Warner Bros. Discovery is “close to finalizing a package to renew" All Elite Wrestling and a formal announcement “could come as soon as next week, barring any last-minute challenges,” according to sources cited by John Ourand of PUCK. It “looks like it will be a four-year deal (three years guaranteed, plus an option)," and the $170M per year number “floating around wrestling message boards is apparently in the ballpark.” AEW matches will "air on TNT, TBS, and TruTV twice a week -- further evidencing” WBD CEO David Zaslav’s strategy of “making the latter two networks more valuable and sports-oriented in the cable bundle as the potency of TNT declines sans professional basketball rights.” This deal “marks a clear success for AEW,” which launched five years ago with a threshold WBD deal . AEW is also “pitching another package, primarily to broadcast channels,” but there is “no timetable for when AEW will start to push that deal" ( PUCK, 9/16 ).
Report: WBD, AEW close to renewing media deal
