AEW’s next TV deal with WBD could bring big changes to fans, new reporting indicates some parameters but much still unknown

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Tony Khan said after All Out earlier this month that AEW was very close to extending its contract to supply programming to Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). This week, John Ourand at Puck reports his sourcing indicates a three-year deal with a fourth-year option is near being finalized.

He said the $170,000 million per year deal being circulated on wrestling message boards “is apparently in the ballpark.” Whether that includes folding some of AEW’s PPVs into the programming package isn’t clear and likely won’t be until a press release is issued. Head of AEW, Tony Khan, might prefer to announce the new deal on the fifth anniversary episode of Dynamite coming up on Oct. 2 even if the contract is signed sooner.

“We sit in a really good place,” Khan said after All Out two weekends ago. “I feel like we’re on the one yard line. I’m not sure how many snaps it’s going to take to punch the ball into the end zone, but I’m 100 percent sure the ball is going into the end zone.”

From the perspective of WBD, AEW is an important part of their portfolio of shows to retain “potency” when it comes to carriage feeds on cable/streaming services. TNT did not score an extension of their NBA contract, so they are spending that $1.5 billion in other areas, including a patchwork of sports programming. Ourand writes:

“Can WBD survive the renewal wars with a year-round sports lineup that includes October baseball, March Madness, the Stanley Cup, NASCAR, some college football and basketball, a little tennis, made-for-TV golf matches, fake baseball, and now second-tier wrestling? We’re about to find out!”

It’s not clear at all whether the new programming deal will resemble the current five hours of original programming, with Dynamite as the two-hour Wednesday flagship. It’s been speculated AEW Rampage could be folded into either Dynamite or Collision to create a three-hour block, something that has happened on occasion with Collision and Rampage airing back-to-back or a Battle of the Belts special adding an hour after Collision.

A new landscape could include more replays on TNT, TBS, and TruTV during the week or delayed or simultaneous streaming on Max. More programming could be added, including reports of a possible broadcast partner. The trademarking of “AEW Shockwave” has led to rumors of a new weekly show, which Tony Khan reacted to during his media Q&A earlier this month. Speculation has included a Shockwave series airing on the Fox-owned Tubi streaming service, FS1, and even Fox broadcast network itself (which would be a game-changer, but it’s also an extreme longshot).

A deal worth around $170 million for three years with a fourth year option is well under the $1 billion figure tossed around last summer as a possible five-year total for a new deal. This would be well below that, but still a huge increase over what AEW receives in its current and soon-expiring despite a decline in almost all viewership numbers in the last few years.

With the new deal, the biggest changes for wrestling fans could be a shift by AEW to prioritize Collision as an equal to Dynamite to try to boost that fledgling show’s ratings, an expansion of Dynamite or Collision to three hours, and a move of big events from PPV distribution to Max streaming service. The increased revenue could make AEW more able to bid for more big name talent and increase production and advertising expenses.

AEW would have roughly 2-3 years to prove themselves before that fourth year when negotiations on the next deal would start.

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