Update on AEW’s Talks with Warner Bros Discovery for Potential New TV Rights Deal

AEW’s current television deal with Warner Bros Discovery is currently expected to expire at the end of this year. AEW is currently still in their exclusivity window for talks with WBD for a potential new media rights deal that is believed to expire this July.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that the monetary figures being discussed between AEW and WBD for a potential new deal are for an amount more than the estimated $110 million per year. Meltzer reported that this monetary figure would in theory be enough to take AEW into the profitable range.

Those spoken to reportedly stated that this monetary figure is somewhere between 50% above and as high as nearly double the current number said to already be on the table for AEW. Meltzer reported that the latter figure would open up the potential of tens of millions of more dollars available annually for talent acquisitions and other expansions in AEW’s current budget.

Meltzer reported that the talks between AEW and WBD for a new TV deal also includes streaming rights which are currently not available domestically. Meltzer also reported that the talks between the two sides are not serious when it comes to WBD outright purchasing AEW’s pay-per-view events distributions rights unlike with WWE’s deal with Peacock for their PLEs or UFC’s deal with ESPN for their PPV events.

In regards to AEW’s exclusivity window for talks, Meltzer reported that his sources confirmed that it is currently set to expire in “several weeks.”

EW and WBD officials’ talks for a potential new TV deal reportedly are still on-going.