According to reports from the Wall Street Journal, WWE has announced a significant five-year rights deal with USA Network to bring SmackDown to the network starting in October 2024.
The numbers are insane. The deal is evaluated to be worth an average of $287 million per year, with a total value of $1.435 billion over the course of five years.
In an optimistic statement, Frances Berwick, chairman of NBCUniversal Entertainment said:
“It’s a privilege and thrill to continue NBCU’s decades-long partnership with WWE which has helped cement USA Network’s consistent position as the top-rated cable entertainment network in live viewership.
“With Friday nights on USA, primetime specials on NBC, and the WWE hub on Peacock, we’ll continue to use the power of our portfolio to super-serve this passionate fanbase.”
WWE SmackDown currently airs on FOX and will continue to do so until October 2024. Then the new deal would take over.
On September 15, Dwayne Johnson, alias The Rock returned to the ring and delivered a total average viewership of 2.569 million, up from the previous week’s 2.084 million.
