Warner Bros. Discovery is hopeful of developing shoulder programming for AEW, according to its chief content officer.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, WBD’s Kathleen Finch states that they are trying to come up with content ideas for AEW that would not center around in-ring action:
We really play in the sports space. One of the things that we’re doing around sports is creating shoulder programming to hold onto those fans. AEW [All Elite Wrestling] pulls huge numbers, so we are working with the wrestling team to figure out what new kind of content can we build that’s not in a wrestling ring.
Warner Bros. Discovery is undergoing a giant series of cost-cutting measures in the wake of its $43 billion merger. On Tuesday, WBD underwent more layoffs, according to The Hollywood Reporter there were 82 staffers let go as part of David Zaslav’s attempt to cut $3 billion in costs.
Despite the cost-cutting, Finch stated in the interview that WBC will commission 4,000 hours of original content in 2023.
AEW programming launched on TNT in October 2019 and signed a new agreement with the network in January 2020. In August 2021, they added a one-hour Rampage program on Friday nights on TNT with Dynamite moving to TBS this past January.
