Publicly, Tony Khan has been nothing but positive regarding AEW’s negotiations with Warner Bros. Discovery on a new media rights deal.
Privately, however, might be a different story.
While most of the recent focus on WBD has been placed on its dealings with the NBA, the media conglomerate is also currently in its exclusive negotiating rights period with AEW. And according to Puck’s Matthew Belloni, while WBD would like to keep the pro wrestling promotion on its airwaves, its offers thus far have underwhelmed Khan, AEW’s owner and CEO.
“[WBD CEO David] Zaslav and TNT Sports head Luis Silberwasser would like to keep the five hours of AEW programming per week on TNT and TBS,” writes Belloni. “But the clock is ticking. I’m told the exclusive window closes in July, and AEW leader Tony Khan is said to be disappointed with the offer currently on the table. Khan also surely knows that Zaz losing the NBA would give AEW more leverage, even though the money to re-up AEW is a mere drop in the NBA bucket. If the window closes without a deal, others could swoop in for those rights, as Comcast has done with the NBA.”
Belloni notes that WBD losing its AEW rights could be “extra awkward” as the company reportedly has an ownership stake in the wrestling promotion.
Should AEW exit its exclusive negotiating period with WBD without a deal, it will be interesting to see which other suitors potentially emerge. Currently, AEW produces five hours of television content each week and also possesses both its own and Ring of Honor’s tape libraries, which could be attractive to a streamer. And while its ratings have slumped in recent months, its flagship show, AEW Dynamite, has performed relatively well compared to the rest of cable.
Yet despite AEW seemingly being an attractive commodity, it’s unclear what sort of interest it could attract on the open market. Netflix, NBC Universal and The CW all have media rights deals with rival WWE set to go into effect later this year and it seems unlikely that entities like ESPN, Fox or CBS would want to get into business with the No. 2 pro wrestling promotion.
“I’m not sure how alluring AEW would be to another platform, especially since only non-WWE partners could bid,” writes Belloni. “But the wrestling shows still do okay on the Turner networks, it’s reliable programming, and a rival suitor could further push Zaslav into hot water in his cable carriage deals.”
Belloni’s reporting stands in contrast to Khan’s recent comments regarding his company’s relationship with WBD.
“It’s a really exciting time for AEW,” Khan told Sports Illustrated‘s Justin Barrasso last week. “We’re in active negotiations for the AEW media rights. Warner Bros. Discovery continues to be the best possible partner, and they’ve helped us grow this brand. It’s going to be a very exciting remainder to this year, and we’ll find out where AEW is going to live.
“For everyone who cares about AEW all over the world, we’re in a great position. This is going to work out really well for AEW. We’re having great talks, and people should feel very confident about what that means for the wrestlers, the staff, and the fans. As a result of everyone’s hard work and endless support from the fans, there will be a tremendous deal for AEW. The outlook for the company is so bright moving forward.”
Whether that future will include a continued partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery remains to be seen.
[Puck]