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AEW renews media rights deal with WBD

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AEW renews media rights deal with WBD

AEW

All Elite Wrestling and Warner Bros Discovery have renewed their media rights deal, allowing AEW to stream PPVs, “AEW Dynamite” and “AEW Collision” on Max. “Dynamite” and “Collision” will stream live exclusively on Max for U.S. subscribers only in January 2025 while PPV distribution will begin later in 2025. 

The deal will keep programs like “Dynamite” and “Collision” at their current homes on WBD’s networks, TBS and TNT respectively. Tonight is the fifth anniversary of the launch of “AEW Dynamite.” The new deal will also give AEW and WBD more opportunities to create additional programming for linear and digital platforms. 

Both AEW and WBD declined to share the financial details behind the deal.  However, sources say it is a three-year deal with an option for a fourth year. The deal is estimated to be valued at $170M total including the rights fee and other elements. WBD also keeps its equity stake in AEW, but the size of it was not disclosed.

“We’re expanding the partnership in such an exciting way that means so much to me,” said AEW President & CEO Tony Khan. “We’ve always planned for this to happen this way, everything has come together so perfectly.” 

For WBD, which recently lost the NBA, keeping AEW on its platforms was an important goal, said WBD Chair & CEO of U.S. Networks Kathleen Finch. 

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“We did not want to let our wonderful partnership with Tony and the entire group at AEW to go anywhere else,” she said. “What’s exciting about the deal is it is the same deal that we have had, but it’s more because what we’re able to do now is expand the franchise to a potentially brand-new audience on Max. It’s a younger, engaged audience that we think can really tap into this fandom in new way.” 

All PPV marketing and promotions will be centered solely on Max. Pricing will be discounted on the platform, but more details around the exact cost will be released in the coming months. 

On AEW’s side, Activist Founding Partner Bernie Cahill helped negotiate the deal among many others. On WBD’s side, CEO David Zaslav and the WBD senior leadership team helped shepherd the agreement, with guidance from Finch and her U.S. Networks group, particularly Jason Sarlanis (president of TNT, TBS, TruTV, ID & HLN, linear and streaming) and Sam Linsky (associate general \manager and senior vice president, programming & operations, TNT, TBS, and truTV).

WBD has been AEW’s media rights partner since the wrestling promotion launched in 2019. “Tony and I are very excited to talk about the future. We’ve gotten this deal done. We know that we’re going to be in partnership now for many more years. So, we’re excited to see where we can take it,” Finch said. “Tony has built an unbelievable franchise, and we are merely the conduit to let him get all these audiences aware and excited about it.” 

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