Top official explains why important WWE deal was not renewed
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch recently talked about the reason behind not renewing their TV rights deal with WWE.
SmackDown has transitioned into being the company's number-one brand in recent years since moving to the FOX network in 2019. Hence, it was a huge surprise when it was announced that the show was moving to the USA Network after the current deal expires next year.
During the Q1 2024 Fox Earnings Conference Call, Murdoch explained why the company decided against renewing the TV deal. He said that they were not able to achieve a return on investment on advertising rates with the current audience.
"We were not hitting the advertising numbers due to the audience of the WWE for our return on investment to be above the levels that we would accept. But also, we didn’t attribute enough significant retransmission revenue to the WWE either. So, it made sense for us to move on. They've been a great partner for many years but just quite simply, we're very disciplined and the ROI didn't meet our pretty disciplined parameters. So, we wish them luck and we've moved on from them." [H/T F4W Online]
Friday Night SmackDown will be airing on the USA Network starting in October 2024.
Vince Russo feels that WWE SmackDown will dip in quality after moving to USA Network
Former WWE writer Vince Russo expressed his concerns regarding the blue brand moving to the USA Network.
During an appearance on Sportskeeda's Writing with Russo, the veteran said that SmackDown may see a dip in quality after it shifts to the new network.
"Because SmackDown went to USA Network, does USA Network think SmackDown is going to pull the same numbers that it did while it was on FOX? Bro, I'm telling you, if it's like anything we have seen if SmackDown is now on USA Network, they are just going to go through the motions with SmackDown like they do with RAW because that's how they are going to look at it. This is the USA Network. This is not network television. This is not FOX, and we need to put in half the effort on this show than we did on FOX," Russo said.
It will be interesting to see if there are any significant changes in the WWE product after the switch next year.
What did you make of SmackDown moving to the USA Network? Let us know in the comments section below.