RAW to Stay with NBC/USA Network; Smackdown to get new Home
 

According to the Hollywood Reporter via the Observer, NBC is currently reported to want to keep RAW but have no desire to also keep Smackdown as part of a package deal.

Link to the report: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/li...wn-raw-1112671

WWE about to get dat $$$

Investigation Discovery for SD plz, already watch that channel all the time

Three times the current deal? I'll believe that when it happens. It'll be interesting to see where SmackDown ends up, but for god's sake, this is the perfect time to end it. The possibility of getting onto a network is probably too good to pass up though.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Have no idea of that report has any validity, but let's assume it does.<br><br>Imagine the rights fees WWE could garner if they were any good at making stars, the ratings were good, and the company was hot.</p>&mdash; Voices of Wrestling (@voiceswrestling) <a href="https://twitter.com/voiceswrestling/status/996892031858470912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Could probably get legit NASCAR-like money ($800+ million I think) if that was the situation. WWE tried to BS their way into getting something close to it last time and got denied hard in the end.

UFC getting over $300 million really helped out the WWE since it seemed FOX and NBC were leaning towards the $200+ million range for RAW & Smackdown combined.

Them taking SmackDown to FOX would at least be interesting, because then the dynamics of the product change. You'll have a wider range of people watching, due to the network access, which means that the show could have a different demographic appeal. I don't mean this in a racist way, but it opens up SmackDown to a lot more homes on the lower end of the socio-economic scale, which might appreciated acts with different ethnic backgrounds. It could, ironically, make SmackDown a higher priority.

Ha, like that would ever change. But I think everything being under one roof is kind of detrimental to the company right now.

I wonder if this will affect the brand split? I don't expect the WWE to abandon ship (although they have moved through the motions with this version a lot quicker than the last one), but if they get SmackDown on a network seen by more people, I can see them wanting to put their best foot forward with it. The brand split was all about making SmackDown seem valuable, but if it is left out of the deal, then maybe they will want to throw Ronda Rousey, Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Triple H, Kurt Angle, etc. into the promotion?

Yikes.

Smackdown is the better show these days but it's going to be tricky finding a new home.

I was thinking Spike/Paramount, but that was one messy divorce and I doubt they'd go back.

You sure as hell don't want to follow TNA and hop from network to network every few months.

Fox would work. But I don't want to see it buried in FoxSports 1. The main channel or FX will do just fine. You gotta get it front and center.

Maybe they will take it to Facebook? :shifty:

They already have tweets scrolling across the screen all night, so why not? Totally best for business! :shifty:

Would be hilarious if they did this and got a bunch of porn bots commenting live like MLB did during their first few Facebook broadcasts.

That would be delightful. Either that or girls Tom Phillips has messaged post them in the comments.

Hope they move it to NRA-TV

AJ: "Nakamura! you're not going to hit my nuts anymore"

*cocks gun*

Corey: "Wow Byron that's the popular M&P M2.0 compact pistol which now comes complete with tactical Crimson Trace Green Laserguard with Instinctive Activation!"

Byron: "Neat!"

Move SmackDown to Food Network

Interesting Note -- in the Observer this week Meltz notes that if RAW really is getting a 300% pay increase it makes more sense financially to put the biggest matches on RAW (during sweeps I presume) as opposed to the Network because RAW will be more profitable than the Network.

Someone on reddit brought it up, I want to see Smackdown to go History and have Rick Harrison be the GM

Here's what the Meltz said


https://i.imgur.com/Sw6mqiC.png

Put in on Cartoon Network on Adult Swim.

so they will go to the wcw nitro model have the ppv set up for raw instead of raw set up for ppv, good going vince killing the ppv with the network.

That's just what Meltz is suggesting, not guaranteeing it will happen

However, he is right tbh, as much as I love PPVs. Could easily make RAW once a month a 'tv special' called insert ppv name here minus the big shows.

with fox entertainment about to be bought by ether Disney or Comcast, if fox goes for it, it would have to go to fs1. this is a bad time to shop smackdown

If they did that (RAW hosting a 'ppv' once a month on Mondays), and SD didn't get a good offer, they could offset having so many ppvs on the Network by making SD a Network exclusive.

yeah if they can't sale smackdown ether get rid of it or make it a network show, but think it will end up on fs1, the ch that tna started on.

Maybe Smackdown can just be aired via a series of Touts. Let that tree finally bear fruit.

The point is to make money not sell ppvs. o.O

Nitro didn't get rights fees. They were owned by Turner.

point I was making was they gave a lot of good matchs for free to bump raw ratings and used the ppvs to do the same.

"free"

I dont think that means what you think that means

Stock hit $51.20 today, all time high for the company.

Fuck I should have invested in WWE instead of bitcoin!

bring back pyro w/ all this new $$$ plz

There's something very frustrating about the WWE getting worse and worse, their audience getting smaller and smaller, and them getting more and more money. Not even in a preoccupying way, but in an OCD, something about it is aesthetically unpleasant sort of way.

Like, I can feel myself ticking over to the point where I want to detach myself so much that when I'm reading television news in a few years, I can be surprised WWE even still exists when I found out they are either folding or getting renewed for another 8 years and own a country in the Middle-East.

So is this deal real? I don't understand why NBC Universal would agree to this. It feels like they could have renewed for much of the same.

If it is real, there are two primary reasons for the increase.

1. Selling their content to Disney, Fox and FS1 & 2 now have the $ and also the need for new original content, and so Fox was offering a similar figure for WWE programming, and probably in particular RAW, and

2. For both Fox and NBC, they've determined that over the length of whatever agreement(s) they've offered or may offer, at least currently, its less risk and more cost effective for them to pay WWE for it's content that has an already established audience, (despite the declining audience), then it is to attempt to develop new original content and build new audiences with no guarantee of return.

Both of those make perfect sense. A FOX offer edging up the price is a safe bed. I suppose keeping that audience is worth something, but in lieu of that other offer, I don't know if an increase goes to follow, you know? This is your field though. I suppose it is common in television for fees to increase as things go on, but does triple the amount sound right without the FOX offer?

WWE tried that with Smackdwn a couple of times during the current brand split era and mainly whenever Smackdown had to wait 2 months for a PPV.

Although that was more of Smackdown Creative not wanting to stretch things over 2 months instead of actually booking things towards a special Smackdown show.

Triple the amount? No, that's not likely to occur without a similar competing offer or some other rare unknown outside factor being a big impact and consideration.

It is true that the longer they've been on the air and on a particular network, a majority of television properties and broadcast rights, generally increase in fees (and also usually costs) over time.

However, to increase 3x, given the WWE's decline in ratings and viewership, is pretty remarkable without some outside factor (Fox's competing interest and very likely similar offer, it appears in this case) playing a big role.

Thanks. :y:

That’s the aim of the game, I guess. It’s frustrating that it’s one thing Vince still licks into. I’m at the stage where I am rooting against the WWE a little bit, because I don’t think they’ll better until they have to.

According to Variety, the current favorites to get Smackdown are FOX, Facebook, and Amazon.

I feel like, while ratings are in a steady decline, Raw is still a "safe" show. There's a built-in audience that means it's never in danger of suddenly dropping off the face of the earth suddenly ratings-wise. That's also why there's no urgent incentive to produce compelling television. I'd like to think that's not sustainable long term but no telling how long it's gonna be before they're actually FORCED to try to improve their product.