In April, WWE reported that WWE Network ended the first quarter of 2019 with 1.58 million paying subscribers. The service combined that tantalizing deal with WWE’s enormous TV archives and a number of original shows. As part of its monthly $9.99 subscription, WWE Network would let fans live stream the same pay-per-views they had historically paid cable operators as much as $60 per event to see.
Having seen BAMTech help create HBO Now, which reliably streamed Game of Thrones to millions of viewers every week, WWE recruited the company to build a first-of-its-kind service. Years earlier, WWE and BAMTech had spent 10 months building the Network, which offers both on-demand content and 24/7 linear programming, ahead of its flashy CES 2014 debut that featured CEO Vince McMahon and numerous WWE superstars. The moment Disney bet its streaming future on BAMTech was when WWE executives knew they’d have to make big changes to WWE Network, the company’s subscription video service.
