Anthem Has No Plans to Sell Tape Library to WWE

Anthem Sports Executive Vice President Ed Nordholm recently appeared on Wrestling Observer Radio. Here are some highlights from the interview:

Nordholm on investing in the future of the company: “We’re invested in this company. We’re growing it. We know it’s not going to turn around tomorrow.”

Nordholm on how the digital service will bring in content from promotional partners such as AAA and NOAH as well: “We do expect in the very near future to be bringing in our partners as well. It’s not branded an Impact app. We want it to be a generic place for AAA, NOAH, if we can persuade New Japan or anybody. We’ll have a plan, an efficient place for an aggregation of wrestling content that isn’t related to WWE. Most of the product will be in the pay tier. It’s hard to make the business work in the digital world off an ad-based product. There will be stuff available on the free tier, but you’ll have to go to the pay tier for the archives.”

• Ed Nordholm on how selling the library to WWE makes no economic sense: “I know full well how the WWE Network would monetize the content and what they could pay for the library. It makes no sense for me to sell it for that kind of price. I’d rather keep it, put it up on the app, and monetize it myself.”