TV rights for both WWE Raw and Smackdown Live was a matter of discussion for the fans for a long time.
The majority of the updates suggested WWE will keep the flagship program over on USA Network. But the fate of Smackdown Live was always up for grabs. Later WWE.com confirmed it is moving to the FOX Sports with a different schedule.
But WWE Raw will follow the same broadcast schedule. The company has now confirmed they have signed a new deal with the NBC Universal (owner of the USA Network). The already existing contract has now extended for the next five years. It means the Monday Night schedule will remain the same for the pendant programming of the WWE.
Commencing from October 2019, the deal will continue until 2024. It will have a three-hour block on each of the Monday Nights that dominated the TV programming. The relationship between USA Network and WWE Raw goes way back for almost three decades. It is only getting stronger with this new deal.
Chris McCumber, President, Entertainment Networks for NBC Universal Cable Entertainment offered the following comments on this new contract signing,
“Monday Night Raw and USA Network have dominated Monday nights during a truly historic run. Our partnership with WWE is one of the strongest and most successful in the business, and together we’ll take Raw to even greater heights.”
WWE’s corporate website also gave a press release on this note hinting mammoth deal between the two parties over WWE Raw. The “Key Content Agreements” signed a huge increment in terms of revenue generation. It is one of their largest deals that would occur a whopping increase of approximately $235 million which was $130 million in 2014.
The company also projects an overall $462 million by the year 2021. It could even grow to $542 million if all their future endeavours remain successful with the home-broadcasters of WWE Raw. Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman & CEO gave the following statement on this historic deal,
“We look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership with NBC Universal and USA Network. Monday Night Raw has been synonymous with USA Network, and we are excited about what the future holds for WWE’s flagship program.”
WWE Raw has always been a key programming show on TV history. It has already completed landmark 25th year back in January. More than 1300 episodes of the show got produced in this span which is available on-demand on the WWE Network.
