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New York-listed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) along with Ten Sports will invest a little over $100 million (Rs 600 crore) in the Indian sporting-related entertainment market, according to sources.
While Rakesh Sethi, CEO, Ten Sports, refused to give out any financial numbers related to revenue or investment, WWE's General Manager India, Rukn Kizilbash, said that the firm was committed to the Indian market and is making good amount of investment.
Sethi said the funds will be used to bring in technology to reduce the gap between the television shows between India and the US market. Besides, it will be used to organise more live events in the country and launch a WWE line of merchandise both for kids and adults.
Ten Sports, which has the exclusive rights for the WWE in India, has extended their television distribution agreement for five more years through 2019.
Sethi further added that while the partnership would work towards creating more local content, telecast in regional languages but also create more live events that could bring India on the global tourism map.
WWE conducts 300 live events in a year globally.
In addition to the continued broadcasts of WWE’s flagship programs Raw, SmackDown, NXT and monthly pay-per-view specials, starting January 1, 2015, Ten Sports will introduce a new one-hour fully customised version of Raw tailored specifically for the Indian audience and add WWE Main Event™ to its programming lineup.
Ten Sports will also air WWE content in multiple Indian languages for the first time and bring WWE live events back to India in 2015, Sethi said during the launch here today.
“India remains a strategically important market for WWE and we are thrilled to continue our long-term partnership with Ten Sports, the region’s leader in sports programming,” said Gerrit Meier, WWE Executive Vice President, International.
“As the value of the WWE brand and our content continues to increase around the world, the scale and scope of this new agreement illustrates our ability to drive a passionate and engaged audience as well as the potential we have for future growth,” he added.
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