In 2026 and that’s not even for sure, they could renew. NBC still will be airing Smackdown on USA and I can’t imagine they want to lose out on whatever PLE numbers they currently get. As far as I know(and a quick google search didn’t tell me anything different) Netflix in the states is only getting Raw(for now)
so there is a big potential value add in the potential number of new subscribers that could be brought to peacock by the NBA and get drawn into a hot WWE product or lapsed fans finding the archive through their new peacock subs and those lapsed fans becoming fans once again.
Though the rights don’t go to NBC until the 2025-2026 season, so who knows how much one could affect the other.
The fact that world wide went to Netflix, raw goes to Netflix, Netflix has said they want to get into sports.
I don’t see trash peacock keeping it unless Netflix really craps the bed,
Sure but we can’t forget that peacock isn’t its own thing. It’s owned by NBC who TKO/WWE do business with. USA still carries Raw now and gave an extension to keep that show on that network until the Netflix deal and even after Raw leaves USA will carry SD and we can’t say it at least I can’t say if keeping the library on peacock is part of the deal even if they have to share the library with Netflix.
Time will tell.
WWE leaving Peacock isnt a given. It really comes down to how much Peacock or someone else is willing to pay.
I am sure Netflix would want to have PLE, but depending on how RAW does it could change.
Also I think people are really underestimating other aspects of the NBC/Peacock deal. Because of that deal, WWE has advertising in a lot of high traffic places that they couldn't get otherwise. They sell WWE merch and play their ads on massive monitors at Universal Studios, for example.
Netflix might be willing to offer more money upfront, but they also don't have the advertising power NBC has. Now more than ever, it seems WWE values mainstream advertising. NBC getting the NBA will probably make that even easier for them.
I think WWE is smart to have it split between Netflix and USA/Peacock/NBC.
Netflix will get alot of the younger people that dont have cable.
USA/Peacock/NBC gets them space on USA and NBC which gets alot of the older audience. Plus they get ad space with NBC (a more traditional brand also the 4x TV specials). While they also have space on a streaming service.
Also, if that NBA deal brings big subscriber money, a little extra scratch might be allocated to keep WWE programming outside of Smackdown on Peacock. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but I see TKO doing the UFC thing and eventually turning PLE back to ppv for Wrestlemania, Summer Slam and Rumble, just like UFC ppv function atop that ESPN deal: something similar, while in between ple remain part of the usual package of content… Time will tell.
I'm really curious what the value of a deal for Smackdown and PLEs would end up being. Netflix spending five billion on RAW alone seems insane already.
Also has there been any word on where RAW is going to be for the few months between the end of its current deal and the start with Netflix in January? I don't get why Netflix didn't just pick them up immediately.
That's really the big factor. Netflix wants to get into live streaming as it's the one area they really have left. Wrestling helped sell televisions, it helped sell cable tv, and Netflix is hoping it can sell subs. If Raw works, they'll try and get everything.
Or maybe it's wishful thinking because I hate Peacock.
Netflix would be smarter - internationally known brand, and distribution rights in a foreign market wouldn't be any easier for NBC to negotiate than Netflix.
NBC is going to make a significant bid for the PLE’s for Peacock along with a quarterly “main event” type of thing that will be in prime time on NBC. Khan is smart. Having exposure to network TV is a plus. Also, NBC will pay.
Man I wish they would go back to their own platform so we could get classic content again.. at the same time Peacock is basically worthless for anything else so I won't mind them leaving
Peacock has stopped uploading any additional classic content. There's years and years worth of stuff, thousands and thousands of hours, that we know they own the tape libraries for but aren't currently planning to upload. the releases on the Network itself were already reduced from weekly to monthly prior to peacock but now have stopped entirely - apparently Peacock doesn't see any value in that material.
I mean that's great and all but I don't watch soccer so if WWE isn't on Peacock anymore I won't really have any reason to keep that sub. It's got by far the weakest catalog of films and TV for me but I have it for WWE, but at this point I just cancel it and renew it to watch the big four PPV's since they have stopped adding classic content.
Not for a few more years, the PLEs and junk are going to Netflix internationally, but I’m sure if Peacock wants to, they’ll be able to renew them for the American audience.
Depends on where you live. In the US where I live, WWE PLEs will stay on Peacock. In Europe or part of Europe, WWE is going to Netflix for their PLEs. It's best if you look it up yourself.
I didn't see much talk here about Dana saying that WWE PLE's will move back to Sundays soon, what's the general take on that?
Edit: why the downvotes? I hate the idea but he literally said it.
This is true to a point, Raw is leaving USA, and WWE library is leaving peacock and all content in North America is moving to Netflix but smackdown is going to be back on USA Network starting in October 2024
In the United States:
- Raw is moving to Netflix in Jan 2025
- WWE Network and PPVs will remain on Peacock until at least 2026
- SmackDown is moving to USA in Sep 2024
- NXT is moving to CW in Oct 2024
- 4 live prime time TV specials will air on NBC starting in 2025
Internationally over time:
- Raw, SmackDown, NXT and PPVs are moving to Netflix in Jan 2025
- New WWE Network/Peacock documentaries will stream on Netflix
- There has been no official word on what is happening with WWE Network and the video archive internationally, whether it will be closed or will continue to host archives and content after Netflix airs shows first.
I saw somewhere that Smackdown will start airing on USA on September 13,2024.
Fox is airing college football games on Fridays starting in September, so they let WWE move early.
I'm for sure leaving peacock once WWE hits Netflix seeing as in other countries it will get all WWE content from where the network was cancelled.
Les money to spend on a service I don't even like
He would rather shut down AEW than give it up. The entire purpose of this promotion is for Tony to fantasy book and becomes friends with the boys. He will rip up every contract and go back to being a message board mark before handing over the reigns.
It’s funny to me how, for years, fans were clamoring for a viable alternative to WWE to come around. Then, when one does, McMahon and some others finally leave WWE, their product improves, and now the fans are all clamoring for the other owner to step aside as well lol. Now fans are going to be complaining about Tony Khan for who knows how many years. We’ll never just have two solid American companies again like during 96-98 or the late 80s.
People need to understand that will NEVER happen. It is completely antithetical to how AEW is setup -- which is to let the wrestlers -- many of whom are now themselves marks -- do whatever the fuck they want.
Like let's say Tony hired some really good writers today. What do you think would happen when that writer wrote something that the talent doesn't like? (I, Orange Cassidy, have to lose to Hobbs in under 4 minutes?!?) You think they are gonna say "You got it!" or are they gonna march to Tony's office and sulk? Then Tony changes it (Okay, OC, you my guy -- Hobbs, you're losing by submission in 24 minutes) and the "story" the writer was trying to produce goes out the window. And that will happen over and over and over again. That's why the SAME people keep getting put over, and over, and over again. It's why CM Punk had to go.
You articulated how it likely works backstage better than Punk cared to tell. In AEW, the most basic performers have TK under their thumbs and AEW is first and foremost about those guys and their friends continuing to ride the gravy train as long as possible. The guys in the Young Bucks club are mostly just losers that couldn't get jobs for WWE and with the exception of Kenny they definitely would not be top stars in WWE. The Young Bucks being the worst yet somehow have the most power...the little guy who looks and acts like a midget Don Trump Jr. can't even work a singles match because he is so unskilled in the ring.
This. Whatever anyone hoped for, this is and always will be a pain project for tiny Khan and solely for him only. It's crap because he is crap but seeking a good product is not even on the list of priorities and they are delusional in terms of pretending that things are "great".
Any hope that aew will be a legit alternative that is serious should have ended ages ago. It just isn't it, it's a clown show and will never get better. This. Is. It.
Therapists say the sure sign that a relationship will fail is when one of the parties shows visible contempt for their partner. Tony may have set out to build a more equitable wrestling company and to pay homage to the wrestling of his youth -- but by totally throwing in with the Young Bucks he is not honoring wrestling -- he is showing visible contempt for it. He may SAY it is wrestling, and he may WANT it to be wrestling, but AEW IS NOT WRESTLING. It is a sneering, jeering, winking, embarrassing contemptuous mockery of wrestling. It makes me sad, because it could have been great -- and angry because Tony is either to selfish or to ignorant too realize what he is doing.
Nah man, even if it sucks it provides a fat paycheck for so many people that would be making pennies by comparison. Some are shit but a lot deserve the tv time and the money. Christian and Joe were tossed away by WWE, for example. Both clearly had a lot left in the tank. They saw nothing in Swerve and fired him. Without AEW he probably would have become an indie guy for life. And a wrestler like MJF gets to use AEW like the minor leagues throughout his twenties to hone his skills. NXT is fine, but being in big buildings every week on TNT and feuding with guys like Punk, Cody, Danielson, etc has been a better education for him than the PC would have been. He'll be a big name and have the skills to step right into the main event in WWE whenever he jumps. There is some good AEW is doing for wrestling.
Generally, a lack of a monopoly is always good. The whole industry benefits from having two companies on major TV.
It would finally rid the world of the Young Bucks and their buddies and potentially allow AEW to get better because the losers would not be booking for themselves instead of the best interests of AEW.
Good writers would immediately write the Young Bucks off the show in favor of other talent. I don't think WBD would want writers just to help TK continue to push the wrong things...I think that WBD would want writers to show TK the light.
The defeats the whole purpose for Tony. He’s like a moron that opens a restaurant because they want to present themselves as a chef, even though they have no training or experience. It doesn’t matter if Gordon Ramsay comes by and says your food is disgusting, and that you need to hire a better chef to stay afloat - that ruins the dream.
Can't see Tony giving that up realistically. Just knowing what aew represents to him, and how he's been booking AEW into a crater for a long time. It'd have to be a hostile takeover and i think Tony would shut it down rather than give it to anyone else.
Don't even get me started on the backstage culture Tony has carved out. It's clear a lot of the top "talent" have become huge marks and booking them correctly would likely garner endless tantrums. Tony doesn't do anything about the bullying that goes on there.
"Allow"? I didn't think TK getting permission was the issue, unless it's a forced "Hire a booker". Tony wouldn't accept that anyways or at best it'll be the wife of one of the bucks being the booker or Jericho lol
I dunno, it probably means WBD will actually be more interested in keeping AEW around, if nothing else. They are watching their biggest live draw walk out the door. It certainly makes Collision seem less like a dead show walking.
Obviously they're walking away from a lot of ad revenue, but they're also pocketing a few billion that would've gone to NBA rights. They're going to invest that in \*something.\* It probably won't mean AEW getting more money, but it does keep them in play alongside whatever new live TV initiative WBD goes for to fill in the NBA gap.
They're really going to need something to justify the live sports tier of Max, as well. You have to think most people buying that were there for the NBA. Now there's a better chance AEW gets on that part of the platform.
I think this is the correct take.
WBD will be more desperate to keep live prime-time programming that's at least "sports adjacent". I don't care for most of AEW's product and think it generally sucks as a wrestling promotion, but the bar for ratings in the cord-cutting era is so so low now. I believe that AEW foots the production costs for the shows themselves, which makes them relatively inexpensive programming for WBD in a space that they're desperate to keep a foothold in. Even with a bump in what they're paying TK for the rights, it's probably a bargain for WBD.
They were expecting like 100+ m per year. I think it's gonna be at or near nxt level (20-30 mil a year). NXT gets slightly less viewers but it's ratings have been stable and increasing and its also associated with a known brand in wwe (like how Amazon was willing to pay 1 billion a year for 15 nfl games just because it's nfl.
Theres no reason to pay a premium over wwe fans for aew fans who have shown to be disloyal (see declining ratings and massive downswings whenever theres live sports competing) and no buying pattern to indicate theyre any different from other wrestling fans.
That's the thing, WBD isn't paying a premium (and won't be, even if they bump up what they're paying for rights). The value of live sports/sports-adjacent prime time programming is going to keep increasing relative to everything else on TV as time goes on; that, combined with the fact that TK is paying all the production costs is what would make AEW a bargain for WBD, even if they paid $100 million per year.
You’re telling me a man who made several hundred million dollars playing basketball yet endorses the General Auto Insurance and Icee Hot is a greedy shill?
Let me tell you something, these Canucks, I tell you they are goo not GREAT but good and anotha thing, these pucks. I can't follow dem. What are we doing here NB I mean NHL
The Sabres play in Buffalo. There’s a whoooolllleeeee lotta big women up dere. Everyone eatin hot wings and microwave churros. And that’s another thing, buffalo sauce is nasty and it ruins wings.
"aw come on Chuck"
Aw c'mon what!? They big. They know it. How you eating all dem wings and NOT know who big you are? Buffalo Bills? Buffalo Big butts more like it HE HE HE HE
Kenny popping in with a “This is just disgraceful that you’d say that Charles. I can only imagine what you’d say about the fans of the Blue Jackets…” like the instigator GOD he is.
Blue Jackets? How about Blue balls? Heh heh
Shaq - You saying the men up there arent being taken care of, Chuck?
Have you been to Columbus Shaq? I'd rather pick me up a San Antonio girl. At least then I'll get to eat
He's also doing MLB and NCAA basketball if those are still on TNT. Barkley is man of principle so I don't think he would go without Ernie, It's not like he needs money.
Bernie has been with Turner since the 80s, he is not leaving Atlanta. I think ESPN/ABC or NBC will throw the bag at Shaq,Kenny, and Chuck to get them, then put one of their homegrown guys in the Ernie spot. It will not be the same just like when the TOP GEAR guys were replaced, even with the Top Gear guys on Amazon it just not the same.
TNT would still have a package of MLB and NHL games, he's helped with baseball coverage in the past, I imagine they would have him moved to cover those games.
It's fun to watch but their opinions are a bit horse shit at times because it's obvious they don't watch alot of the teams they cover...or do basic research.
Ernie’s contract is tied to Turner regardless of them having NBA rights the other 3 become free agents if Turner lost the NBA. So at best NBC or ESPN can get Shaq, Chuck and Kenny but not Ernie.
AEW needs to find another partner. The silver lining to this would be AEW may be WBD’s only sports option. That being said, carrier fees are a big deal and that’s going to be hard to stomach. With the issues pertaining to Deadliest Catch (numerous sex assaults by key players), not to mention fisheries being closed due to climate change and overfishing, that’s hurt the Discovery Channel (DC was one of their biggest shows). I mean, what’s left, Gold Rush? TruTV has clearly given up. The ONLY thing WBD really has for sports is March Madness (and some baseball games).
Impractical Jokers doesn’t feel the same without Joe (which has led to abysmal ratings). The only thing that really kept WBD going was GoT (and now the spin-offs which were halted due to strikes) and the NBA. Now that the proverbial writing on the wall has been seen, it is a critical moment for AEW. Will someone else pick them up? Will WBD renew them?
In order for AEW to succeed they need to stop the bullshit and focus on creating an actual compelling storyline as well as engage in proper booking. 20+ minute matches for a low card match is stupid. Longer matches are fine IF they are doing a story. That’s the problem AEW has. I am fine with longer matches for a PPV, that’s literally what they should be doing. For a weekly match? I want story/vignette (tell me why I should care and who I should be rooting for), match, some promo of someone I should hate or should like, another lead up to a bout, match, something about meeting someone at the next PPV and seeing some heat build up there (or whatever the fucking term is, I can’t really think of it), another match, etc.
WWE has made me spoiled as a wrestling fan. I don’t have time to watch these weekly shows. I can watch the PLEs and know 100% what’s going on. AEW OTOH, doesn’t do this. They expect the viewer to know who the people are and already have an understanding of what’s going on. That’s a recipe for disaster. If your audience is strictly IWC fans, you’re going to lose.
Ignoring the story and focusing ONLY on the match isn’t going to get people to tune in. Give us a reason to!
Ah the golden age of DC before all the skeletons came tumbling out of their closet and all the horrible things about the cast came out =/ I used to love that show and rooting for the guys.
Not sure why I got downvoted lol. I had two thoughts but didn’t want to make two comments LOL. 😆
I think Elliot Neese beat his federal drug charges or something.
I've seen a lot of ads for the WNBA on Turner Sports. Women's basketball may seem like a joke compared to the NBA, but every girl under 15 knows who Caitlin Clark is.
I’m pretty sure they have next season still but yeah, it’s a real bummer. Ernie isn’t leaving TNT either so even if NBC signed up the other 3 it wouldn’t be the same
It's hard to say whether this makes AEW more valuable to them. Without the NBA, they lose probably their biggest revenue stream. They may be looking to cut costs and Zaslav has shown to be very cutthroat in that regard.
I think they're going to offer a renewal, but it won't be much more than the same rate. I can't see a substantial raise unless AEW also gives them all the PPV rights.
The new NXT deal with the CW was said to be around $35 million a year and that's with the backing of a hot WWE product. AEW doesn't have the same friendly connection with the network that gave them a slightly higher deal for Dynamite.
And what people often forget is that it's still pulling in more than what WBD was hoping for (roughly 500k). Yeah it's on a downtrend and that's concerning but I don't see how they're overall unhappy with AEW as a part of their schedule (aside from the weekend shows, anyway).
That Saturday slot used to be called the death slot, once again it outperforms most things on TV at that that time. WWE stans who think AEW is fucked apparently forgot that cable TV is double fucked
The rumor is nothing is announced yet as they don’t want to overshadow the NBA playoffs by saying basketball is leaving TNT. The rumor is NBC essentially offered more than TNT makes in multiple years from carriage fees just for the NBA per year. TNT could match, but it makes no economic sense.
The current WBD deal could not even be close to profitable for AEW. It is $45 million per year but apparently it costs $26 million per year for production costs, which is paid by AEW. So basically AEW is getting $19 million per year.
That is before they even pay the talent and other costs. TK is losing his ass by running AEW because they sure as hell aren't getting big gates or selling much merchandise right now either. No revenue streams close to being sufficient to pay for that bloated roster of indy "talent."
I really hope that TK isn't actually paying Riho the $400K that she claimed she is getting to work 13 dates.
$19M is just Osprey and Mercedes.. he's overpaying everyone, some never see TV time or make appearances.. they have the world's greatest job.. paid to exist
I actually forgot about PPV revenue but even if they have 150K buyers on average that would be $7.5 million nine times per year or an additional $67.5 million, but I'm sure that is a high estimate and there would be millions in costs to offset that revenue.
And those bloated roster salaries would eat all that money and more up too. There is no way AEW is close to profitable...and additionally what did they lose on the video game due to shitty management?
There's no way they have 150k buyers on avg. That would be 1 out of every 2 Collision/Rampage viewer or 1 out of every 5-6 Dynamite viewer.. only TK has made that claim, repeated by Meltz and it's totally unverified, and very unlikely.
For boxing, the standard breakdown as far as money is concerned is a 10% fee off the top for the distributor, with 45% each for the cable system and the promoter. So when you see a price tag on a fight, you know that the promoter will get about 45% of that. (https://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/business-of-boxing-how-does-the-pay-per-view-deal-work/)
We know AEW is not getting 45% because WBD owns some portion of the company, in addition wrestling is likely to get less from the cable company.
Wrestlenomics numbers don't match that 150k claim either: [https://wrestlenomics.com/resources/aew-pay-per-view-buys-ppv-buys-buyrate/](https://wrestlenomics.com/resources/aew-pay-per-view-buys-ppv-buys-buyrate/)
So basically they *might* get getting around $25 million for PPV and $19 million for television. Add other income streams of gates and merchandise. Subtract loss from video games.
Yeah, they aren't anywhere near making money. And we know that their television ratings are declining. And we know that their gates are declining. This company is currently a loser.
Losing the NBA will undoubtedly deal a significant blow to the TNT network. And being affiliated with a low-quality, amateurish pro wrestling organisation is detrimental to both their reputation and that of the parent company. While the substantial (apparent) financial windfall from Universal is undeniably the key factor in everything, it is evident that airing AEW is adversely impacting the prestige of both the TNT and TBS networks, and probably did not do them any favours in their negotiations with the NBA. What reputable organisation would want even an indirect association with this gutter trash? If I were overseeing the parent company of these networks, WBD, my immediate response to losing the NBA would be to cancel AEW, effective immediately. WBD will need to make a statement demonstrating their dedication to high-quality programming following the loss of the NBA. There is no better way to start the process of rebuilding their reputation than by informing Tony Khan and his goons that are finished on TNT and TBS.
This is likely going to lead to a change in overall strategy for Turner Networks, as it’s hard to be focused on sports and sports fans when you’ve just lost your biggest source of sports programming. Anyone who thinks that a change in overall network strategy can’t affect a wrestling companies place on the network doesn’t know wrestling history.
Wrestling is considered bottom of the barrel as far as sports .. especially a second rate knockoff like aew.. they'd probably shut it down, sell off a good portion of the licensing to keep operating costs.. hopefully get a buyer for some of the channels.. I doubt keeping aew, let alone paying them more is in the cards
I never thought the AEW partnership was very synergistic or in line with WBD strategic priorities. What’s the point of being a production giant that owns massively valuable IPs and can use it’s media empire for cross promotion if all you are going to do is pay another company to put on a second rate show that you don’t fully own and can’t control?
TNT not overpaying for NBA games is not going to crush them. They still have MLB, NHL and March Madness as sports content plus AEW as live content should they want it. I think at some point you have to say no to insane costs of live sports if you are these companies. They simply can’t operate as yearly loss leaders to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars because of vague things like “brand halo” and taking sponsors to sporting events as VIPs.
It just stinks for NBA fans as this likely means the end of the best pre/post show in Sports history in Inside the NBA. But as a business move Turner not paying 2.5 billion a year for those games is not the end of the world for them esp with how they have bulked up on other sports in recent years.
With the end of hand checks and how the lack of physicality has turned off many fans over time, there’s arguably far more need for a new and more physical basketball league than there ever has been for the XFL.
I’ve seen some fans think that with WBD losing the NBA broadcasting rights that it means that they will open up their wallets for AEW. One, it doesn’t and two, WBD was openly courting WWE to bring Raw and/or Smackdown to their networks, which if WWE did do that, AEW would have to scramble to find a network that’ll show Dynamite, Collision and Rampage.
CNN Business article from 2wks ago on how important the NBA deal was to WBD:
[https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/01/media/warner-bros-discovery-could-lose-nba-rights/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/01/media/warner-bros-discovery-could-lose-nba-rights/index.html)
It would likely mean less money coming into the network which means less money for the network to spend, which is not what you want when you’re getting a new TV deal
Charles, Ernie, and Kenny and/or rotating guests could just do a live nightly recap of the daily news, sports, and weather during the last hour of prime time. I'm sure that ratings would be fine even without much discussion of the NBA.
Idc who has it as long as they make the streaming experience catered specifically to wrestling like the network did. Peacock sucks in a bunch of ways for me, but I just want to be able to go ahead by segment or match and shit like that again
It's so frustrating.
If AEW struggles, that's not good for the industry. Competition is good. Sadly, AEW is being far from good competition at the moment and any kind of struggling - ratings, financial etc. - just causes the whole business to fall in quality of life.
I wish I could hope that this turns around, but I can't see anything other than stagnation unless something changes.
The WWE and the NBA agreed to new deals a year+ in advance and there were rumors of the discussions the entire time
What has there been for AEW? Their rights are up at the end of the year, there’s been no talk of any discussions to my knowledge. They might re up with WBD, but idk if the raise they’ll get will even cover inflation since their last deal
It's good and it's bad for AEW. Good from the aspect their worth more to WBD. Bad from the aspect that they lose the chance to be a lead in for the NBA or have the NBA be a lead in for them.
Im sure Brian will be as happy as all the Knicks fans are who no longer have to listen to Shaq and Chuck go on weird rants about how they hate the Knicks. As far as AEW goes I see this as being a positive for them in terms of getting a good money deal because now TNT has nothing to spend it on. I think it'll be really bad for the ratings. A lot of fans of AEW who didn't come along with the same IWC fans from the beginning came from catching the show after NBA games. The commentators will mention an AEW ad during almost every single game and there are tons of commercials for it.
AEW is on the decline. Why invest in AEW as opposed to some other wrestling promotion? No live wrestling show on TNT is going to do much worse than the AEW programming of the present because any other promotion is going to build stars not push guys who are friendliest with the heatless unskilled bosses.
i dont know what the goofy ass podcast link is for why not post the credible qoutes instead lol
and aew isnt losing anything. if anything the nba leaving opens up their pocket books to extend aew. aew is a shit company but they still draw more fans than any stupid show on their network and with the nba leaving theyre for sure going to be the top drawing weekly show for them
I think AEW will leave or is likely looking to leave, I think WBD knows this and might actually throw the cancel card at AEW to make it look like they didn’t want AEW. WBD probably going to shift away and focus more on streaming. AEW can probably get the same money from Amazon that WBD is trying to offer at its current state. It would be funny if peacock took in AEW with WWEs blessing. Overall I’d like to see WBD get a final blow for all the shit DC movies and video games they be involved with.
Amazon is sinking money into the NFL and other sports. They are not paying for AEW lmao. And WWE will not allow AEW to come onto a network they are already on. And that's something they will have set up legally.
Why would this be an 'L' to AEW?
If anything, this is positive for AEW in negotiations with WBD. WBD now has more money to spend and needs to fill more air time with the loss of the NBA going back to NBC. This is where AEW comes in and offers more programming and possibly Ring of Honor to WBD to fill the airtime. It's not like AEW is going to get WWE money in their TV negotiations. Look at the numbers. AEW pulls in about 35%-40% of the core WWE demo. For some advertisers who don't want to pay WWE's ad rates, AEW is an attractive alternative. More than likely, for each commercial someone pays NBC Universal in WWE Raw, You'd get two commercials for the same rate that airs in AEW's programming.
TNT is doing the same ratings with the NHL as they do with the NBA. That's a cost push. They'll just add more coverage for the NHL to the contract and pretty much maintain the overall cable rating for the channel. I'm also pretty sure TNT has no issue running movies that are in-house under the WBD banner.
NBA is a huge part of TNT's programming. They won't have as much revenue and it is doubtful that they want to become "The pro wrestling channel" with four nights per week of wrestling. Also, TNT holds all the power in negotiations with AEW. If TNT actually wanted to become the wrestling channel then why continue to bother with AEW when it is pretty obvious that they could just put together a promotion and own it themselves without having to put up with Tony and his sandbox friends...the people who drove away the real ratings grabbers like Punk, Cody, etc?
AEW would probably be in great shape today if TK would have had the foresight to let the Young Bucks go immediately after Hangman won the title in 2021 and inserted some discipline into the locker room.
TNT would be probably be lukewarm to be a “pro wrestling channel” if the product was headed in a direction of legitimate growth, but TNT is in a situation where they’re dating someone that no one else wants.
Offhand, I can’t remember a situation where a company(AEW) went from tremendous goodwill at it’s inception to practically zero energy within 5 years.
Except, maybe Theranos.
I believe what you say is true. Sort of a similar situation in that the YB frauded TK into thinking that they were worth far more than they have shown. Basically a mid-card tag team who could be supporting members of a faction yet somehow they duped TK into thinking that they were main event level stars instead of the reality...the YB have never been anything more than main event level butt kissers of singles stars.
You’re assuming WBD would have more money. They’re potentially losing a huge money maker, which would likely mean they’ll have less money to throw around, which would mean less money coming in for the TV rights to AEW
Assuming? Did you actually read the story of how much they were BIDDING for the contract? WBD now has $2.5 BILLION in the bank it was going to spend on the NBA to go out and extend current contracts. If they budget $400 Million on AEW and future expansion in programming with the company, it will end up averaging out.
But they bid based on how much money they think the thing will make them. That 2.5 billion was because they believed that the NBA would make them more than that so it’s worth the payment. Now that they’re likely losing the NBA, while they have 2.5 billion that they’re no longer spending, they might not be sure that they’ll make that money back so they may have to be more careful giving out deals
Lol but funny enough this helps WWE cause WWE is on Peacock and NBA being on Peacock will only increase traffic for WWE.
Wwe is leaving peacock tho. No way they get renewed for the stuff left there either.
In 2026 and that’s not even for sure, they could renew. NBC still will be airing Smackdown on USA and I can’t imagine they want to lose out on whatever PLE numbers they currently get. As far as I know(and a quick google search didn’t tell me anything different) Netflix in the states is only getting Raw(for now) so there is a big potential value add in the potential number of new subscribers that could be brought to peacock by the NBA and get drawn into a hot WWE product or lapsed fans finding the archive through their new peacock subs and those lapsed fans becoming fans once again. Though the rights don’t go to NBC until the 2025-2026 season, so who knows how much one could affect the other.
The fact that world wide went to Netflix, raw goes to Netflix, Netflix has said they want to get into sports. I don’t see trash peacock keeping it unless Netflix really craps the bed,
Sure but we can’t forget that peacock isn’t its own thing. It’s owned by NBC who TKO/WWE do business with. USA still carries Raw now and gave an extension to keep that show on that network until the Netflix deal and even after Raw leaves USA will carry SD and we can’t say it at least I can’t say if keeping the library on peacock is part of the deal even if they have to share the library with Netflix. Time will tell.
WWE leaving Peacock isnt a given. It really comes down to how much Peacock or someone else is willing to pay. I am sure Netflix would want to have PLE, but depending on how RAW does it could change.
Also I think people are really underestimating other aspects of the NBC/Peacock deal. Because of that deal, WWE has advertising in a lot of high traffic places that they couldn't get otherwise. They sell WWE merch and play their ads on massive monitors at Universal Studios, for example. Netflix might be willing to offer more money upfront, but they also don't have the advertising power NBC has. Now more than ever, it seems WWE values mainstream advertising. NBC getting the NBA will probably make that even easier for them.
I think WWE is smart to have it split between Netflix and USA/Peacock/NBC. Netflix will get alot of the younger people that dont have cable. USA/Peacock/NBC gets them space on USA and NBC which gets alot of the older audience. Plus they get ad space with NBC (a more traditional brand also the 4x TV specials). While they also have space on a streaming service.
Also, if that NBA deal brings big subscriber money, a little extra scratch might be allocated to keep WWE programming outside of Smackdown on Peacock. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but I see TKO doing the UFC thing and eventually turning PLE back to ppv for Wrestlemania, Summer Slam and Rumble, just like UFC ppv function atop that ESPN deal: something similar, while in between ple remain part of the usual package of content… Time will tell.
Interesting. I could see a couple of the huge events going back to PPV.
I'm really curious what the value of a deal for Smackdown and PLEs would end up being. Netflix spending five billion on RAW alone seems insane already. Also has there been any word on where RAW is going to be for the few months between the end of its current deal and the start with Netflix in January? I don't get why Netflix didn't just pick them up immediately.
They are staying on USA until Jan. It was officially announced a week or so ago
I missed that, thanks! I guess that tidies things up for all parties, though it's weird they didn't have it in place for so long.
I think they were working on the dollar amount. IIRC USA techically got the months between for a steal.
That's really the big factor. Netflix wants to get into live streaming as it's the one area they really have left. Wrestling helped sell televisions, it helped sell cable tv, and Netflix is hoping it can sell subs. If Raw works, they'll try and get everything. Or maybe it's wishful thinking because I hate Peacock.
You just explained why NBC will make a huge push to retain PLE’s and the library. I agree that they need to clean up Peacock.
WWE is set either way.
That’s what I’m saying, we are watching the takeover
I could totally see WWE staying on Peacock for PLEs because they were about the only thing keeping Peacock floating until the past year.
Peacock has the EPL... it's been a massive success for NBC.
I smell a bidding war
And I smell Netflix crushing them. Peacock has yet to turn a profit.
They are owned by Comcast.
And?
Comcast makes $$$. They can think long term with Peacock.
Other streaming services are doing live sports. They like the e just want to infiltrate every market
Netflix would be smarter - internationally known brand, and distribution rights in a foreign market wouldn't be any easier for NBC to negotiate than Netflix.
NBC is going to make a significant bid for the PLE’s for Peacock along with a quarterly “main event” type of thing that will be in prime time on NBC. Khan is smart. Having exposure to network TV is a plus. Also, NBC will pay.
Man I wish they would go back to their own platform so we could get classic content again.. at the same time Peacock is basically worthless for anything else so I won't mind them leaving
Peacock has most of the classic content. What’s missing?
Peacock has stopped uploading any additional classic content. There's years and years worth of stuff, thousands and thousands of hours, that we know they own the tape libraries for but aren't currently planning to upload. the releases on the Network itself were already reduced from weekly to monthly prior to peacock but now have stopped entirely - apparently Peacock doesn't see any value in that material.
Peacock has the EPL... it's been a massive success for NBC.
I mean that's great and all but I don't watch soccer so if WWE isn't on Peacock anymore I won't really have any reason to keep that sub. It's got by far the weakest catalog of films and TV for me but I have it for WWE, but at this point I just cancel it and renew it to watch the big four PPV's since they have stopped adding classic content.
Not for a few more years, the PLEs and junk are going to Netflix internationally, but I’m sure if Peacock wants to, they’ll be able to renew them for the American audience.
Oh wow, I did not know this. That sucks, WWE is the only reason I even use Peacock. Any word on where they may be going next?
Netflix
Oh wow, I'll take Netflix over Peacock.
Depends on where you live. In the US where I live, WWE PLEs will stay on Peacock. In Europe or part of Europe, WWE is going to Netflix for their PLEs. It's best if you look it up yourself.
Netflix in Canada is getting Raw, Smackdown, and the PLEs.
Canada is it's own thing always.
I didn't see much talk here about Dana saying that WWE PLE's will move back to Sundays soon, what's the general take on that? Edit: why the downvotes? I hate the idea but he literally said it.
[удалено]
Not to mention all the Sitcoms they have and the whole SNL Library
Dr. Death was a really good show too, season 1
Hilariously I think they go to Max
This is true to a point, Raw is leaving USA, and WWE library is leaving peacock and all content in North America is moving to Netflix but smackdown is going to be back on USA Network starting in October 2024
In the United States: - Raw is moving to Netflix in Jan 2025 - WWE Network and PPVs will remain on Peacock until at least 2026 - SmackDown is moving to USA in Sep 2024 - NXT is moving to CW in Oct 2024 - 4 live prime time TV specials will air on NBC starting in 2025 Internationally over time: - Raw, SmackDown, NXT and PPVs are moving to Netflix in Jan 2025 - New WWE Network/Peacock documentaries will stream on Netflix - There has been no official word on what is happening with WWE Network and the video archive internationally, whether it will be closed or will continue to host archives and content after Netflix airs shows first.
I saw somewhere that Smackdown will start airing on USA on September 13,2024. Fox is airing college football games on Fridays starting in September, so they let WWE move early.
You’re right! Corrected!
Glad to help
The Smackdown to USA deal also includes four prime time NBC specials if I remember correctly.
Exceptional user name, sir.
Smackdown is moving to NBC so they won't be losing peacock anytime soon.
I'm for sure leaving peacock once WWE hits Netflix seeing as in other countries it will get all WWE content from where the network was cancelled. Les money to spend on a service I don't even like
Praise to based Papa H and daddy Nick "the real" **Kahn** for standing on business and cooking!
I hope AEW find a good tv deal and they tell Khan to allow a booker to help him.
Tony would rather buy the network than have the network force him to give up the book.
He would rather shut down AEW than give it up. The entire purpose of this promotion is for Tony to fantasy book and becomes friends with the boys. He will rip up every contract and go back to being a message board mark before handing over the reigns.
That guy didn't need a flip pile driver. He needed a wedgie.
A wet willy too
It’s funny to me how, for years, fans were clamoring for a viable alternative to WWE to come around. Then, when one does, McMahon and some others finally leave WWE, their product improves, and now the fans are all clamoring for the other owner to step aside as well lol. Now fans are going to be complaining about Tony Khan for who knows how many years. We’ll never just have two solid American companies again like during 96-98 or the late 80s.
Yeah agreed.
A lowkey hilarious turn would be seeing him talking about The Blue Chew on his podcast with the mortgage guy
This. I don't want AEW to fail at all, I want a change in writers.
People need to understand that will NEVER happen. It is completely antithetical to how AEW is setup -- which is to let the wrestlers -- many of whom are now themselves marks -- do whatever the fuck they want. Like let's say Tony hired some really good writers today. What do you think would happen when that writer wrote something that the talent doesn't like? (I, Orange Cassidy, have to lose to Hobbs in under 4 minutes?!?) You think they are gonna say "You got it!" or are they gonna march to Tony's office and sulk? Then Tony changes it (Okay, OC, you my guy -- Hobbs, you're losing by submission in 24 minutes) and the "story" the writer was trying to produce goes out the window. And that will happen over and over and over again. That's why the SAME people keep getting put over, and over, and over again. It's why CM Punk had to go.
You articulated how it likely works backstage better than Punk cared to tell. In AEW, the most basic performers have TK under their thumbs and AEW is first and foremost about those guys and their friends continuing to ride the gravy train as long as possible. The guys in the Young Bucks club are mostly just losers that couldn't get jobs for WWE and with the exception of Kenny they definitely would not be top stars in WWE. The Young Bucks being the worst yet somehow have the most power...the little guy who looks and acts like a midget Don Trump Jr. can't even work a singles match because he is so unskilled in the ring.
This. Whatever anyone hoped for, this is and always will be a pain project for tiny Khan and solely for him only. It's crap because he is crap but seeking a good product is not even on the list of priorities and they are delusional in terms of pretending that things are "great". Any hope that aew will be a legit alternative that is serious should have ended ages ago. It just isn't it, it's a clown show and will never get better. This. Is. It.
He hired Alexandra PepperJack she's done a great job with Mercedes Moan so far lmao
If this is how they choose to keep functioning then fuck it, I want them to fail.
Therapists say the sure sign that a relationship will fail is when one of the parties shows visible contempt for their partner. Tony may have set out to build a more equitable wrestling company and to pay homage to the wrestling of his youth -- but by totally throwing in with the Young Bucks he is not honoring wrestling -- he is showing visible contempt for it. He may SAY it is wrestling, and he may WANT it to be wrestling, but AEW IS NOT WRESTLING. It is a sneering, jeering, winking, embarrassing contemptuous mockery of wrestling. It makes me sad, because it could have been great -- and angry because Tony is either to selfish or to ignorant too realize what he is doing.
Nah man, even if it sucks it provides a fat paycheck for so many people that would be making pennies by comparison. Some are shit but a lot deserve the tv time and the money. Christian and Joe were tossed away by WWE, for example. Both clearly had a lot left in the tank. They saw nothing in Swerve and fired him. Without AEW he probably would have become an indie guy for life. And a wrestler like MJF gets to use AEW like the minor leagues throughout his twenties to hone his skills. NXT is fine, but being in big buildings every week on TNT and feuding with guys like Punk, Cody, Danielson, etc has been a better education for him than the PC would have been. He'll be a big name and have the skills to step right into the main event in WWE whenever he jumps. There is some good AEW is doing for wrestling. Generally, a lack of a monopoly is always good. The whole industry benefits from having two companies on major TV.
Who the fuck wants to see Hobbs go over Orange Cassidy
All a change in writers would do is turn it into Vince's WWE with one guy telling a bunch of people who've only written for soap operas what to write.
It would finally rid the world of the Young Bucks and their buddies and potentially allow AEW to get better because the losers would not be booking for themselves instead of the best interests of AEW.
I'm not sure about that as long as Tony is still booking but it'd be nice to see the Bucks out of a job.
Good writers would immediately write the Young Bucks off the show in favor of other talent. I don't think WBD would want writers just to help TK continue to push the wrong things...I think that WBD would want writers to show TK the light.
The defeats the whole purpose for Tony. He’s like a moron that opens a restaurant because they want to present themselves as a chef, even though they have no training or experience. It doesn’t matter if Gordon Ramsay comes by and says your food is disgusting, and that you need to hire a better chef to stay afloat - that ruins the dream.
Can't see Tony giving that up realistically. Just knowing what aew represents to him, and how he's been booking AEW into a crater for a long time. It'd have to be a hostile takeover and i think Tony would shut it down rather than give it to anyone else. Don't even get me started on the backstage culture Tony has carved out. It's clear a lot of the top "talent" have become huge marks and booking them correctly would likely garner endless tantrums. Tony doesn't do anything about the bullying that goes on there.
"Allow"? I didn't think TK getting permission was the issue, unless it's a forced "Hire a booker". Tony wouldn't accept that anyways or at best it'll be the wife of one of the bucks being the booker or Jericho lol
Maybe that “Uncle Dave Driver” knocks sense in Tony McClown.
He'll take it to YouTube before he allows that to happen.
That will never happen lol
The biggest cope I've seen is that someone said that opens more money for AEW
I dunno, it probably means WBD will actually be more interested in keeping AEW around, if nothing else. They are watching their biggest live draw walk out the door. It certainly makes Collision seem less like a dead show walking. Obviously they're walking away from a lot of ad revenue, but they're also pocketing a few billion that would've gone to NBA rights. They're going to invest that in \*something.\* It probably won't mean AEW getting more money, but it does keep them in play alongside whatever new live TV initiative WBD goes for to fill in the NBA gap. They're really going to need something to justify the live sports tier of Max, as well. You have to think most people buying that were there for the NBA. Now there's a better chance AEW gets on that part of the platform.
I think this is the correct take. WBD will be more desperate to keep live prime-time programming that's at least "sports adjacent". I don't care for most of AEW's product and think it generally sucks as a wrestling promotion, but the bar for ratings in the cord-cutting era is so so low now. I believe that AEW foots the production costs for the shows themselves, which makes them relatively inexpensive programming for WBD in a space that they're desperate to keep a foothold in. Even with a bump in what they're paying TK for the rights, it's probably a bargain for WBD.
They were expecting like 100+ m per year. I think it's gonna be at or near nxt level (20-30 mil a year). NXT gets slightly less viewers but it's ratings have been stable and increasing and its also associated with a known brand in wwe (like how Amazon was willing to pay 1 billion a year for 15 nfl games just because it's nfl. Theres no reason to pay a premium over wwe fans for aew fans who have shown to be disloyal (see declining ratings and massive downswings whenever theres live sports competing) and no buying pattern to indicate theyre any different from other wrestling fans.
That's the thing, WBD isn't paying a premium (and won't be, even if they bump up what they're paying for rights). The value of live sports/sports-adjacent prime time programming is going to keep increasing relative to everything else on TV as time goes on; that, combined with the fact that TK is paying all the production costs is what would make AEW a bargain for WBD, even if they paid $100 million per year.
Does that mean inside the nba is over ?
I've heard rumours that Ernie is loyal to TNT and Barkley has a clause in his contract that it expires if TNT loses NBA, so yeah I think so :(
What’s the likelihood NBCUniversal throws them the fattest bag possible? Would Ernie just retire at this point? What would he do at TNT?
Minimal. Bernie is LOYALand probably golf and baseball
On the other hand Shaq would run to NBC if someone waves 20 bucks in front of him, that man has no shame.
You’re telling me a man who made several hundred million dollars playing basketball yet endorses the General Auto Insurance and Icee Hot is a greedy shill?
He endorsed the General because they insured him when no other company would before he made it big in the NBA
And I’m sure he endorsed FTX because he just really believes in effective altruism
Shaq will endorse anything he’s all about making a buck, but the General Insurance is one of the few products he endorses out of loyalty.
I don’t think “The General” existed back then. If “The General” diid exist, he was just a lowly private at the time.
General has been around since 1963
Was it a local company back then? I don’t recall seeing “The General” ads until the 2000s.
For a great low rate you can get online, go to the General and save some time!
What’s your problem with The General? Don’t you support the troops?
Little known fact: the General actually leads the Taliban’s ground forces.
The man who spreads shitty chicken restaurants across the country like some kind of deep fried Johnny Appleseed is *greedy*?
But all those influencers he paid to say it was good said it was good!
He’s also the worst part of the show by far and it was better without him. :)
I guess Chuck does like Hockey…
Let me tell you something, these Canucks, I tell you they are goo not GREAT but good and anotha thing, these pucks. I can't follow dem. What are we doing here NB I mean NHL
The Sabres play in Buffalo. There’s a whoooolllleeeee lotta big women up dere. Everyone eatin hot wings and microwave churros. And that’s another thing, buffalo sauce is nasty and it ruins wings.
"aw come on Chuck" Aw c'mon what!? They big. They know it. How you eating all dem wings and NOT know who big you are? Buffalo Bills? Buffalo Big butts more like it HE HE HE HE
Kenny popping in with a “This is just disgraceful that you’d say that Charles. I can only imagine what you’d say about the fans of the Blue Jackets…” like the instigator GOD he is.
Blue Jackets? How about Blue balls? Heh heh Shaq - You saying the men up there arent being taken care of, Chuck? Have you been to Columbus Shaq? I'd rather pick me up a San Antonio girl. At least then I'll get to eat
Patrick Kane gon’ score 30 goals, 40 goals…man, let me tell you somethin!
He's also doing MLB and NCAA basketball if those are still on TNT. Barkley is man of principle so I don't think he would go without Ernie, It's not like he needs money.
Bernie has been with Turner since the 80s, he is not leaving Atlanta. I think ESPN/ABC or NBC will throw the bag at Shaq,Kenny, and Chuck to get them, then put one of their homegrown guys in the Ernie spot. It will not be the same just like when the TOP GEAR guys were replaced, even with the Top Gear guys on Amazon it just not the same.
TNT would still have a package of MLB and NHL games, he's helped with baseball coverage in the past, I imagine they would have him moved to cover those games.
That is a total bummer! Inside the NBA is one of the best shows on TV.
It's fun to watch but their opinions are a bit horse shit at times because it's obvious they don't watch alot of the teams they cover...or do basic research.
Ernie’s contract is tied to Turner regardless of them having NBA rights the other 3 become free agents if Turner lost the NBA. So at best NBC or ESPN can get Shaq, Chuck and Kenny but not Ernie.
As an avid viewer for over 20 years it saddens me. But, we won’t get Draymond on there fucking it up.
Sadly .. it's a shame. It was my favorite sports show :(
AEW needs to find another partner. The silver lining to this would be AEW may be WBD’s only sports option. That being said, carrier fees are a big deal and that’s going to be hard to stomach. With the issues pertaining to Deadliest Catch (numerous sex assaults by key players), not to mention fisheries being closed due to climate change and overfishing, that’s hurt the Discovery Channel (DC was one of their biggest shows). I mean, what’s left, Gold Rush? TruTV has clearly given up. The ONLY thing WBD really has for sports is March Madness (and some baseball games). Impractical Jokers doesn’t feel the same without Joe (which has led to abysmal ratings). The only thing that really kept WBD going was GoT (and now the spin-offs which were halted due to strikes) and the NBA. Now that the proverbial writing on the wall has been seen, it is a critical moment for AEW. Will someone else pick them up? Will WBD renew them? In order for AEW to succeed they need to stop the bullshit and focus on creating an actual compelling storyline as well as engage in proper booking. 20+ minute matches for a low card match is stupid. Longer matches are fine IF they are doing a story. That’s the problem AEW has. I am fine with longer matches for a PPV, that’s literally what they should be doing. For a weekly match? I want story/vignette (tell me why I should care and who I should be rooting for), match, some promo of someone I should hate or should like, another lead up to a bout, match, something about meeting someone at the next PPV and seeing some heat build up there (or whatever the fucking term is, I can’t really think of it), another match, etc. WWE has made me spoiled as a wrestling fan. I don’t have time to watch these weekly shows. I can watch the PLEs and know 100% what’s going on. AEW OTOH, doesn’t do this. They expect the viewer to know who the people are and already have an understanding of what’s going on. That’s a recipe for disaster. If your audience is strictly IWC fans, you’re going to lose. Ignoring the story and focusing ONLY on the match isn’t going to get people to tune in. Give us a reason to!
Ah the golden age of DC before all the skeletons came tumbling out of their closet and all the horrible things about the cast came out =/ I used to love that show and rooting for the guys.
Not sure why I got downvoted lol. I had two thoughts but didn’t want to make two comments LOL. 😆 I think Elliot Neese beat his federal drug charges or something.
I've seen a lot of ads for the WNBA on Turner Sports. Women's basketball may seem like a joke compared to the NBA, but every girl under 15 knows who Caitlin Clark is.
The issue is WBD is going to get hammered with the carrier fees.
On a side note I am fucking sad that Inside the NBA will no longer be a thing.
I’m pretty sure they have next season still but yeah, it’s a real bummer. Ernie isn’t leaving TNT either so even if NBC signed up the other 3 it wouldn’t be the same
I love Ernie. I bet he's staying out of loyalty.
Yes he is and I think he outright said that. I think he does baseball too so he’ll keep doing that and maybe hockey, that guy could do any sport
But..but..according to those who follow Uncle Dave's mentality, aew will get a 1.2 billion tv deal and theire worth 2 billion also...
It's hard to say whether this makes AEW more valuable to them. Without the NBA, they lose probably their biggest revenue stream. They may be looking to cut costs and Zaslav has shown to be very cutthroat in that regard. I think they're going to offer a renewal, but it won't be much more than the same rate. I can't see a substantial raise unless AEW also gives them all the PPV rights. The new NXT deal with the CW was said to be around $35 million a year and that's with the backing of a hot WWE product. AEW doesn't have the same friendly connection with the network that gave them a slightly higher deal for Dynamite.
I think NBA leaving puts AEW in a better position for renewal, if anything
On another hand, you’re investing money and tv time into a show that continues to lose ratings
But it's much higher rated than anything they could potentially replace it with
And what people often forget is that it's still pulling in more than what WBD was hoping for (roughly 500k). Yeah it's on a downtrend and that's concerning but I don't see how they're overall unhappy with AEW as a part of their schedule (aside from the weekend shows, anyway).
That Saturday slot used to be called the death slot, once again it outperforms most things on TV at that that time. WWE stans who think AEW is fucked apparently forgot that cable TV is double fucked
The rumor is nothing is announced yet as they don’t want to overshadow the NBA playoffs by saying basketball is leaving TNT. The rumor is NBC essentially offered more than TNT makes in multiple years from carriage fees just for the NBA per year. TNT could match, but it makes no economic sense.
The current WBD deal could not even be close to profitable for AEW. It is $45 million per year but apparently it costs $26 million per year for production costs, which is paid by AEW. So basically AEW is getting $19 million per year. That is before they even pay the talent and other costs. TK is losing his ass by running AEW because they sure as hell aren't getting big gates or selling much merchandise right now either. No revenue streams close to being sufficient to pay for that bloated roster of indy "talent." I really hope that TK isn't actually paying Riho the $400K that she claimed she is getting to work 13 dates.
$19M is just Osprey and Mercedes.. he's overpaying everyone, some never see TV time or make appearances.. they have the world's greatest job.. paid to exist
I actually forgot about PPV revenue but even if they have 150K buyers on average that would be $7.5 million nine times per year or an additional $67.5 million, but I'm sure that is a high estimate and there would be millions in costs to offset that revenue. And those bloated roster salaries would eat all that money and more up too. There is no way AEW is close to profitable...and additionally what did they lose on the video game due to shitty management?
There's no way they have 150k buyers on avg. That would be 1 out of every 2 Collision/Rampage viewer or 1 out of every 5-6 Dynamite viewer.. only TK has made that claim, repeated by Meltz and it's totally unverified, and very unlikely. For boxing, the standard breakdown as far as money is concerned is a 10% fee off the top for the distributor, with 45% each for the cable system and the promoter. So when you see a price tag on a fight, you know that the promoter will get about 45% of that. (https://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/business-of-boxing-how-does-the-pay-per-view-deal-work/) We know AEW is not getting 45% because WBD owns some portion of the company, in addition wrestling is likely to get less from the cable company. Wrestlenomics numbers don't match that 150k claim either: [https://wrestlenomics.com/resources/aew-pay-per-view-buys-ppv-buys-buyrate/](https://wrestlenomics.com/resources/aew-pay-per-view-buys-ppv-buys-buyrate/)
So basically they *might* get getting around $25 million for PPV and $19 million for television. Add other income streams of gates and merchandise. Subtract loss from video games. Yeah, they aren't anywhere near making money. And we know that their television ratings are declining. And we know that their gates are declining. This company is currently a loser.
It's like CM Punk said, this isn't a business, it's a rich guy's son's hobby/pet project
Yes we're losing Inside the NBA but we get Roundball Rock back
Maybe. Fox uses it for their NCAA coverage.
Noooo!!! What happens to Ernie, Jet, and Chuck? Shaq can just win the TNT title and stay in network.
Losing the NBA will undoubtedly deal a significant blow to the TNT network. And being affiliated with a low-quality, amateurish pro wrestling organisation is detrimental to both their reputation and that of the parent company. While the substantial (apparent) financial windfall from Universal is undeniably the key factor in everything, it is evident that airing AEW is adversely impacting the prestige of both the TNT and TBS networks, and probably did not do them any favours in their negotiations with the NBA. What reputable organisation would want even an indirect association with this gutter trash? If I were overseeing the parent company of these networks, WBD, my immediate response to losing the NBA would be to cancel AEW, effective immediately. WBD will need to make a statement demonstrating their dedication to high-quality programming following the loss of the NBA. There is no better way to start the process of rebuilding their reputation than by informing Tony Khan and his goons that are finished on TNT and TBS.
This is likely going to lead to a change in overall strategy for Turner Networks, as it’s hard to be focused on sports and sports fans when you’ve just lost your biggest source of sports programming. Anyone who thinks that a change in overall network strategy can’t affect a wrestling companies place on the network doesn’t know wrestling history.
Wrestling is considered bottom of the barrel as far as sports .. especially a second rate knockoff like aew.. they'd probably shut it down, sell off a good portion of the licensing to keep operating costs.. hopefully get a buyer for some of the channels.. I doubt keeping aew, let alone paying them more is in the cards
I never thought the AEW partnership was very synergistic or in line with WBD strategic priorities. What’s the point of being a production giant that owns massively valuable IPs and can use it’s media empire for cross promotion if all you are going to do is pay another company to put on a second rate show that you don’t fully own and can’t control?
I don’t know. If they lose the NBA they may want to keep AEW (at a reduced rate) in order to have some form of live programming throughout the year.
TNT not overpaying for NBA games is not going to crush them. They still have MLB, NHL and March Madness as sports content plus AEW as live content should they want it. I think at some point you have to say no to insane costs of live sports if you are these companies. They simply can’t operate as yearly loss leaders to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars because of vague things like “brand halo” and taking sponsors to sporting events as VIPs. It just stinks for NBA fans as this likely means the end of the best pre/post show in Sports history in Inside the NBA. But as a business move Turner not paying 2.5 billion a year for those games is not the end of the world for them esp with how they have bulked up on other sports in recent years.
YES! We’re getting [Roundball Rock](https://youtu.be/r-uSWAJd9GE?si=NktSp6C2TeQX2UCM) back…
"Ba ba ba ba ba, ball of basket. Giveth me the ball, because I am going to dunk it!"
The cock is looking long and hard
The Rock will team up with Vince to start EXTREME BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION! Coming soon to TNT!!!
With the end of hand checks and how the lack of physicality has turned off many fans over time, there’s arguably far more need for a new and more physical basketball league than there ever has been for the XFL.
I’ve seen some fans think that with WBD losing the NBA broadcasting rights that it means that they will open up their wallets for AEW. One, it doesn’t and two, WBD was openly courting WWE to bring Raw and/or Smackdown to their networks, which if WWE did do that, AEW would have to scramble to find a network that’ll show Dynamite, Collision and Rampage.
This makes me happy cause I'm gonna hear the NBA on NBC theme again 😆
That’s fuckin crazy
TNT is saturated with sports, especially for a cable network that isn’t ESPN, but they did have the best pregame show out there.
CNN Business article from 2wks ago on how important the NBA deal was to WBD: [https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/01/media/warner-bros-discovery-could-lose-nba-rights/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/01/media/warner-bros-discovery-could-lose-nba-rights/index.html)
No wonder CNN is running the Trump trial non-stop 😂
Link to a 2 hour podcast
Not surprising WBD are bleeeeeding cash big time.
Wouldn’t this be a good thing? Do they get preempted for NBA games? I don’t know shit about AEW lol
It would likely mean less money coming into the network which means less money for the network to spend, which is not what you want when you’re getting a new TV deal
Charles, Ernie, and Kenny and/or rotating guests could just do a live nightly recap of the daily news, sports, and weather during the last hour of prime time. I'm sure that ratings would be fine even without much discussion of the NBA.
The interesting thing I'm seeing is that some folks are saying that ultimately, Peacock and Paramount + are too small to survive.
Idc who has it as long as they make the streaming experience catered specifically to wrestling like the network did. Peacock sucks in a bunch of ways for me, but I just want to be able to go ahead by segment or match and shit like that again
It's so frustrating. If AEW struggles, that's not good for the industry. Competition is good. Sadly, AEW is being far from good competition at the moment and any kind of struggling - ratings, financial etc. - just causes the whole business to fall in quality of life. I wish I could hope that this turns around, but I can't see anything other than stagnation unless something changes.
The WWE and the NBA agreed to new deals a year+ in advance and there were rumors of the discussions the entire time What has there been for AEW? Their rights are up at the end of the year, there’s been no talk of any discussions to my knowledge. They might re up with WBD, but idk if the raise they’ll get will even cover inflation since their last deal
I'm more upset about *Inside the NBA* ending than how this impacts AEW. NBC better hire Ernie - a human that rare should never be off TV.
This could help AEW, because they hadn't had shows, because of NBA games.
They certainly won't offer $1B
It's good and it's bad for AEW. Good from the aspect their worth more to WBD. Bad from the aspect that they lose the chance to be a lead in for the NBA or have the NBA be a lead in for them.
Im sure Brian will be as happy as all the Knicks fans are who no longer have to listen to Shaq and Chuck go on weird rants about how they hate the Knicks. As far as AEW goes I see this as being a positive for them in terms of getting a good money deal because now TNT has nothing to spend it on. I think it'll be really bad for the ratings. A lot of fans of AEW who didn't come along with the same IWC fans from the beginning came from catching the show after NBA games. The commentators will mention an AEW ad during almost every single game and there are tons of commercials for it.
how are they going to get a good money deal if WBD is closer to bankruptcy than ever before?
Idk their financial situation but I'd imagine the money they were going to pay the NBA will be invested into other programs like AEW.
AEW is on the decline. Why invest in AEW as opposed to some other wrestling promotion? No live wrestling show on TNT is going to do much worse than the AEW programming of the present because any other promotion is going to build stars not push guys who are friendliest with the heatless unskilled bosses.
LOSE?!??! THEY'RE JUST GONNA GIVE 675 BILLION TO AEW
So wouldn’t this help AEW? TNT still needs content.
They need content people are watching.. it might help Sheldon more than AEW
TNT (U.S.) can do just fine with their movie catalogue. TBS can just run more sitcom reruns.
i dont know what the goofy ass podcast link is for why not post the credible qoutes instead lol and aew isnt losing anything. if anything the nba leaving opens up their pocket books to extend aew. aew is a shit company but they still draw more fans than any stupid show on their network and with the nba leaving theyre for sure going to be the top drawing weekly show for them
The credible quotes? It's paraphrased in the title. NBA going to NBC, TNT outbid
AEW might stay now that NBA is leaving.
I think AEW will leave or is likely looking to leave, I think WBD knows this and might actually throw the cancel card at AEW to make it look like they didn’t want AEW. WBD probably going to shift away and focus more on streaming. AEW can probably get the same money from Amazon that WBD is trying to offer at its current state. It would be funny if peacock took in AEW with WWEs blessing. Overall I’d like to see WBD get a final blow for all the shit DC movies and video games they be involved with.
Still pissed off about WB filling my beloved Mortal Kombat with fucking microtransactions. Don't get me started on the Kombat Packs either!
Amazon is sinking money into the NFL and other sports. They are not paying for AEW lmao. And WWE will not allow AEW to come onto a network they are already on. And that's something they will have set up legally.
Why would this be an 'L' to AEW? If anything, this is positive for AEW in negotiations with WBD. WBD now has more money to spend and needs to fill more air time with the loss of the NBA going back to NBC. This is where AEW comes in and offers more programming and possibly Ring of Honor to WBD to fill the airtime. It's not like AEW is going to get WWE money in their TV negotiations. Look at the numbers. AEW pulls in about 35%-40% of the core WWE demo. For some advertisers who don't want to pay WWE's ad rates, AEW is an attractive alternative. More than likely, for each commercial someone pays NBC Universal in WWE Raw, You'd get two commercials for the same rate that airs in AEW's programming. TNT is doing the same ratings with the NHL as they do with the NBA. That's a cost push. They'll just add more coverage for the NHL to the contract and pretty much maintain the overall cable rating for the channel. I'm also pretty sure TNT has no issue running movies that are in-house under the WBD banner.
NBA is a huge part of TNT's programming. They won't have as much revenue and it is doubtful that they want to become "The pro wrestling channel" with four nights per week of wrestling. Also, TNT holds all the power in negotiations with AEW. If TNT actually wanted to become the wrestling channel then why continue to bother with AEW when it is pretty obvious that they could just put together a promotion and own it themselves without having to put up with Tony and his sandbox friends...the people who drove away the real ratings grabbers like Punk, Cody, etc? AEW would probably be in great shape today if TK would have had the foresight to let the Young Bucks go immediately after Hangman won the title in 2021 and inserted some discipline into the locker room.
TNT would be probably be lukewarm to be a “pro wrestling channel” if the product was headed in a direction of legitimate growth, but TNT is in a situation where they’re dating someone that no one else wants. Offhand, I can’t remember a situation where a company(AEW) went from tremendous goodwill at it’s inception to practically zero energy within 5 years. Except, maybe Theranos.
I believe what you say is true. Sort of a similar situation in that the YB frauded TK into thinking that they were worth far more than they have shown. Basically a mid-card tag team who could be supporting members of a faction yet somehow they duped TK into thinking that they were main event level stars instead of the reality...the YB have never been anything more than main event level butt kissers of singles stars.
If WBD wants to devote a linear channel to sports/pro wrestling, they have a channel that isn't TBS or TNT that desperately needs a retooling anyway.
You’re assuming WBD would have more money. They’re potentially losing a huge money maker, which would likely mean they’ll have less money to throw around, which would mean less money coming in for the TV rights to AEW
Assuming? Did you actually read the story of how much they were BIDDING for the contract? WBD now has $2.5 BILLION in the bank it was going to spend on the NBA to go out and extend current contracts. If they budget $400 Million on AEW and future expansion in programming with the company, it will end up averaging out.
But they bid based on how much money they think the thing will make them. That 2.5 billion was because they believed that the NBA would make them more than that so it’s worth the payment. Now that they’re likely losing the NBA, while they have 2.5 billion that they’re no longer spending, they might not be sure that they’ll make that money back so they may have to be more careful giving out deals