The owner of AEW and Ring of Honor also said there was “huge demand” for the broadcast rights for the two companies’ library.
All of the drama surrounding WWE and their future this year has taken a back seat, but AEW also has some potential contract negotiations or termination.
AEW’s deal with Warner Bros Discovery for local broadcast rights to dynamite And frenzy It is said to expire in 2023. In addition to securing a new contract for those properties, there is also growing discussion about a potential broadcast deal for the tape libraries for both AEW and the other wrestling promotion Tony Khan owns, Ring of Honor.
Talk to Uproxx On a range of topics, Khan was sanguine when asked about a new AEW programming contract — which he described as more than just a TV deal:
“I anticipate significant rights increases to AEW’s programming and we are well on pace to strike a very profitable deal for media rights in AEW going forward.”
Industry analysts were mixed about their outlook for dynamite & frenzythe next deal, with their ratings stagnating in 2022. But both shows have performed consistently well in their respective timeslots, and WBD executives have praised their numbers on multiple occasions.
When asked about the recent rumors about a streaming deal, Khan spoke about the quantity and quality of AEW and ROH’s libraries, then said:
“There’s a lot of interest in this library as well as the new weekly content that we continue to produce every week, I think there’s a huge demand for the library and it makes a lot of sense for us to try and make this AEW library available to audiences around the world on demand.”
He also reiterated his plans to run AEW and ROH as separate promotions moving forward, describing his approach to them thus:
“…I think the promotions complement each other very well. But I want to run them as separate promotions that are in the same pro wrestling metaverse along with New Japan Pro Wrestling and some of our other partners.”
ROH will reportedly resume its weekly TV programming after taping at the end of this month. Current plans call for the show to be streamed on its own Honor Club service.
