World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has expanded its reach in the international market. They announced a new partnership with Disney in Indonesia today, as reported by Todd Spangler for Variety. Disney Plus Hotstar will be the exclusive streaming home for WWE Network in Indonesia, beginning with the 2022 Royal Rumble. It marks the first direct collaboration between WWE and Disney, notwithstanding some inherited ties in the Latin American market which Disney acquired from Fox. Hulu, owned by Disney, also has re-airing rights to Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown, a deal set to expire at the end of 2022. The deal marks the beginning of an ambitious new content expansion between the two in Indonesia.
WWE and Disney Have Come To Terms on Partnership
.@Disney has cut its first @WWE deal, agreeing to an exclusive pact to carry @WWENetwork in Indonesia.
The deal will make WWE Network available on @DisneyPlusHS starting with the Royal Rumble on Jan. 30.
🔺 @Ourand_SBJ https://t.co/6mXqfCD7AB pic.twitter.com/i9jCUkoOEm
— Sports Business Journal (@SBJ) January 27, 2022
At no additional cost aside from prior subscription costs to Disney Plus Hotstar customers, subscribers in Indonesia will be able to access live events, on-demand WWE’s documentaries, reality shows, and archived content including episodes of Monday Night Raw, Friday Night SmackDown, and NXT. This mirrors their current arrangement with NBC, to stream similar content through their streaming service Peacock.
WWE’s and NBC’s partnership launched in 2021, with the closure of WWE Network and the beginning of its hosting on Peacock. Speculation has been rife for several months that WWE, which has released several talents and behind-the-scenes staff between 2020 and 2021 in alleged cost-cutting measures, is approaching a sale to a larger entity. NBC, the current home of the WWE Network in the U.S. market, has factored largely in this conversation, but now WWE is strengthening its ties to Disney.
Vineet Puri, GM for Indonesia with Walt Disney Co., stated of the partnership, “As home of the best global and local-language content, we’re excited to welcome the extensive library of content from WWE Network to the ever-expanding slate of Disney Plus Hotstar.”
While WWE’s president Nick Khan offered profuse enthusiasm of Disney and WWE’s future together, stating, “The Walt Disney Company has long been the gold standard in creating iconic intellectual property that serves as the backbone for international business growth. Partnering with Disney Plus Hotstar will allow us to deliver WWE Network content including WrestleMania on a best-in-class platform to our existing fans in Indonesia while also introducing WWE to new audiences in the region as Disney Plus continues to expand its reach internationally.”
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the WWE Network and Peacock.
