Latest On AEW’s New TV Deal And Possible PPV Streaming

During the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer commented on all AEW programming being exclusive to WBD-owned channels.

“What is known is that the deal will encompass all television and streaming programming that has the AEW banner, but not ROH, which is considered a separate company. That would be five hours of wrestling programming per week, the two hours on Wednesday on TBS, one hour on Friday on TNT and the two hours on Saturday on TNT, as well as any and all spinoff programming other than Being the Elite, which is expected to be kept as something separate since it’s a property owned by the Young Bucks.”

On the possibility of AEW programming moving to a streaming service:

“The big question involves PPV. Will it remain as it is? Will it be part of a streaming deal? Will that streaming deal be a joint new project by WBD and AEW, similar to the joint deal with TV Asahi and NJPW for New Japan World? Will it be on Discovery + or MAX? Will the deal be only for domestic rights, or will it be worldwide? AEW probably takes in about $2.5 million per show from its five PPV events per year, one of which is a joint venture with New Japan Pro Wrestling.”

“So if there is a deal involving moving to streaming, and noting until recently the PPV numbers had grown every year, any movement should come with it with a guarantee of a minimum of $15 million for PPV and really that’s almost giving up since a move to $60 would be inevitable with UFC at $80 and big boxing at $85 and the price constantly rising except AEW has stayed steady.”

“It’s not worth selling if you don’t factor in some growth if the deal is multiple years, so I’d value domestic PPV as worth $3.5 million per event if the company is going to sell it to WBD to stream. There is also the question of how many PPVs to do, as WWE, UFC and Impact all do 12 on streaming components.”