As noted before, WWE agreed to new television contracts with NBC and FOX regarding RAW and SmackDown’s future on television. The total value of the contracts was reported to be in the range of $2.2 billion to $2.4 billion for five years with FOX paying $205 million per year to be the new home of SmackDown.
In an update to this situation, The Hollywood Reporter reported WWE’s new contract with NBC for RAW is around $265 million per year. It was also reported NBC had the right to match any offer made for SmackDown as part of the terms from their current television contract with WWE but was unwilling to go any higher than $200 million per year to retain SmackDown.
In regards to WWE’s deal with FOX for SmackDown, the Hollywood Reporter stated a preliminary deal was made on May 17th after two and a half hours of negotiations. To sweeten their chances at getting SmackDown, FOX’s Rupert Murdoch was reported to have insulted NBC Universal by claiming NBC was “embarrassed” at WWE’s current product and FOX would do a much better job promoting SmackDown every night of the week. It was also reported FOX wants the show to stay in its live format for Fridays and FS1 would be debuting a new weekly WWE-focused show next year.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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