Our friends across the pond sure do like their American professional wrestling --which is a fine thing, since we owe them for such treats as Monty Python and the most famous lord of time himself, the forever-regenerating Doctor Who. It's certainly a fair tradeoff.
And now there's no danger of the Brits losing their wrestling. News Corp.'s (NYSE:NWS) British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) recently renewed an agreement with Linda and Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE:WWE), the company that holds a practical monopoly over this show-business format. I'm not sure if Rupert Murdoch is aware of the dark tactics of the Undertaker or the rapping prowess of John Cena, but he'll benefit nevertheless, as WWE programming is an economically justifiable proposition for just about any broadcasting entity. Viacom (NYSE:VIA) certainly seems happy with the relationship between RAW and Spike TV, for example. Valuable youthful males watch incessantly, making it a demographer's dream (and don't discount the females, either, as more probably watch than people think).
The deal calls for the wrestling programs to stay on BSkyB for the next half decade. WWE has had a long relationship with BSkyB -- since the platform began, in fact -- and it is an important one. International growth will be one of the key drivers going forward for WWE, so a continued presence in Great Britain is requisite.
But one of the best growth drivers I foresee for the company is its burgeoning movie development business. The company's corporate website states that two films are in the pipeline for WWE Films; one will be a vehicle for the aforementioned John Cena entitled The Marine, while another project, Eye Scream Man, will give Kane's thespian talents a workout (hopefully, there will be thespian talents to actually work out). The Marine is due to be distributed by Fox (NYSE:FOX) and the Kane feature will be handled by Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE:LGF).
I'm hopeful the McMahons will be able to contain their celluloid expenses in the same way they've controlled costs associated with the wrestling business.
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Hey, what do you think? Should WWE get into the film business, or stick to wrestling? If you want to challenge my assertion that McMahon can succeed in celluloid, head on over to the Fool's WWE discussion board and get down in some raw exchanges, brother!
Fool contributor Steven Mallas owns none of the companies mentioned.
