Eric Bischoff On AEW Shifting To A Streaming Model, Landing On MAX, More
Speaking recently on his “Strictly Business” podcast, Eric Bischoff discussed AEW shifting to a streaming model similar to WWE in the near future, considering the constantly evolving entertainment industry’s nature.
Sharing his insights on whether AEW might add a tape library and perhaps air “pay-per-views” on HBO MAX, Bischoff acknowledged that while he is not an industry expert, the current climate does entail that being a sensible option.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his lack of expertise regarding the streaming industry: “No [his thoughts on it haven’t changed]. And let me be clear; I don’t know enough about the streaming industry. I’m not involved in it, I haven’t been involved in any transactions. I don’t know the model. I don’t know the revenue streams currently. I only know what I read, and I don’t deep dive into streaming because there’s just so much I don’t understand and don’t need to understand at this point. You know, Tony’s comments were professional, business-related public commentary that you’d expect. Very positive and respectful towards his parent company, which is exactly what someone like Tony Khan should be at this point. But there’s just so much I don’t know — you know far more about the streaming industry than I do. So I don’t have a strong opinion.
On the impact and evolution of content consumption as a consumer himself: “Certainly, I know, like everybody knows that’s even close to the television business that streaming is obviously having an incredible impact on how we watch content. I know it does for my wife and I. It wasn’t until recently when our house was struck by lightning for example, and we lost our Wi-Fi for a week and a half, almost two weeks. And I was forced to go back and watch DirectTV. I was like, ‘Wow, now I know why I no longer watch cable anymore.’ There’s nothing there that catches my interest other than you know, the Weather Channel when I need to know what the weather is like or news, which is 24 hours a day on cable. But beyond that, there’s so little that’s available on cable that I can’t get on a streaming platform. So, it’s where the business is going, and Tony is smart. He sees that, like we all do. He is going to try to carve out the best opportunity he can, whether it’s with Max or anybody else. I’m applying some of my perspective on this early on. It is applying the same programming strategies that I’m familiar with that were kind of commonplace and core to the architecture of building a network back in the day.”
On the lighting and sound aspects of production: “Oh, it absolutely does [lighting matters]. And I can’t — that’s a great question. And I’d actually have to sit down for a few hours and think about it, and have an idea of what production costs are today. But I think lighting and sound — lighting in particular — is one of the more critical elements. It’s all critical. You can’t do a show without audio, you can’t do a show without lighting, you can’t do a show without staging. All of it is important. But I think in terms of the end product, I would spend as large — I would spend as much money on lighting in particular as I possibly could, whether it was 1998 or 2023. Because it affects — that and the number of cameras you have — affects the look and feel of your show probably more than anything.”
You can keep up with all your wrestling news right here on eWrestlingNews.com. Or, you can follow us over on our Twitter and Facebook pages.