WWE: Raw, SmackDown To Eventually Become Online Only

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2017/07/27/wwe-raw-smackdown-to-become-online-only/

(WBBM, Chicago.  Please click on the link for the full story.  Here is an excerpt below.)

WWE is a television giant. Complete with its flashy presentation and larger-than-life characters, it has conquered not only all competitors in professional wrestling, but nearly everyone else on paid television. This past Monday, its flagship show Raw accounted for three of the five highest-rated hours on cable, with each segment averaging near or above 3,000,000 viewers. The following night, SmackDown Live! was the second-highest-rated show, trailing only Discovery Network’s Shark Week programming.

It’s a position that remains familiar to WWE, despite a steady year-over-year ratings decline. By and large, television viewership is down across the board. That holds true for sports, network and cable programming. The number of households “cutting the cord” and turning exclusively to streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu is accelerating. Traditional broadcast networks such as CBS, which owns this website, have launched their own over-the-top networks in an effort to keep up with the rapidly evolving way media is consumed.