WWE expected to land a weekly WWE “studio show” on FS1

Currently, the NBC deal for RAW and SDLive to be on the USA Network is $130 million a year. The NEW NBC deal for RAW is expected to be $265 million per year for 10 years. This mess WWE would be making $2.65 BILLION!

According to The Hollywood Reporter, NBC Universal were ready to sign a new 10-year deal with WWE for $360 million a year to keep the rights to RAW and SDLive but then decided to opted to just take RAW and let SDLive go on the open market. FOX then took SDLive and gave WWE a billion dollar deal for it. FOX Patriarch Rupert Murdoch was cruical into getting the deal done.

CAA’s Nick Khan (who was representing WWE in the TV negotiations) was contacted by FOX Chairman Peter Rice, who stated that should WWE not make a deal with NBC Universal, FOX wanted to meet with the company immediately for the rights to Smackdown. On May 16th, the show got on the open market and Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, Michelle Wilson, and George Barrios were meeting with FOX the next day to hear FOX’s pitch for SD.

Reportedly, the pitch also included a weekly WWE “studio show” on FS1 as well. At the meeting, there were FOX TV screens in the room that featured WWE photos, including Ronda Rousey shots, with the FOX and FS1 logos together, showing how the potential merger of the two sides would look like. FOX will soon be finalizing their deal with Disney to give them their movie studio and their assets. Earlier in the year, FOX let go of the UFC, with the thought being they couldn’t sell that kind of product to advertisers but with the WWE being more family-friendly, sales pitches to potential clients is much more easier.

(the Spotlight)