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What's the story?
It was recently reported that the WWE's current contract with NBC Universal expires in September 2019. The WWE is now looking to announce its future plans in the coming months. But, it seems that if NBC wants to re-sign its contract with the WWE, then the company does have some stiff competition.
In case you didn't know...
It was reported a few weeks ago that FOX had stepped in to not only offer WWE a deal for their TV rights but also it is thought that the company is looking to buy WWE outright. This may be due to recent reports about Vince McMahon selling $100 million worth of shares last year to fund his new company Alpha Entertainment.
The problem with a deal with FOX is that because of their 10 pm news rotation, Raw would have to go back to being two hours long. This is something that the WWE may not be prepared to do.
It seems that WWE's current deal with NBC Universal generated $180 million last year. Since WWE programming accounts for more than a third of prime-time viewership for the USA, the company will definitely be keen to re-sign.
The heart of the matter
It seems that the battle between NBC Universal and FOX has now become a four-horse race. It has been reported that Facebook and Amazon are now both interested in bidding for Raw and SmackDown's media rights.
Despite all of this interest, it seems that Stephanie McMahon is happy with the current deal the company has with NBC, she recently spoke to Variety about the current bidding war.
She said: "We are incredibly happy with our partnership with USA. In terms of what the future might hold, I guess we'll see, but we've been very, very happy and I hope NBC is happy as well."
It seems that the one place that Raw and SmackDown definitely won't be going in the future is the WWE Network. Stephanie also spoke about the importance of having WWE programmes on linear platforms.
"We leverage a content ecosystem, so at the moment, it is absolutely relevant and necessary to have [our content] on linear platforms. It is still reaching a broad audience and it's still our most profitable line of business. One piece doesn't work without the other. Ultimately, would RAW and SmackDown go to the WWE Network? Maybe. But that's certainly not where we are now."
What's next?
WWE's current deal with NBC Universal doesn't run out until September 30th, 2019, which means that there is plenty of time for the companies to negotiate a new deal. But the outcome can be an interesting one. It seems like the WWE wants to be able to announce their future distribution plans in the coming months, apparently between May and September, which could be why these plans are being discussed right now.
Author's take
It does seem as though WWE is happy with their current deal, whilst FOX could offer them a lot more if they switched to their Network. Maybe taking the show back to a two-hour slot would be seen as a step backwards for the company. It is unknown what Facebook and Amazon are currently offering, but the offer would need to be something substantial for WWE to consider jumping ship if they are genuinely happy with NBC.
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