US being able to see UWW events

[nom 797]

So, rest of world watches UWW events for free.  Right?  
 

The World Cup that just happened ... did any service pick this up for the US and charge a fee for US viewers?  Track wrestling?  Not sure.

Main question / thought ... what I’m piecing together (open to be taught) is that UWW content is free but they are open to a media company paying them to wall off a country from the the free content and instead route the content through the media company who will charge for it.

I don’t fault the UWW for trying to get some revenue.  And I suppose I can’t fault the media company.  But it sure ‘feels’ like a big ‘screw you America’ from the media company and the UWW.  Basically — we give this way for free to the entire world, except in the US.  
 

Am I missing something?  

 

[nom 797]

I do recognize that the media company could and often does add value to the event by adding information such as commentary, easy to use brackets, easier to use mat assignments, etc.  I would imagine some of that would not exist for US users if the media company didn’t have a way to earn revenue from it.  And I do value those added services.

[moodybooty 12]

The costs of media rights, video hosting and streaming accessibility aside, real talk: we have a lot of freedom on the internet that we take for granted. For example: while it may suck that we have to pay for strong internet, there's a large number of countries that can't even choose how strong of a connection they want, or what websites they can access. If the price we pay for the free economy is one less pizza delivery a month, I'll take it.

If it bothers you that much though, you can get a VPN service - many have free trials, and a decent one is around $10 a month. VPN's will allow you to log in through an IP address pinged from another country and let you watch this kind of stuff. Works for streaming services that block certain shows based by country, too. I'd rather my money go to Flo or Rokfin or Track than ExpressVPN or NordVPN or whatever, but it's up to you. Free economy!

[AnklePicker 521]

I use a VPN. Works perfectly and I pay nothing for it. Just downloaded a VPN app. 

[JasonBryant 1,659]

4 hours ago, nom said:

So, rest of world watches UWW events for free.  Right?  

 

This question gets recycled every year. There are a number of countries that have streaming rights via third parties from UWW events. We (the U.S.) are not the only ones. To my knowledge, Russia, India and Japan are three countries I know have these types of plans in place. I tried to watch the site with the rights for India and the video was geo-blocked. 

[nom 797]

I understand that it happens and why.  Feels dirty.  That said, the idea of the ‘rich’ paying for services that the ‘not so rich’ get for free or much more cheaply as a result is present in many more situations.

[Eagle26 428]

34 minutes ago, JasonBryant said:

This question gets recycled every year. There are a number of countries that have streaming rights via third parties from UWW events. We (the U.S.) are not the only ones. To my knowledge, Russia, India and Japan are three countries I know have these types of plans in place. I tried to watch the site with the rights for India and the video was geo-blocked. 

I think question is a little bit different this year... we get why it was blocked other years because track bought the streaming rights. We may not like it, but I was fine with paying the 30 bucks or whatever to watch the best wrestling in the world. I don’t think anyone bought the rights this year, so why would it still be blocked?

[JasonBryant 1,659]

I think question is a little bit different this year... we get why it was blocked other years because track bought the streaming rights. We may not like it, but I was fine with paying the 30 bucks or whatever to watch the best wrestling in the world. I don’t think anyone bought the rights this year, so why would it still be blocked?

I watched on Track last week. I think Flo doesn’t pick it up until the start of 2021.

[Eagle26 428]

30 minutes ago, JasonBryant said:

I watched on Track last week. I think Flo doesn’t pick it up until the start of 2021.

Thanks... I totally missed that this was on track lol