WWE owners TKO Group Holdings have announced a new short-term rights deal for Monday Night Raw.
With NBCUniversal’s five-year contract set to expire in September, question marks surrounded Raw’s immediate future.
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This uncertainty stems from the fact that Netflix’s deal to stream Raw is not expected to begin until January 2025.
However, along with first-quarter earnings, TKO announced on Wednesday that it had reached a $25 million deal with NBCU to continue airing Raw through the end of the year, according to Sport.
As such, it will remain available to fans on USA Network until December.
In January, Raw will move to Netflix in a deal reportedly worth $5 billion.
The agreement includes coverage in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Latin America, among others.
TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro described the deal as “transformative.”
“It combines WWE’s must-see product with Netflix’s extraordinary global reach and guarantees significant, predictable savings for years to come.
“Our partnership fundamentally changes and strengthens the media landscape, dramatically expands WWE’s reach and brings weekly live engagements to Netflix.”
Meanwhile, WWE President Nick Khan credited Netflix for developing “a phenomenal track record of storytelling” during “its relatively short history.”
“We believe that Netflix, as one of the world’s leading entertainment brands, is the ideal long-term home for Raw’s loyal and growing live fan base,” he added.
There have been more than 1,600 episodes of Raw since it hit screens in 1993.
And while Raw may be leaving NBCU, its relationship with WWE won’t end there.
It was announced in September that Friday Night SmackDown would leave Fox and move to the USA Network starting in October 2024.
The five-year deal is worth $1.4 billion in total, according to CNBC.
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The announcement also revealed that NBC would air four specials produced by WWE.
“NBCUniversal has been a tremendous partner to WWE for decades,” Khan said in a declaration.
“We are excited to extend this long-standing relationship by bringing SmackDown to the USA Network on Friday nights and look forward to debuting several special WWE events annually on NBC.”
We believe Netflix, as one of the world’s leading entertainment brands, is the ideal long-term home for Raw’s loyal and growing live fan base.
Nick Khan
NBCU’s streaming service Peacock also carries the WWE Network.
This deal began in 2021 and is scheduled to last until March 2026, as per IndieWire.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
