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WWE moves 'Raw' weekly live stream from USA Network to

Netflix ( NFLX )

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'Raw' debuts on Netflix ( NFLX ) on Monday with John Cena

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Netflix ( NFLX ) expanding popular live streams after boxing,

football

By Lisa Richwine

LOS ANGELES, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Netflix's ( NFLX ) next

venture into live programming starts Monday when the company

streams its first episode of "Raw," the weekly World Wrestling

Entertainment spectacle that has been a staple of U.S.

television for three decades.

WWE executives are moving their flagship show from Comcast's ( CMCSA )

USA Network to the new streaming home with hopes that

they can bring in more fans of all ages around the world.

"When you look at Netflix ( NFLX ) and its global reach and the power

of its brand, it was time that our brand met up with theirs,"

said WWE President Nick Khan.

Netflix ( NFLX ) agreed to pay more than $5 billion for rights to

show "Raw" and other WWE programming including "Smackdown" and

"Wrestlemania" over 10 years, part of the streaming service's

move into live events that are attractive to advertisers.

WWE rose to popularity with colorful characters such as Hulk

Hogan and future movie star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in ongoing

storylines that hooked viewers.

One fan was Bela Bejaria, now the chief content officer at

Netflix ( NFLX ). She recalled watching outsized personalities such as

Hogan, Randy Savage and Andre the Giant with her grandfather

after her family moved to Los Angeles when she was nine.

"It turns out that my experience of watching wrestling with

my family isn't that unusual," Bejaria said. "They have a huge

multi-generational fan base with a roster of stars and exciting

drama."

Today, the WWE has more than 1 billion followers across

social media, Bejaria said. "Combining the intensity of WWE fans

with the fandom and reach of Netflix ( NFLX ) just made sense," she said.

"Raw" will stream live every Monday exclusively on Netflix ( NFLX )

in the United States, Canada, Latin America and other

territories. It will arrive on Netflix ( NFLX ) in some countries later

this year, including India in April.

In 2025, WWE will stage more "Raw" and "Smackdown" events in

international markets and aims to find superstars around the

world.

"We can't just be an American company, piping out American

content, hoping that people will show up and tune in," Khan

said. "We have to be boots on the ground."

Monday's "Raw" will stream live from outside Los Angeles

with appearances from wrestler and actor John Cena, Roman

Reigns, Cody Rhodes and others.

The show will air 52 weeks per year, a significant jump from

Netflix's ( NFLX ) handful of live events to date.

In November, Netflix ( NFLX ) reported 65 million concurrent streams

for a boxing match between 58-year-old Mike Tyson and

27-year-old YouTube personality Jake Paul. Some users reported

buffering issues during the fight.

Netflix ( NFLX ) attributed the glitches to the large number of

viewers and said it had since shored up its technology. On

Christmas Day, Netflix's ( NFLX ) streams of two National Football League

games went smoothly and drew more than 30 million viewers each.

Paul Levesque, WWE's chief content officer, said he is not

worried about the possibility of a few hiccups when "Raw"

debuts.

"If it blinks a couple of times and we do 60 million, I'm

good with that," Levesque joked.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine;

Editing by Mary Milliken and Lincoln Feast.)