WWE to raise PPV prices next year

News

PWInsider.com is reporting they received a memo from someone inside the cable industry, in which it states that starting next year WWE will do one less PPV a year, but raise the base price to $44.95 for the remaining shows, sans Wrestlemania.

Which I think is awesome, honestly, I felt dishonest only paying $40 for stuff such as Kane v. Khali.

Here are highlights of the memo, which can be read in full by clicking the above link to PWI:

A key priority was to rename and re-theme several of our events to better describe those pay-per-views and to build interest for our fans through new “hooks” and stronger themes.

WWE will increase the suggested retail price of its pay-per-view events (excluding WrestleMania), by $5.00, to $44.95. This change in the SRP shall become effective commencing with Royal Rumble, which will be held on January 31, 2010. This will be the first price increase for non-WrestleMania events since 2006.

WWE is eliminating one of our June pay-per-view events therefore reducing the number of pay-per-view events in 2010 to 13 events.

The strategy of reducing our pay-per-view calendar to one event per month (except for October) achieves both creative and business objectives for WWE. It allows us to better develop compelling storylines and arcs in order to motivate our fans to purchase more pay-per-views. This change also allows for increased marketing windows for each event, during which we can more effectively communicate our sales message.