Earlier this fall, SmackDown left FOX for Comcast, marking the first of the WWE media rights deals to fall. WWE secured a five-year contract for the blue brand to air on USA Network, with the show remaining on Friday nights, as well as having four primetime specials each year on NBC beginning in the 2024-25 season.
Comcast’s Raw and NXT media rights deals are also expiring, but an update on their future landing spot, or whether they will remain on USA Network after the October 2024-25 season, has not been provided yet.
As for why they didn’t renew SmackDown, FOX CEO Lachlan Murdoch said on FOX’s earnings call that the decision to move on was due to the show’s return on investment not meeting their discipline parameters. The network also did not reach their advertiser numbers “due to the audience of WWE” (h/t Fightful for transcription).
How we analyze the WWE renewal, we look at all of our sports portfolios the same way and all new rights the same way. On the basis of analysis, on both advertising point of view, we weren’t hitting advertising numbers due to the audience of WWE for our return on investment to be above the level we would accept. Also, we didn’t attribute enough retransmission revenue to WWE either. It made sense for us to move on from that. They’ve been a great partner for many years, but quite simply, we’re very disciplined, and the ROI didn’t meet our discipline parameters. We wish them luck and we’ve moved on from them.
Fox obviously saw other reasons more prevalent to move on despite SmackDown being a strong ratings earner, as viewership doesn’t only factor into these decisions to retain or remove a television series. So until the two sides part in October 2024, business should operate as usual on Friday nights.