According to a previous report by PWMania.com, AEW’s broadcast partner, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), is currently up for sale, with several media companies competing to acquire it. WBD has already turned down multiple bids from its top contender, Paramount Skydance, and both Netflix and NBCUniversal/Comcast are also preparing to place bids for the network.
In a recent episode of Fightful Select Answers, Sean Ross Sapp discussed the potential sale of WBD and its implications for AEW. Sapp believes that Paramount is the most likely candidate to acquire Warner Bros. However, he emphasized that AEW has a solid contract with WBD, performs well in terms of viewership relative to the cost of its deal, and remains a strong property on streaming platforms.
Sapp also mentioned that while it is intriguing for Netflix to pursue WBD, he does not expect the streaming service to succeed in acquiring it. In a hypothetical scenario where Netflix does obtain WBD, he predicts that AEW would retain its existing contract. Notably, Netflix is currently the streaming home for WWE’s Monday Night RAW in the United States and hosts all of WWE’s content, including weekly shows and premium live events internationally.
Additionally, Sapp expressed skepticism about WWE attempting to get Netflix to drop AEW, especially considering the recent allegations made by MLW in their lawsuit against WWE. MLW and WWE had previously reached a settlement regarding MLW’s antitrust lawsuit against WWE in December 2023.
This week, CNBC reported that WBD plans to publicly announce its future direction—whether it will pursue a sale or undergo a company split—around mid to late December, which was previously discussed before the company went up for sale.
AEW announced a new multi-year media rights deal with WBD about a year ago. Under this contract, TBS and TNT will continue to be the respective homes for AEW programs, Dynamite and Collision. Earlier this year, these programs also started receiving simulcasts on the WBD streaming platform, HBO Max.
Furthermore, AEW pay-per-view events became available on HBO Max starting in September with All Out Toronto. The latest multimedia deal between AEW and WBD is reportedly valued at over $150 million per year, considering all components of the agreement.
