Majority of the discussion about ROH in the wrestling world has been on the sustainability and success of this new product. Sinclair Broadcasting covers 24% of American households with a total of 57 stations. This method of distribution is similar to the territory days when syndication ruled the roost, in fact, this is how I was able to enjoy ECW, Smoky Mountain Wrestling and Memphis' USWA in Detroit on WADL. These shows were all shown on a rather unwatched UHF station and the only way to know they were on was through extremely sparse commercials (lucky for me I was a Shop At Home sports card show addict so WADL and Mr. Don West were staples of my childhood).
These examples were from 1995 to 2000, which begs the question, can a product distributed this way survive in the 1000+ channel universe? Each Sinclair Network station airs the show at a different time based on local scheduling, therefore nationwide advertising is impossible. Adding to this the already dismal state of the wrestling industry, it will be a very uphill climb for Ring Of Honor to survive, much less grow.
The other more interesting side to the product will be the internet distribution. ROH have instituted a unique way for fans not in Sinclair Markets to check out the show. It will be made available to premium Ringside members the Monday after the original airing for a monthly subscription of $7.99, for those who choose not to pay it can be streamed for free 3 days later with a basic registration to the site. It is important to note that the $7.99 monthly subscription also features other benefits such as discounts, merchandise and legacy content.
This two tiered approach should be supplemented with other content delivery systems to maximize the viewership of the program. Adding free internet availability is fantastic and also allows Ring Of Honor to gather contact information for those who watch the show, making promotion of events much easier. The downside to this is the difficulty for many to enjoy a product on their computer rather than on the big screen. Adding distribution via a popular streaming video service is something that should be viewed as a necessity for Ring Of Honor.
In order for this company's product to succeed, it needs to embrace the "content now" philosophy of distribution. Netflix, Hulu Plus and iTunes come to mind as just a few widely embraced content delivery systems. Jeff Katz' Wrestling Revolution Project seem to be utilizing this method of distribution and it will be interesting to see the levels of success it can attain. Netflix currently has 9.8 million subscribers and Hulu Plus has about 1 million subscribers, these are extremely large audiences that would benefit from an easier and higher quality way to watch the show. The ability for all video game consoles, most smartphones and tablets, portable video game consoles and any computer to watch Netflix content is a huge benefit as the target demographic for Ring Of Honor would also be the most likely to have a device such as this. The major issue with this model is that a monthly subscription for Netflix is very similar in price to the monthly subscription fee for Ring Of Honor on their official website.
It is my hope for ROH's success that they embrace various digital streaming methods for the product. Releasing the weekly show on Netflix the same day as it is released for free online would be a great idea as it will do little to cannibalize Ringside subscriptions, enable fans to watch in higher quality and increase the likelihood of casual viewership. It will be interesting to see the next few months and how this model will work, it is my hope that Dave Lagana who seems to understand modern distribution methods, will convince the company to pursue this route.
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