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WWE issued the following
WWE® AND PROSIEBEN MAXX ANNOUNCE MULTI-YEAR AGREEMENT FOR FLAGSHIP PROGRAMS RAW® AND SMACKDOWN®
MUNICH, Germany and STAMFORD, Conn. 26 September, 2016 – WWE (NYSE: WWE) and ProSiebenSat1’s sports business cluster, 7Sports, today announced a new multi-year agreement to televise WWE’s flagship programs Raw® and SmackDown® in German on ProSieben MAXX, beginning in April 2017. This marks the first time both shows have aired on the same free-to-air channel in Germany.
"We are proud that we were able to secure this deal for ProSieben MAXX,” said Zeljko Karajica, CEO, 7Sports. “This gives us the opportunity to extend our WWE coverage and make sports entertainment even more popular in Germany.”
“Sports entertainment programming is in great demand with our viewers, and we are thrilled to announce that as of 2017, ProSieben MAXX will be Germany’s number one TV channel for WWE programs,” said René Carl, Managing Director, ProSieben MAXX.
“ProSieben MAXX shares our vision and passion for engaging and entertaining WWE fans,” said Ed Wells, WWE Executive Vice President, International. “This partnership creates one primary destination in ProSieben MAXX for fans to enjoy our unique blend of action-packed, family entertainment.”
ProSieben MAXX has aired SmackDown since April 2014. WWE’s popularity in Germany continues to grow, with more than half a million viewers on average tuning in to WWE TV programming each week.
ProSieben MAXX will also serve as a marketing partner for WWE Live in Frankfurt on Wednesday, November 2 at Festhalle starting at 7pm; Munich on Thursday, November 3 at Olympiahalle starting at 7pm; Oberhausen on Tuesday, November 8 at the Koenig-Pilsner Arena starting at 7pm; and Berlin on Wednesday, November 9 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena starting at 7pm. Tickets are available at www.eventim.de.
About ProSieben MAXX
ProSiebenSat.1 Group’s free-to-air TV channel, ProSieben MAXX, is available to more than 85 percent of German households via cable, satellite, DVB-T and IPTV, as well as in Austria and Switzerland. Airing sports highlights such as NFL live matches, drama series, documentaries, in-house productions and movies, ProSieben MAXX offers first-class television aimed at a target group of male viewers between the ages of 14 and 39.
About 7Sports
As the sports business cluster of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group, 7Sports bundles the entire group’s innovative and digital sports portfolio. In this manner, 7Sports strives to build digital sport platforms, to expand and exploit the 360° marketing power of exclusive sports productions, to manage young talents and professional athletes, and produce first-class sporting events. 7Sports benefits from the ProSiebenSat.1 Group’s many years of experience with popular sports brands like ran.de and the successful acquisition of new platforms such as Sportdeutschland.TV,90min.com, and EverSport.tv. This complementarity creates ideal synergies across the individual sports segments. Backed by the marketing power of ProSiebenSat.1 in the sports environment, 7Sports is one of the most valuable platforms for sports-oriented advertisers, co-investors, and professional athletes in the German-speaking world.
About WWE
WWE, a publicly traded company (NYSE: WWE), is an integrated media organization and recognized leader in global entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family friendly entertainment on its television programming, pay-per-view, digital media and publishing platforms. WWE programming reaches more than 650 million homes worldwide in 25 languages. WWE Network, the first-ever 24/7 over-the-top premium network that includes all live pay-per-views, scheduled programming and a massive video-on-demand library, is currently available in more than 180 countries. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, Munich and Tokyo.
Additional information on WWE (NYSE: WWE) can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com. For information on our global activities, go to http://www.wwe.com/worldwide/
Trademarks: All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.
Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks relating to: WWE Network; major distribution agreements; our need to continue to develop creative and entertaining programs and events; the possibility of a decline in the popularity of our brand of sports entertainment; the continued importance of key performers and the services of Vincent K. McMahon; possible adverse changes in the regulatory atmosphere and related private sector initiatives; the highly competitive, rapidly changing and increasingly fragmented nature of the markets in which we operate and greater financial resources or marketplace presence of many of our competitors; uncertainties associated with international markets; our difficulty or inability to promote and conduct our live events and/or other businesses if we do not comply with applicable regulations; our dependence on our intellectual property rights, our need to protect those rights, and the risks of our infringement of others’ intellectual property rights; the complexity of our rights agreements across distribution mechanisms and geographical areas; potential substantial liability in the event of accidents or injuries occurring during our physically demanding events including, without limitation, claims relating to CTE; large public events as well as travel to and from such events; our feature film business; our expansion into new or complementary businesses and/or strategic investments; our computer systems and online operations; a possible decline in general economic conditions and disruption in financial markets; our accounts receivable; our revolving credit facility; litigation; our potential failure to meet market expectations for our financial performance, which could adversely affect our stock; Vincent K. McMahon exercises control over our affairs, and his interests may conflict with the holders of our Class A common stock; a substantial number of shares are eligible for sale by the McMahons and the sale, or the perception of possible sales, of those shares could lower our stock price; and the relatively small public “float” of our Class A common stock. In addition, our dividend is dependent on a number of factors, including, among other things, our liquidity and historical and projected cash flow, strategic plan (including alternative uses of capital), our financial results and condition, contractual and legal restrictions on the payment of dividends (including under our revolving credit facility), general economic and competitive conditions and such other factors as our Board of Directors may consider relevant. Forward-looking statements made by the Company speak only as of the date made and are subject to change without any obligation on the part of the Company to update or revise them. Undue reliance should not be placed on these statements. For more information about risks and uncertainties associated with the Company’s business, please refer to the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections of the Company’s SEC filings, including, but not limited to, our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.
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