Matthew Belloni in Puck

A good model is Peacock-WWE. Last March, NBC Universal took over the pro wrestling outfit’s WWE Network and its 1.1. million subs, offering them a deal on Peacock for their Roman Reigns fix. Check out these internal Peacock stats that came to me from a source:

  • Of the 1.1 million subscribers to WWE Network, one million successfully converted to Peacock subscribers.
  • More than 3 million Peacock subs have watched WWE content since it moved over in March.
  • More than half of those 3 million subs indicated that they signed up “because of WWE.”

Rights and branding issues are thorny, but consolidation makes sense, even if it’s not a major merger like Comcast or Netflix or Roku picking off Lionsgate/Starz, or some of the other buzzed-about potential deals.

I wonder what Australian consolidation we could see?

There’s no way that Youtube, Amazon, Netflix, Disney, or Apple will cede their position or brand, and maybe they could suck some streaming providers in. Viacom CBS seems set on playing the long game so they could be in the same lineup as the big five.

That leaves SBS, ABC, Seven, Nine, Telstra, Stan, Kayo, Binge, Foxtel, Hayu, Optus Sport in the Australian market wanting credentials or money, and HBO Max, Hulu, Peacock, Fubo/ESPN not in the market … yet?

Who’s left in 2025? Is there room for 20 subscriptions? Potentially $200 a month on TV.