There had been talk of AEW All In possibly airing as a streaming special, with Warner Bros. Discovery’s MAX the likely platform, but nothing ever came of the idea and All In ended up airing on the usual pay-per-view providers.
In an update, a new report from the Wrestling Observer notes that AEW had hoped All In would air on MAX, but it ended up on pay-per-view because “the technology was not ready” when the decision had to be made one way or the other. This comes from sources outside of AEW.
It’s believed the technology is ready now, but there’s no word yet on what the first AEW show on MAX might be. It was noted that a financial deal still has to be worked out as All In was a big success on pay-per-view, and it doesn’t make much sense for AEW to put a show on MAX that would be another big pay-per-view success unless WBD makes it make sense economically.
Bloomberg reported this week that WBD will begin airing live sports on MAX later this year, for a limited period of time, and at no additional cost to MAX subscribers. Then beginning in 2024, likely around February or March, customers will need to pay an additional amount for sports. The hope is that airing basketball, baseball and hockey will lure in new customers, but pro wrestling was not mentioned.
It’s possible AEW will be involved, but the network has not went public with these plans yet. WBD had nearly 96 million global subscribers to its streaming services at the end of June. MAX currently costs $10 a month for a version with ads, and $16 a month for the commercial-free plan. MAX subscribers are able to access the full library of movies and TV shows from HBO and Warner Bros., but they must still pay for cable TV to watch live sports.
WBD currently airs the March Madness college basketball tournament on its cable networks, and they are talking about possibly using the games as a selling point for MAX. WBD holds media rights to some of the most popular sports, including the NBA and MLB, and Bloomberg noted that they are just now figuring out how to use these rights to benefit its nascent streaming business. WBD has been talking to major sports leagues to ensure it has the rights to stream them, but it remains to be seen if pro wrestling will be involved.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more.
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