TKO President Mark Shapiro recently spoke with The Varsity about several topics, including WWE’s media rights and the company’s long-standing partnership with Comcast and NBC Universal.
This partnership encompasses shows like Saturday Night’s Main Event, RAW, and SmackDown. Shapiro emphasized that the partnership will continue as long as both parties are interested in maintaining it.
Shapiro said, “Our main stuff sits in a good place. ESPN has the PLEs. Comcast, who has all the history with WWE, we’re not going to leave them as long as they want to be with us, has SmackDown on USA.”
He continued, “Now, Netflix has picked up the world with RaAW and the premium live events. We’ve narrowed it down. We look for different opportunities to find new audiences, and that’s what drove our NXT development league with CW.”
Shapiro said, “It’s a combination. You’re looking to maximize dollars, but you also want to maximize reach, audience, and what’s the right fit for your brand.”
You can check out the complete podcast below.
(H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes)
