Confirming another massive TV deal, WWE Smackdown has now been announced to be moving back to the USA Network, starting in the fall of 2024. While it doesn’t essentially mean that the show will be leaving Friday nights, it will be airing on primetime slot and will also produce more prime time content for the parent company NBCUniversal, down the road.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the confirmed deal of WWE Smackdown moving to USA Network is worth $1.4 billion, per year which is a 40% increase on the deal WWE that WWE is having with FOX. Starting from October 2024, NBC will broadcast the weekly program and WWE will be getting $7 billion over the course of the next 5 years.
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While this is a good and satisfying deal for the WWE, The Hollywood Reporter indicates that due to the new deal for WWE Smackdown, the status of Raw and NXT will be up for grabs. Chances are high that they will no longer be airing on the USA Network,
“While the new deal will bring WWE to NBC primetime and SmackDown to USA on Friday nights, it will also mean the end of Raw and NXT on USA.”
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WWE Smackdown moving to USA could keep Raw-NXT out of the network
Sports Business Journal reports that while NBCU is still considered one of the frontrunners to acquire the rights for WWE Raw, there have also been strong interests from other media giants such as Disney and Amazon. Making things uncertain, it was noted that all options were kept on the table to choose Monday Night Raw’s future home.
Coming back to WWE Smackdown, the program was described as one of television’s longest-running programs, regularly rating as the No. 1 show in the 18-49 advertising demographic on Friday nights and featuring many WWE Superstars including John Cena, Roman Reigns, Bianca Belair, Charlotte Flair, and Rey Mysterio.
“NBCUniversal has been a tremendous partner of WWE for decades,” said WWE President Nick Khan while touting the success of WWE Smackdown and bringing it back on NBCU. “We are excited to extend this longstanding relationship by bringing SmackDown to USA Network on Friday nights and look forward to debuting multiple WWE special events annually on NBC.”
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