the PPV content could be able to lure in a number of customers from DirecTV through the provision of WWF coverage. Indeed, main rival platform EchoStar has been given access to WWF PPV events during the negotiating period between DirecTV and WWFE and would be the obvious candidate to take over the coverage.
World Wrestling Federation Entertainment (WWFE) has ended attempts to resolve its long-running dispute with US satellite platform DirecTV over the carriage of pay-per-view events.
