TKO Group Holdings, the merged company of the UFC and WWE, has secured its first major broadcast rights deal, moving WWE Smackdown from FOX to the USA Network for a five-year deal reportedly worth over $1.4 billion, and will also end WWE’s flagship program Monday Night Raw on the USA Network, shopping for a new network under a different broadcast rights deal.
TKO Group Holdings, the combined entity of UFC and WWE, formally secured its first key broadcast rights agreement following its launch as a public firm. The organization revealed on Thursday that WWE Smackdown will transition from FOX to the USA Network, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, under a five-year contract starting in October 2024. Also, WWE will create four annual primetime specials for airing on NBC’s main channel.
The five-year contract is estimated to be worth $287 million annually, culminating to a total value of over $1.4 billion, based on CNBC reports. This change for Smackdown’s location is considered to mark the end of the long-standing tenure of WWE’s key program, Monday Night Raw, on USA Network. Hollywood Reporter suggests that TKO plans to offer Raw and NXT – a minor league also managed by WWE – to a different network under a separate broadcast rights contract.
Following the completion of the UFC merger in September, it was presupposed that WWE would soon publicize new broadcast rights deals. To this effect, TKO and Endeavor president Mark Shapiro stressed the importance of broadcast rights agreements on their plan to merge WWE and UFC into one brand. He stated, “Your goal is to maximize price, let’s be clear about that,” adding that their objective with UFC is equally to maximize price.
Negotiations for WWE Raw and NXT have been described as “extremely active,” with multiple parties showing interest including linear television networks and potential streaming partners. An announcement about this deal will signal TKO’s shift in focus to a UFC broadcast rights agreement, which currently remains in ESPN’s possession until 2025. Contract talks for broadcast rights agreements usually initiate about a year prior to the expiration of the existing contract, suggesting that TKO will likely finalize a UFC contract sometime in 2024. The UFC has significantly contributed to ESPN+’s growth, leading to 25.2 million subscribers, as disclosed in the most recent fiscal report in August. However, this news about WWE’s new contract led to a 12 percent decline in TKO Group Holdings’ stocks, closing at $88.76 in early trade on Thursday.