Is a new WWE TV deal close?
In last week鈥檚 column, we looked at how WWE was going to have a big presence at NBC Universal鈥檚 upfront presentation last week at Radio City Music Hall in New York City for the fall season.
While a new WWE deal has not been announced, rumors of the prospective situation sent WWE鈥檚 stock to record highs.
There have been several reports, including by The Hollywood Reporter, that NBC is only seeking to maintain Monday Night Raw鈥檚 TV rights and is waiving the right to maintain Smackdown.
This is bad news for WWE, as Smackdown will be without a home, right?
Wrong.
This is a massive win for WWE as the word is that NBC will pay WWE up to three times the current price it is currently paying for Raw. And yes, as a side note, this means that Raw would remain three hours long each week.
Now fully entrenched in its PG ways for around a decade, WWE brings several blue-chip advertisers to the NBC table and NBC does not want to lose it along with the partnership.
So where does this leave Smackdown?
Mike Johnson at www.pwinsider.com/elite wrote a great piece (https://www.pwinsiderelite.com/article.php?id=117527&p=1) and he did an excellent job of looking at potential homes for the 鈥渂lue brand.鈥�
In the piece, Johnson cited The Hollywood Reporter as saying that FOX is in the leading position, and it does make sense. FOX is in the process of selling most of its assets over to Disney, and the 鈥淣ew FOX鈥� is looking to build most of its content around live sports programming.
FOX has UFC as one of its big draws, and if it brings in Smackdown, it gives them two entities with built-in audiences regardless of whether the show ends up on FX, FXX, FOX 缅北禁地 1 or any of its other channels.
Johnson also mentioned ESPN.
While this may seem farfetched, the company has been 鈥渂leeding money and ratings in recent years,鈥� as Johnson put it, so bringing Smackdown in, an established show, is not that far out of the realm of possibility.
Another hot topic with the potential deals is where the streaming rights land.
The NFL and UFC have made deals for their respective streaming rights. WWE has a deal in place now with Hulu and shows end up on the WWE Network after a month or so.
Will this change?
The big winners in all of this are those who hold shares in WWE鈥檚 stock. The stock, which went public in 1999, went as high as $51.20 per share on Thursday.
While there is still a lot of negotiating to take place, WWE looks to be in a really good place in terms of a new TV deal.
Time will tell how sweet of a deal it really is.
Deeper look at Reigns next week
In last week鈥檚 column, I said we would look at how WWE has buried Roman Reigns unless big news broke. Well, the prospective new WWE TV deal falls under the 鈥渂ig news鈥� mantra so we will look at Reigns next week.
On this date:
n In 2011, the legendary Randy 鈥淢acho Man鈥� Savage passed away after having a heart attack while driving his vehicle.
One of the best all-around performers in history, Savage broke the WWE stereotype of extremely large performers as WWE champion.
As talented on the microphone as he was in the ring, there are very few who could captivate a crowd in the ring and infuriate a crowd on the microphone like Savage.
n In 2012, WWE champion C.M. Punk defeated Daniel Bryan to retain the title at the Over the Limit PPV.
The match is forgotten, but it is worth going back to see.
A tremendous match, is it possible that wrestling fans will see a rematch of it in the future?