In their article AEW Not Going to Netflix in Warner Bros. Deal, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed what many have speculated for some time: that Warner Bros. Discovery owns a stake in AEW.
While unraveling what Netflix buying WBD would mean for AEW as a whole, reporter Tony Maglio wrote: “There’s even the possibility of a nonexclusive arrangement in which both HBO Max and Turner Sports stream AEW events — perhaps the former gets the PLEs and latter the episodic TV shows. Though WBD and AEW will never say this aloud — because at a less than 10 percent stake, they don’t legally have to — WBD owns a minority position in the latter. That position will remain with the Global Linear Networks piece following the split and spin and the close of the Warner Bros. sale to Netflix, a source tells The Hollywood Reporter. All Elite Wrestling is majority owned by Tony Khan, the son of Jacksonville Jaguars billionaire-owner Shahid Khan.”
After going through the latest SEC filing, Maglio also had this to report:
The league’s weekly series and premium live events (PLEs) are expected to continue streaming on HBO Max throughout the remainder of AEW’s current contract…The AEW TV deal is tied to the basic cable channels TNT and TBS and expires at the end of 2027 or 2028, depending on what becomes of the contract’s fourth-year option. AEW programming is likely to leave HBO Max and join the upcoming Turner Sports streaming app.
Assuming HBO Max still exists as a standalone service (and not fully integrated into the Netflix app) at the expiration of Turner’s AEW deal, it likely won’t put up much a fight to keep AEW. It stands to reason that Netflix, the home to WWE’s flagship episodic series Monday Night Raw (in the U.S.) and the promotion’s PLEs (outside the U.S.; the ESPN app has them here), has little need for AEW. And should Netflix integrate HBO Max into its own service, it may not even be able to carry AEW programming.
Word is that the WWE also has a “non-compete” clause with Netflix which prevents them from partnering with any other wrestling promotion.
