How will the new deal between WWE and Bleacher Report, owned by WBD, affect AEW?
On September 28th, WWE and Bleacher Report announced a new content partnership. The deal means that Bleacher Report will hold the global highlight rights across WWE’s programming slate, including Raw, SmackDown, NXT, and Premium Live Events.
Bleacher Report is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the same company that has a media rights deal with AEW for Dynamite and Collision, which air on TBS and TNT respectively. This link has led many fans to question if the deal will have any effect on AEW’s position with the company.
In a new report, Mike Johnson of PWInsider says a source in WBD has explained that the deal with WWE is global and with TNT Sports, a seperate division of the company, so it will “not impact or breach any existing deal AEW has with WBD’s entertainment side.” The deal will also have no impact on Bleacher Report’s coverage of AEW material.
The source also said that while AEW’s deal carries exclusivity in the US, the WWE deal is global and similar to other deals the company has with the likes of the NFL.
Similar information was also provided by a spokesperson to F4WOnline, with the addition that Bleacher Report considers itself to be a broad sports platform, which aims to “serve fans across the full range of their interests,” without having to choose one property over another.
Clarifying further, the spokesperson explained that Bleacher Report wants to broaden its wrestling content, “not redistribute a fixed amount of attention from one wrestling property to another.”
AEW President Tony Khan Excited By Paramount Acquisition Of WBD
In a deal that could have implications for AEW going forward, Paramount has overcome legal obstacles to its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The company has reached a settlement with 12 Democratic state attorneys general to drop an antitrust lawsuit that threatened to block the deal. If the settlement is approved by the judge in the case, the acquisition is expected to go through as early as October.
At the All Out media call last week, Tony Khan said he is excited for the potential of the merger for AEW. He also noted that All Out was the first anniversary of the promotion airing pay-per-views on HBO Max.
