MUMBAI: World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has signed a contract with Tokyo-based Plala Networks. The deal allows the Japanese Internet Service Provider to broadcast WWE 24/7, a subscription video on demand (VOD) service, on its 4th Media broadband content distribution services through the end of this year.

Plala is a subsidiary of NTT East Corporation, a Japanese telecom company. In addition to being one of Japan’s most popular ISPs, Plala is a content aggregator for the 4th Media service.

Plala Networks president Koji Bando says, “We are extremely pleased to have reached an agreement with World Wrestling Entertainment® to offer WWE 24/7 content in the Japanese market. With this agreement, we hope that this will be the first step towards building a long-term mutually beneficial relationship between both our companies. We strongly believe that offering WWE 24/7 through a new medium that is 4th Media holds strong appeal for WWE fans in Japan. Furthermore, we see it as our role to offer in Japan such valuable content that has, up until now, never been broadcast nor distributed through any other platforms in Japan.”

WWE 24/7 is a part of the growth strategy for Plala and its affiliated ISPs to subscribe as many of their users as possible to the 4th Media service. Plala and its affiliated ISPs have a subscription base of several million users.

WWE Enterprises executive VP Tom Barreca says, “WWE is a global franchise, and WWE 24/7 was conceived as salable concept that would scale worldwide for partners and fans. Signing with a leader like Plala is a significant breakthrough for WWE 24/7 internationally, and we see a great future in contracting with other telephony and telecommunications providers around the globe.”