Bloomberg is reporting today that WWE will announce its new TV deal by the first of May, and that it is possible that the company will leave NBCUniversal for another broadcasting partner.
The report has WWE having talked with AMC, Viacom, Time Warner, Turner and Fox. Bloomberg said that a deal to return to NBCUniversal, the parent company of USA Network, the current home to Monday Night Raw, and SyFy, the current home to Friday Night SmackDown, is also possible.
WWE’s $140 million annual deal with NBCUniversal expired earlier this year. The company is reportedly seeking to at least double the value of its annual TV deal, with some analysts suggesting that the WWE TV products, including Raw, SmackDown and Main Event, could be worth closer to the neighborhood of $400 million a year on the open market.
“When you boil down the numbers we have larger live, same-day viewers than anything on cable,” WWE Chief Financial Officer George Barrios told Bloomberg. “We have a passionate fanbase that follows us wherever we are.”
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