WWE is out of its exclusive negotiating window with incumbents NBC Universal and Fox.
Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports that WWE is free to negotiate with other broadcasters for the U.S. domestic rights for Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.
Nick Khan recently confirmed the exclusive period with Fox had expired, although, at that time, the NBC Universal window had not ended.
Marchand listed several entities that have shown interest including Disney and Amazon Prime. With Disney, it is FX that would be the destination as opposed to ESPN, which is said to be unable to commit to a night of the week due to its sports programming schedule.
Marchand added that Apple and Warner Bros. Discovery are dark horse candidates and that AEW does not have exclusivity on WBD’s networks.
The U.S. rights for Raw and Friday Night SmackDown run through the end of September 2024 with the average annual value for both believed to be $470 million per year. Nick Khan has publicly stated they believe they will have a 1.5x or higher upgrade on the rights.
