We get the weekly live televised WWE shows on the USA Network every single week. NBC Universal owns this channel. They also have the broadcast rights for both WWE Raw and Smackdown Live over the past few years.
The deal came to fruition in 2014. Both the televised shows started airing on the same network from then on.
Before this, Smackdown Live had its own home in the Syfy Network. Now, the current deal between WWE and NBC Universal will run out in 2019. So, at this point, WWE is in a negotiation period with different platforms, to determine where these two shows will stay. For several months from now, the speculations are NBC might not renew the contract.
It means WWE Raw will have to leave its home of the USA Network after a long time. For almost two decades, this channel airs the flagship program. The dropped ratings of the flagship show of the company are the most significant reason behind this. However, the current reports do not suggest so. In fact, it says the complete opposite.
As per the reports from Matthew Belloni of The Hollywood Insider, Monday Night Raw will continue to stay with the USA Network. But, Smackdown Live’s fate is yet to get determined. It will be a huge opportunity for any other sports network to grab the deal and to make the Tuesday Night show to be present in a new way.
Interesting tidbit among all the TV news today: NBCU is letting WWE SMACKDOWN go to open bidding. They’re keeping RAW but the deal is so big (3x current value, I’m told) that they’re not re-signing both. Big sports opportunity for another network.
— Matthew Belloni (@THRMattBelloni) May 16, 2018
So, the current situation is that the two shows might get split from the same platform. They are paying a huge amount, almost three times than now to air Raw on Monday Nights. It looks like, despite the negative reactions from the critics, the brand value of the longest TV show in the history has not fallen.
WWE’s CFO, George Barrios was asked about Raw and Smackdown Live getting split on the same network. It was his answer at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media, and Communications Conference,
“Market determines that opportunity. From our end, [we don’t think] it’s an issue to split it – we have done it before. We think we’re pretty good at promoting and moving our viewers from one platform to another.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNO-BqjEWzs
Some of the fans wanted to see WWE Raw getting back to its original format of two-hours. It would have been made possible if WWE Raw moved to a different platform.
But, if the reports from Belloni turns out to be true, then there’s no way that the current format gets changed. After renewing the deal with three times amount, it is not likely that USA Network will trim down the show to two hours.
