LAS VEGAS — Even Hulk Hogan is into streaming.
Vince McMahon’s WWE late Wednesday announced plans to launch a streaming network that will allow fans to watch the company’s popular wrestling shows and live events 24 hours a day through an app or on their TVs via Roku or similar technology.
The WWE Network, as the service will be called, will launch on Feb. 24 and cost $9.99 a month.
Subscribers will be required to commit to at least six months of service — but will get 12 pay-per-view events, like the popular “WrestleMania,” which can be priced at about $60 on its own, with their annual subscription.
McMahon, the entertainment company’s chairman and chief executive, not known for understatement — inside or outside the ring — said the “WWE Network will provide transformative growth for our company and unprecedented value for our fans.”
Investors greeted the news on Thursday enthusiastically — pumping up the stock 4.1 percent at its open. But the storyline faded a bit midway through the trading day, with
WWE shares easing a bit to $16.33, up just 0.7 percent.
WWE was started in the 1950 as a traveling live show but took off in the ’80s with the introduction of Hulk Hogan, a member of the WWE Hall of Fame. Hogan still plays a sizeable role in WWE programming, although he has retired from wrestling.
In typical dramatic fashion, the event here announcing the WWE Network included appearances by some of the company’s current headliners, including Shawn Michaels and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.