Mike Weber is one busy man. As COO of FITE TV, he finds himself and his team spinning a whole lot of video production plates in the many facets of the pro wrestling world.
If you would have asked Weber three years ago if FITE would be rolling the way it has been, it might have raised his eyebrows. “When we launched, we were a mobile app on your iPhone or smartphone. That was it. We weren’t even planning on building a website if you can believe that,” Weber told WrestleZone.
“The original intent was just to use the mobile app to cast it using our patented technology to a connected TV. Which still works, it’s still great, still fantastic. But now, with the advent of digital programming in general, we’ve been at the forefront. We’re actually a technology company first, and what our engineers are doing is fantastic”
That they are. From last year’s groundbreaking All In, to the Supercard Of Honor in MSG, to all three Starrcasts, to the now-popular underground vibe of Game Changer Wrestling, FITE has been a major proponent of getting more eyes on the product and the results show that utilizing a PPV-like platform works with the consumer market today.
“Everybody said to go for a subscription. We came to the logic of, there are a lot of people trying to get your money for a subscription. Netflix, Hulu, to now ESPN+, WWE Network, etc. Why don’t we just let people buy it on a PPV model, and it seems to be working.”
That certainly doesn’t mean they are against dabbling in the popular arts of a subscription service. FITE has done that with ROH Honor Club and most recently with the development of IMPACT Plus. Weber says that there are going to be other promotions coming out with subscription services on FITE as well, but they will stay steady on their PPV purchase route.
Growing up in Ohio, Weber was more in-tune with organized sports more than he was with pro wrestling, but it was baptism by fire when it came to him getting a taste of that squared circle bug as he worked live events with WWF, including WrestleMania 2. But he’s been all across the board with covering all types of sporting events, and finds that wrestling is one of the easiest to cover from a production standpoint, simply because of the “television-teases-the-PPV-buy-off” business model
“Wrestling is actually much more organized and they have a good business model. Way back before I got involved, the business model of pro wrestling was to have a weekly television show that was 100% geared towards selling tickets at the live arena once a month. They sell the show weekly and then once a month they’d come to your town for the big event and make their money off the ticket sales.
“Many of the initial wrestling television program clearances were paid for by the wrestling promotion. Essentially like paid advertising to get people to buy your tickets. Over the years, while ticket sales are still very important, it’s gone into ‘watch the weekly wrestling program for free, but you have to buy this PPV event once a month because it’s the end of a storyline or a bigger event.’”
In terms of growth, there is quite a bit planned for FITE who have their fingers in the till of many promotions.
“There’s plenty of more programming that we want to have and come up with. On the wrestling side, we just aired AAA’s Lucha Libre event from Madison Square Garden on Sunday. That was probably one of the missing links when it comes to pro wrestling that we want. We got NJPW, we got AAA, Impact, Ring of Honor, MLW, Reality of Wrestling, Rocky Mountain Wrestling, it goes on and on.”
And if you think they are just casually leaning on the ropes of the wrestling ring, FITE TV offers a lot more than just the “one true sport” as far as content is concerned.
“We’re very dominant in wrestling, but we’re just as dominant in Boxing and MMA programming. Matter of fact, we have some announcements coming up in the boxing and MMA world here. Boxing I can give to you now, we’re airing internationally the Spence vs Porter fight on September 28 in sixty different countries around the world. We’re working on some MMA programming that will be announced in the next couple of days, and that’ll serve as the next step to making us the dominant place for people to watch combat sports programming.
Technology is king when it comes to content, and FITE is on point enough to know the value of keeping that unique aspect internal to the company considering they were primarily a tech company first and foremost. Weber uses that to the team’s advantage. “We keep enhancing every day. We never get to a certain point and say “Oh, that’s as good as it’s going to get.” If you do that, you’re going to die. You have to keep enhancing it, and one advantage we have over other companies is that we’re actually a technology company.” Weber said. “All the technology is being done in house, so we don’t have to rely on third-party and come up with all these great ideas on how to enhance it and hear “We love that Mike, but it’s going to be another million dollars to build.” That’s a very true anecdote for other companies, but with us being in-house, we can move it along as we want and is warranted.”
One of FITE’s next big events they’ll be covering is Starrcast IV coming out of Baltimore and Weber is amazed by the workload of fellow plate-spinner, Conrad Thompson.
“Conrad, I only met him a year ago, he’s just one of the guys you become friends with. Good guy, great ideas, really creative. How he does all he does with five podcasts and actually owning a mortgage company and Starrcasts are just beyond me. Maybe he’s a lot younger than me and that’s why he can do that.”
Maybe, but as we all know, pro wrestling is about presentation, and FITE’s Mega Powers-like alliance with Starrcast has made many a viewer quite happy. And with such a platform, fans and talent both are ready to rumble.
(Transcription should go to Alex Santa Maria of WrestleZone)
