Earlier today at a press conference held by New Japan Pro Wrestling and TV-Asahi, they announced the launch of their “New Japan World” streaming service at NJPWWorld.com, which is similar to the WWE Network. This service will cost 999 yen/per month in Japan and it converts to $8.40 a month in the US, $9.60/per month in Canada and 5.38 pounds for UK subscribers.
With the launch of New Japan World, New Japan announced the line-up of shows that will be airing either live, or on tape-delay for December and January, which is as follows:
* 12/7 World Tag League Finals (tape-delay)
* 12/15 Road to Tokyo Dome (Live)
* 12/19 Road to Tokyo Dome (Live)
* 12/20 Road to Tokyo Dome (Live)
* 1/3 show (Live)
* 1/4 Wrestlekingdom 9 at the Tokyo Dome (Live)
* 1/5 New Year’s Dash II (Live)
* 1/18 NJPW/CMLL Fantastica Mania (Live)
* 1/19 NJPW/CMLL Fantastica Mania (Live)
* 1/30 Road to New Beginning (Live)
During the press conference, New Japan owner Takani Kidani said that New Japan is #1 in the world when it comes to wrestling, but #2 when it comes to business and their goal is to be #1. Their goal in their first year of service is to get 100,000 subscribers overall. Prior to the launch of New Japan World, iPPV prices were 1800 yen ($15.18) and Wrestlekingdom was priced at 3500 yen ($29.57), so New Japan is undercutting the price of their PPVs with the launch of this service. Also, most Koruaken Hall shows, which used to air live on Samurai TV, will now air live on New Japan World and on delay on Samurai TV. This weekend’s iPPV will be on tape-delay of 8 hours on New Japan World due to prior committments with the NicoNico iPPV service.
The NJPWWorld.com is currently in Japanese, but with New Japan’s home website recently getting an English-language version to it, it would seem like an English-language version of New Japan World is in the works. New Japan World is also a channel on Roku, but it is said that people have tried getting it to work on game consoles and it has not worked, so it seems like Desktop, Laptop, Mac and Roku is the options to watch New Japan World at this time.
Besides the live iPPVs airing on New Japan World, the following is part of their video-on-demand content:
* All New Japan iPPVs from 2011-2014
* Past New Japan shows dating back to the 1980s
* Historical New Japan matches dating back to 1973
* Best-of DVDs
* Documentaries on New Japan stars
To check out New Japan World and sign up for the service, go to http://www.njpwworld.com.