Major Update On WWE TV Rights Negotiations

WWE

A major update has emerged on WWE’s TV rights negotiations with the streaming service, Hulu.

It was previously reported that the two sides were in negotiations over a new streaming deal as WWE’s contract with Hulu was due to expire.

An update has emerged via Wrestling Observer Radio, which reported that a one-year extension has been negotiated with Hulu in a bid for the deal to expire at the same time as WWE’s deals with USA Network and FOX, paving the way for a potential exclusive move to Peacock.

Dave Meltzer explained:

“The Hulu deal was made. They got a one-year deal for Hulu, which would expire at the end of September (2024). So the Hulu deal, the Raw deal (with USA Network) and the SmackDown deal (with FOX) all expire at the same time.

“So the reason they wanted the one-year extension – which they probably did not get a great financial deal out of – was so all three deals expire at the same time, so people can bid for all the rights.

“They feel that, especially for NBCUniversal, I think the idea is if you’ve seen USA Network’s numbers – if you take out Raw and you take out NXT – USA Network is now down to averaging 360,000 viewers in primetime without those shows. With them, they’re a lot higher, but they would go to essentially a minor network without wrestling, they need it badly. So as long as NBCU wants USA to be anything significant, they don’t have to keep NXT, but they absolutely have to keep Raw.

“And NBCU probably also wants the next-day streaming rights for Peacock for at least Raw and NXT. I don’t think FOX wants their show on Peacock the next day, but that’s all to be negotiated. And FOX does not have its own similar type of streaming platform, so I don’t know what that would mean for next-day streaming rights.

“But NBC wants all of its programming off Hulu and onto Peacock. Legally they have to wait for the deals to expire, so I think this is all geared towards that.”

Hulu’s WWE content currently includes delayed versions of Raw, SmackDown, NXT, as well as Main Event, Total Divas and Total Bellas.

Previously it was speculated that WWE intended to move all content to NBC Peacock, which has been the home of the WWE Network in the US since March 2021.

This news comes following a recent announcement that Bianca Belair and Montez Ford will be starring in an upcoming Hulu series that is currently in production.

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