Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Although I covered this in a recent Q&A, we have received a lot of email asking about the demise of Pivotshare and all the professional wrestling streaming channels it is pulling into the darkness with it when it shuts down. The vast majority of these questions seem to be coming from subscriber of the Highspots Wrestling Network, so here is exactly what is happening and why:
*When the Highspots Wrestling Network (HWN) and many of these other services launched years ago, they did so in partnership with a streaming platform named Pivotshare.
*Pivotshare handled the subscriber sign ups and launched and maintained the different streaming platforms these services were on, including Roku and other platforms. Highspots and the other promotions were not directly involved in that - Pivotshare was a third party they worked with, much as the WWE Network was hosted by MLB and is now hosted by Endeavor Streaming.
*Pivotshare was acquired by another company, which then decided it would not long support upkeep, technological maintenance and customer service for these platforms.
*So, if you were subscribing to HWN, there was now no one there to make sure the channel was working properly, was being upkept for new Roku devices and technological upgrades, etc. The channel was left to basically float out there and exist, if and until it crashed and burned. Basically, all of these channels were left out to sea, although subscriptions were still being accepted and new content could still be uploaded. Beyond that, everything else was an impossibility.
*Since Highspots and others had no access to the subscriber bases, if you were having an issue and didn't hear back from Pivotshare, none of these entities - Highspots, Northeast Wrestling, the other promotions, etc. would even have zero knowledge of that, because Pivotshare was no longer handling anything.
*Highspots, the moment they realized that the HWN would eventually careen into a wall, launched Highspots. TV and no longer promoted HWN. However, they were now stuck with a sizable subscriber base who were paying for HWN with no way to inform those subscribers that Highspots was shifting to the new platform, because Pivotshare could/would/didn't have the ability to provide Highspots with that information, just as they were no longer investing in the upkeep of the platform.
*Pivotshare informed all existing subscribers of these channels that they would be unscubscribed and that the channels would cease to exist earlier this week. Their services would shut down in about 30 days.
*They did not, however, inform of the promotions using their service in advance of this, meaning those who had not already attempted to shift to a new streaming service will either now make that pivot (no pun intended) or disappear.
*Those of you who subscribe to HWN, those subscriptions cannot be transferred over to Highspots.TV since Pivot has the information. It is not a case of bad customer service from Higspots or any of those other Pivotshare clients. Their hands are tied. So, you'd need to sign up for Highspots.TV on your own.
*As an aside, once HWN disappears, the 30 episode Legends of Extreme series will go with it as I have zero idea whether it will migrate over to Highspots.TV. Whether it does or not, I want to really thank anyone who ever watched it, as it was really important to me personally, so thanks.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
