WWE

A week from today, WWE will release an important number: How many subscribers have paid $10 a month to watch the WWE Network since it launched in late February.

It’s a certainty that the figure — no matter how big or small — will be closely analyzed by Wall Street, the entertainment industry and the blogosphere because it will provide the first official glimpse at whether going alone and spending tens of millions of dollars to launch its own digital-only network is breaking new ground for the company and giving it control over its content or turn into a risky move that could go bust.

Should it prove a success, however, you can be sure that it will serve as a model for other content owners looking to untether themselves from their traditional pay-TV partners — and for major online entertainment players looking to unplug their programming from YouTube and build up their own over-the-top networks through new digital platforms.

WWE has said it hopes to attract 1 million subscribers by the end of the year, and it’s counting on this weekend’s “WrestleMania” — its 30th — as a way boost sign ups to the network that’s available online, and through apps on a variety of devices from Apple TV and Roku set-top boxes, PlayStation and Xbox 360 video game consoles, Amazon’s Kindle Fire, and mobile devices that run on Apple’s iOS and Android. One million subscribers would enable the WWE Network to break even, the company has said. With 2 million, it could add $50 million to its coffers; 3 million turns that into $150 million — far more than the 20 cents per month it would have earned from cable, where most of its weekly shows currently air.

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