AEW Media Rights Negotiations Nearing Critical Stage

The upcoming AEW media rights deal remains a huge topic of discussion for the company in its fifth year.

Since October 2019, AEW Dynamite has aired on the Warner Bros Discovery-owned networks TNT and TBS on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET. The WBD channels also air Rampage on Fridays on TNT at 10 p.m. ET and All Elite Wrestling just celebrated the one-year anniversary of Collision on TNT on Saturdays at 8 p.m. ET for two hours.

At the end of 2024, AEW’s media rights deal with WBD is set to expire which means that if they don’t agree on a new deal before that, then AEW’s future on television or any form of media would be up in the air.

In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer noted that “the exclusive negotiation period with WBD is running out very soon, like within a few weeks.”

What that means is if the exclusive negotiation period window expires then that means AEW could talk to other networks/media rights companies about possibly airing the weekly All Elite Wrestling television shows.

Some recent reports claimed that AEW was disappointed with offers made by WBD, but AEW told Meltzer that the offer wasn’t disappointing at all in the eyes of AEW Owner Tony Khan.

AEW Dynamite Television Viewership Hits Record Low

There was bad news for AEW in terms of their television audience for Dynamite this week. It was reported by Wrestlenomics that the total audience for AEW Dynamite this week was 502,000 viewers in the US watching on TBS. That is down 26% from last week’s episode that did 681,000 viewers.

As for the coveted 18-49 age demographic, it drew a 0.16 rating which was down 30.4% from last week.

The Wrestling Observer also reported that it was “the 31st straight week that Dynamite has declined year-over-year in total viewers.”

Whether these numbers hurt AEW’s negotiations with WBD for a new media rights deal is unknown at this time.