WWE Conference Call: Vince McMahon on WWE Network numbers, new subscription model, and more

Vince McMahon and members of senior management served as the hosts of a conference call pertaining to the 2014 third quarter report that was released on October 29, 2014. The following are the highlights of the call.

-The call is hosted by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, WWE Chief Strategy and Financial Officer George Barrios, and WWE SVP Investor Relations Michael Weitz.

-Vince opened the call by boasting about the pay-per-view revenue, Raw and Smackdown ratings increasing, and SummerSlam performing well in social media activity.

-Vince said 96 percent of the network subscribers access the network at least once a week. He said going with the monthly $9.99 price without any commitment "is definitely the way to go."

-Vince said WWE Network will be available via over the top model in the United Kingdom in November.

-Barrios took over the call to read through the financial report. He noted that WWE added 182,000 subscribers around WrestleMania time. Barrios said that over time they intend to localize WWE Network in foreign countries.

-The resume play option for WWE Network will be available on all platforms later this year.

-Barrios noted that their key television agreements in the United States, India, Canada, Mexico, and UAE will increase from approximately $130 million in 2014 to $235 million by 2013 due to annual escalators. Weitz. opened things up for callers.

-A caller noted they were over six months removed from the network and asked about why they feel they have lost some subscribers. Barrios pointed to the 96 percent of the existing subscribers who access the network once a week, and 99 percent who access it once a month. Barrios said about 30,000 of the 286,000 additions they had for the network were international. He said they view international as a soft launch and expected it to be a slower ramp up than in the United States.

-Barrios said they have not adjusted their overall outlook numbers to include network advertising.

-Barrios said they will continue to disclose the network subscriber count quarterly. A caller asked for projections for a subscriber count by the end of the year. Barrios said they are not comfortable making predictions.

-A caller brought up the model the company is using in Canada via Rogers Communications. Barrios said they didn't want to get into specifics regarding subscriber count per country. Barrios said Rogers is currently working through additional distribution for the network in Canada. He said they have roughly 20 percent covered via Rogers and have roughly 80 percent of Canada to go.

-The next caller asked for a breakdown of how the Rogers model compares to the U.S. in terms of penetration. Barrios said it feels "not too dissimilar" to what they've done in the United States.

-Barrios declined to get into specifics regarding how individual shows perform on WWE Network.

-With no additional callers, Weitz wrapped up the call.