WWE TV Negotiations Have Several Major Companies Interested

WWE is negotiating its TV rights, and several major players are reportedly interested.

WWE have long had an agreement with NBC Universal when it comes to its television rights deal, broadcasting Monday Night Raw on the USA Network for many years. The company also brokered a deal with Fox in 2019 that saw SmackDown move to Fox on Friday nights, the first time the company’s programming has been broadcast on a non-cable channel in quite some time.

Now, as the company looks to re-negotiate its TV rights, a new report from Dave Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter sheds light on interested parties as reported by Wells Fargo. Metlzer writes:

“Wells Fargo wrote about WWE’s negotiations, saying they believe NBCU is committed to Raw and WWE on Peacock, but that FOX is unlikely to bid higher than the $205 million ish per year for Smackdown. WWE’s stock price is built for expecting in excess of $300 million in the next negotiations. They listed FX & Hulu, Netflix, Amazon and WBD as companies they think would be more likely to reach WWE’s asking price for Smackdown. Obviously if WBD is looking for Smackdown, the entire landscape of the business changes.”

The addition of WBD in the mix is particularly interesting as rival promotion AEW currently holds a deal with that company and broadcasts on both TNT and TBS. In fact, AEW is said to be negotiation with WBD for a potential huge money increase as they look to renegotiate their own television deal.