Details Of AEW's Impending Media Rights Deal With WBD Reportedly Revealed
A new report has shed some insight on AEW's new media rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery as it nears finalization. In one of the ongoing stories in wrestling this year, AEW has come under great scrutiny as its initial media rights agreement with WBD neared an end, with plenty of updates to indicate it was due to be closed over recent months.
Now, "Puck" has reported that not only is a deal close to being signed, but a formal announcement could also be made as soon as next week. As per the report, AEW's agreement with WBD is set to be a four-year deal with three obligatory years and an optional one-year extension. The deal is rumored to be valued at around $170 million per year. AEW matches will reportedly air on TNT, TBS, and TruTV twice weekly.
Reports emerged last week to indicate AEW was negotiating yet another media rights deal outside of its WBD partnership, with the promotion said to have been in talks with Fox over the recently trademarked "AEW Shockwave." Puck's report made mention of these talks, with Tony Khan's company pitching that package to broadcast channels, indicating Fox might not be the only partner in mind. The report added that there's no timetable for when AEW will start to push that deal.
During the AEW All Out press conference, Khan teased the upcoming "Shockwave" and spoke with his confidence that the company would continue with WBD for a long time. On WBD's side of things, its negotiations with AEW may have been delayed by its ongoing legal saga after losing its NBA media rights to Amazon Prime.