If the U.S. Senate bid does not work out for former WWE CEO Linda McMahon, she is getting great full-contact training on the campaign trail for a potential talk show at her old company.
Stamford-based World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. is working to get its own cable TV network off the ground in 18 months, a move that could be a boon for Fairfield County if WWE were to site the network”™s operations here, taking advantage of the state”™s tax credits for film production.
Versus runs its network operations in Stamford, where it had 100 employees at last report. A subsidiary of Comcast Corp., Versus initially focused on outdoor sports like fishing and cycling before adding more mainstream fare such as the NHL and college football.
Vince McMahon, who took over as WWE CEO last September after spouse Linda announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate, indicated his company has made swift moves toward creating a network since November, when he first acknowledged the possibility of a WWE network.
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“We”™ve been doing a great deal of due diligence on that,” Vince McMahon said in a conference call with investment analysts in February. “We think there is tremendous opportunity out there for us and quite frankly, if things happen as we hope they will happen, it will be a really big game-changer quite frankly for WWE. There is huge opportunity, not only as it relates to domestically with our own network, but to internationally as well. So we are pursuing that and taking the next steps.”
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WWE has yet to state how much such a venture might cost ”“ and by how much it might profit. McMahon has had a mixed record with new business ventures ”“ his XFL football league in partnership with NBC was an outright failure in 2000, lasting a single season. More recently, the company has been working to build up its WWE Studios feature film production business, which in its nascent stages focused on producing action flicks starring WWE crossover stars like John Cena.
Last month, the studio began filming in Louisiana a comparatively highbrow project titled “Big Red,” starring the Academy Award-nominated actor Ed Harris as a teacher who pairs a bright student with the school bully, with unforeseen consequences.
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Spokeswoman Sarah Bruckner said WWE Studios has been working on producing more family-friendly comedies, dramas and thrillers, with the goal of casting award-winning actors and incorporating some of its wrestling superstars in supporting roles.
Despite revenue dropping 10 percent last year to $475 million, WWE increased profits by nearly $5 million to $50 million total. A new network under its control would give it a significant new revenue stream, furnishing WWE an outlet for its library of some 100,000 hours of wrestling footage; as well as for new programming.
With the cable network Syfy, the company debuted last month a hybrid reality-wrestling show titled WWE NXT, in which pro wrestlers mentor rookies new to the circuit.
With a new WWE network representing an obvious threat to existing networks that carry its programming, McMahon said he does not anticipate any problems on that front.
“We are unique in that what”™s good for WWE is good for all of our television partners as far as promotion and things of that nature,” McMahon said. “Obviously, we will be promoting our own network much like the NFL does ”¦ during the Super Bowl. They will mention their own network and things of that nature, and programs that (are) on the network.”
