Major changes could be coming soon for AEW as they are in “deep” negotiations with Warner Bros. Discovery to extend their TV rights.
A new report from Fightful Select notes that AEW has been involved in TV rights extension talks with WBD for months now. There’s a belief that an announcement could be made this summer of fall, if a deal is reached.
The network has been “very happy” with AEW as of late, especially with the flexibility they have provided with adding and subtracting shows, providing different forms of content, as well as working around preemptions and other network changes.
While WBD does have plenty of say and influence over AEW programming, which we’ve seen in the past with crossovers, and talents that are or are not featured. However, word is that AEW has also been really flexible with overruns and other requests the network has made.
Regarding the AEW All In broadcast from London on August 27, it was noted that this has been actively discussed as a part of the recent talks between WBD and AEW. It wasn’t clear what this means for viewing options, but it was previously speculated that All In may air on WBD’s Max (HBO Max) streaming service instead of traditional pay-per-view.
A WBD source also confirmed what has been said in the past – that the next deal between the two sides would be a “huge money increase for AEW, by the way things are looking now.”
In January 2020, AEW and WBD announced a four-year extension of their original TV deal for Dynamite. The extension, which included the addition of Rampage, called for $175 million total, or just under $45 million per year, and included an option for the network to re-sign AEW in 2024, at a significantly increased price. It was expected back in the spring that AEW and WBD would announce a new TV deal, but the mid-May announcement was for the new Collision show, not an extension of the main TV deal. AEW President Tony Khan later confirmed that the company did receive a new contract when Collision was announced, but just for more money to cover the new show and not for more time, and not the kind of contract many were expecting. Khan added that AEW was being “paid very well” for Collision.
It remains to be seen what kind of “huge money increase” AEW would receive for the extension, and how long the extension would be good for.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more.
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