Satellite TV provider Dish Network has pulled all advertising for Sunday’s WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.
The show is no longer listed on the Dish website Sports & Wrestling Events page or the Dish channel guide. TNA pay-per-views are still listed. Based on this information, it appears that Dish Network is dropping WWE pay-per-views ahead of the launch of the WWE Network next week.
With WWE bundling their pay-per-view events on the $9.99/month Network, there has been a lot of buzz in the cable/satellite TV industry that top providers will be retaliating against WWE by no longer covering their events. Following the announcement of the WWE Network, a spokesperson for DirecTV told the Los Angeles Times:
“Clearly we need to quickly re-evaluate the economics and viability of their business with us, as it now appears the WWE feels they do not need their PPV distributors.”
They added that sales WWE PPV events “have been steadily declining, and this new low-cost competitive offering will only accelerate this trend.” DirecTV still has Elimination Chamber listed on their website as of this writing.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see DirecTV drop WWE PPV’s very quickly now that it looks like others are joining suit.
It should be noted that Dish Network reps claim there are still plans to show the Chamber PPV, so this removal of ads could be there way of playing games with the WWE.
