Warner Bros Discovery Interested In WWE Rights – WWE media rights deal don’t expire until 2024, but negotiations are reportedly underway or set to get underway following WWE’s transaction agreement with Endeavor.
Nick Khan has stated in the past that NBCU and Fox will have right of first refusal when it comes to a new deal. WWE Raw airs on USA Network while WWE SmackDown airs on Fox.
James Andrew Miller, a long-time journalist who specializes in media having written books on ESPN, Saturday Night Live, CAA, and has an upcoming book on HBO, appeared on SI Media with Jimmy Traina and weighed in on what a new WWE deal could look like.
“I think so,” he said when asked if there were other companies interested in WWE. “I wouldn’t be surprised, despite the fact that money is such an issue for them, I wouldn’t be surprised if Warner Brothers Discovery wouldn’t like a slice of that WWE pie. It doesn’t have to be on Monday night. Monday night is a tough night. If you go through the calendar, all year round, there are sports on Monday night. If you’re Warner Brothers Discovery, you could say, ‘we’re going to move it to a different night. We have Thursday night with the NBA, but we’re going to figure out a different night for it,’ and all of a sudden it becomes very attractive.”
When it was told to Miller that WBD currently has a deal with AEW, Miller stated, “I know there are people at Warner Brothers who are interested (in the WWE). If they were to lose the NBA, I would certainly imagine they would become a pretty big advocate for buying something. That would create quite the auction. Unless it’s taken off. If either Fox or NBC comes in with a pre-emptive offer that WWE likes, they [WBD] won’t even get a chance.”
Nick Khan has helped spearhead WWE moving its Premium Live Events from Sunday nights to Saturday nights, and while Miller doesn’t know if Khan would want Raw off of Monday, he weighed in on the possibility.
“I have not heard Nick advocate that. My point is, if a buyer comes in and doesn’t want Monday night, that Monday package is mobile. There is no reason why it has to be Monday night,” he said.
Miller was in attendance for CAA World Congress of Sports conference, which featured Nick Khan speaking about the current media landscape.
AEW’s deal with Warner Brothers Discovery expires at the end of 2023.
Stay tuned to WrestlingAttitude and WA.Com On Twitter for more.
Warner Bros Discovery Interested In WWE Rights
