Tony Khan and AEW Possibly In for a Major Disappointment as Warner Bros Ditches Them for Their Latest Deal

When Warner Bros. merged with Discovery, some notable modifications were made in other branches of production. For example, many of the European film and television projects that HBO Max had in the pipeline were canceled, which caused doubts to arise about the future of the company’s agreement with AEW.

Ever since, there have been discussions about the future of AEW with Warner Bros. Discovery, as their current media rights deal expires in October 2024. And now another major news story has come forth that might affect AEW’s broadcasting future as Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox, and Disney are launching a new sports streaming app.

Warner Bros. Discovery makes a major announcement

AEW’s television partner, Warner Bros. Discovery, has announced that it will be partnering up with Fox and Disney to bring their own streaming platform for sports fans. In the announcement, they stated that they would bring together “Sports Linear Networks and Direct-to-Consumer Service ESPN+”. Moreover, the networks aim to offer several sports, including, but not limited to, NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, College Sports, UFC, PGA TOUR Golf, Grand Slam Tennis, the FIFA World Cup, and cycling.

These are the key highlights of the project:

• ESPN, FOX, and Warner Bros. Discovery would form a new joint venture to develop, launch, and operate a streaming sports bundle of linear networks and certain DTC sports content and services.
• Each entity would own one-third of the JV, have equal board representation, and license their sports content to the joint venture on a non-exclusive basis.
• The service would have a new brand with an independent management team.

However, it is not sure if it would affect AEW’s relations with WBD or affect their contract negotiations. So far, AEW has been a key show for Warner Bros. Disney, as they highlighted a 3% audience growth for AEW programming in the fourth quarter of 2023 with 15.6 million viewers, compared to the same period in 2022.

They also noted that AEW shows on TNT and TBS were in the top 10 on cable 72 times and 50 times in the top 5. This is counting demographics under 50 years old. The metric emerges as a key distinguisher for television networks because of the money they earn from advertising.

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So it would be interesting to see if AEW would appreciate a move to a new streaming platform. While WWE has welcomed a move to Netflix starting next year, AEW too would like to boost its viewership and reach a contract extension in October. What do you think? Would this ambitious project spell doom for the Tony Khan-led promotion? Let us know in the comments.

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