Report: Amazon In Talks To Stream Professional Wrestling
Another giant could potentially enter the market...
Today, professional wrestling is more accessible than it ever has been. In the UK alone, wrestling can be found on free TV with All Elite Wrestling on ITV 4 and IMPACT Wrestling & WWE on Channel 5. Major League Wrestling is also available on FreeSports and other promotions like New Japan Pro Wrestling, Ring Of Honor and the National Wrestling Alliance can be found on a variety of streaming services.
Professional wrestling could soon become even easier to access as Mike Johnson at PWInsider reported that MLW has been in talks with Amazon in recent weeks about bringing Fusion and other programming to Prime Video.
Johnson noted that wrestling has become more appealing to the global giant in recent months as companies are currently preparing for an expected writers strike. The Writers' Guild's current three-year contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers ends on May 1, and a strike seems likely as writers have already voiced their grievances about compensation in the era of streaming services. As MLW's writers are non-unionised, a strike would not affect their programming, making them an attractive content provider if a strike does happen.
For the avoidance of doubt, Johnson penned: "PWInsider.com can exclusively confirm that Major League Wrestling has had talks with Amazon in recent weeks discussing the potential of bringing MLW programming to their Amazon Prime streaming service. Amazon has made it a priority to acquire live programming rights and are even said to be in the mix for NFL rights. Obviously, Amazon would be well aware of how pro wrestling is successful due to their own data with direct to consumer sales, their own streaming VOD service and Amazon's cloud services, which handle the infrastructure for a lot of streaming services."
Professional wrestling could soon become even easier to access as Mike Johnson at PWInsider reported that MLW has been in talks with Amazon in recent weeks about bringing Fusion and other programming to Prime Video.
Johnson noted that wrestling has become more appealing to the global giant in recent months as companies are currently preparing for an expected writers strike. The Writers' Guild's current three-year contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers ends on May 1, and a strike seems likely as writers have already voiced their grievances about compensation in the era of streaming services. As MLW's writers are non-unionised, a strike would not affect their programming, making them an attractive content provider if a strike does happen.
For the avoidance of doubt, Johnson penned: "PWInsider.com can exclusively confirm that Major League Wrestling has had talks with Amazon in recent weeks discussing the potential of bringing MLW programming to their Amazon Prime streaming service. Amazon has made it a priority to acquire live programming rights and are even said to be in the mix for NFL rights. Obviously, Amazon would be well aware of how pro wrestling is successful due to their own data with direct to consumer sales, their own streaming VOD service and Amazon's cloud services, which handle the infrastructure for a lot of streaming services."
Written by Aidan Gibbons
Editor-in-Chief of Cultaholic.com Twitter: @theaidangibbons