Posted in: Disney+, Sports, streaming, TV, WWE | Tagged: disney, disney plus, Disney+ Hotstar, hulu, indonesia, nbcuniversal, peacock, Royal Rumble, Vince McMahon, Wrestlemania, wrestling, wwe, wwe network

Disney+ Carrying WWE Network In Indonesia To Be Just The Beginning

There's been a lot of speculation over the past year and change that Vince McMahon might actually be considering calling it a career and doing what was once completely unfathomable; selling WWE to another company.  Even up to fairly recently, the assumption of everyone was that when McMahon stepped down, he'd pass the reigns to his daughter, Stephanie McMahon, and her husband, Paul "Triple H" Levesque.  But seeing as Levesque appears to be in an ever-diminishing role with the company coupled with the rise of WWE President Nick Khan as the de facto head of all business decisions, it seems the empire might not stay under McMahon rule forever, or even that much longer.  Enter Disney.

It was announced this week that Disney has acquired the exclusive streaming right to the WWE Network in Indonesia.  It will be a part of the package on Disney+ Hotstar, the Disney streaming service in Indonesia, beginning today with one of WWE's biggest annual events, the Royal Rumble.  Disney+ Hotstar subscribers will now have access to WWE's premium live events, as well as their original programming and the entire catalog of WWE history.

Vineet Puri, General Manager, Indonesia, The Walt Disney Company said the following about the new 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+ Hotstar. With this new content on Disney+ Hotstar, we hope to expand our reach and engage even more audiences in Indonesia."

WWE President Nick Khan added that they see Disney as "the gold standard in creating iconic intellectual property that serves as the backbone for international business growth."  And that the new partnership with Disney+ Hotstar will "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+ continues to expand its reach internationally."

So with WWE now officially in business with Disney, could the "house of mouse" eventually buy the wrestling titan outright?  It's certainly possible and with WWE's heavy expense-trimming over the past two years, even while seeing record-high profits, it would appear they're trying to make their financials look as appealing as possible to any potential buyer.

While it's certainly possible Disney might add WWE to their ever-growing massive I.P. property list, it's probably still a ways off from coming to fruition, if that were to happen.  WWE just established a huge deal with NBCUniversal to be the exclusive U.S. home of the WWE Network as a part of their Peacock app last year.  If Disney were to buy McMahon's company, they would presumably want the WWE Network on Disney+ in the U.S. asap.

But it's worth noting there is some precedent to Disney properties airing WWE programming.  Disney owns Hulu, which currently has the first re-air streaming rights to both Raw and SmackDown, though that deal is set to expire this year.  With everything as it currently stands, you can assume NBCUniversal will make a big pitch for those right to lump the immediate replays of Raw and SmackDown to Peacock, where currently there's a pretty large delay until the most recent episode of each respective show is uploaded.

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