Fans should expect to hear about a new AEW program to be announced soon as AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery continue deep negotiations to extend their TV rights deal that expires at the end of this year.
The Warner Bros. Discovery TV upfronts will begin today, and while AEW will be mentioned, it doesn’t mean a new deal is slated to be announced imminently. As previously reported, the belief is that both sides have not locked in a new deal, so a new contract isn’t expected to be announced on Wednesday.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select reported that the announcement of a deal, if reached, is expected to be kept very close to the vest, with summer or fall being the likely announcement point. There is still an exclusivity window between AEW and WBD through the summer.
The report noted, “There is a pilot for a new AEW-related program with WBD that was set to be announced for social channels this week. It was described as not being a reality series.” No further details were given.
The two sides are still discussing adding AEW pay-per-view events to the Max streaming service and how that would work. It was said that almost every deal that WBD does keeps Max in mind.
The belief is that WBD is losing the NBA to NBC. Regarding this, Fightful said that should this happen, WBD will look to reinvest funds to keep its position on cable and look at other properties to help bring in viewers.