Tony Khan has said AEW’s relationship with its US broadcast partner Warner Bros Discovery is “very strong” but added that “due diligence” was ongoing.
Speaking at the ROH Final Battle press conference on Friday, Khan touted AEW’s performance on the TNT and TBS networks. He said:
We’ve had really good conversations about AEW, even in recent days. I’ve had really good talks with Warner Brothers Discovery. We’ve been with them for several years.
It’s a really exciting time for AEW. We were the number one show on cable on Wednesday in really what are considered both of the key demographics in TV, which are 18-49 and 25-54. So it was a great week for AEW. I think we’ve been putting out some of the best shows we’ve ever done.
WWE is yet to finalize a home for Monday Night Raw from October 2024, and Khan conceded that media rights talks and “due diligence” were part and parcel of the television business.
We’ve performed incredibly well for Warner Brothers Discovery and we’ve a very, very strong relationship. I think with media rights and all the things coming up, everyone has to do their due diligence. It’s just part of the TV business.
However, the AEW President expressed confidence that AEW was set for growth in 2024:
I think where we stand, we stand in a position for AEW to have a huge growth year in 2024. There’s a lot of really exciting things happening that I know Warner Brothers is really excited about that we’ve talked about. The advance for All In just being a massive success as we’re approaching a $5 million gate for a show that is eight and a half months away. And we’re so far ahead of where we were, we didn’t put the tickets on sale last year until spring.
Really since Collision started, I think we’ve been able to do so much with five hours of television. So this was a big year for us with Warner Brothers Discovery. They came to us and asked us to go from doing three hours of TV a week on TBS and TNT, expanded it to five hours, and that’s been very, very successful.
Khan also spoke about his experience in seeing television rights deals play out in NFL and Premier League soccer:
I think part of the TV business for both sides is gonna be doing their due diligence, and that’s just a part of sports and television really. And being a part of the NFL and the Premier League, I’ve seen that process play out with certainly different TV networks looking at different sports. And the sports themselves looking at different TV networks. We’ve been a part of this multiple times in the NFL.
