7/20/2018 WWE TV deals: SmackDown will reportedly air on Fox, move to Friday beginning in 2019 - CBSSports.com https://www.cbssports.com/wwe/news/wwe-tv-deals-smackdown-will-reportedly-air-on-fox-move-to-friday-beginning-in-2019/ 1/3 CBSSPORTS.COM 247SPORTS MAXPREPS SCOUT SPORTSLINE SHOP GOLFBOOK STUBHUB WWE TV deals: SmackDown will reportedly air on Fox, move to Friday beginning in 2019 There will be a massive shakeup to WWE's TV programming in the fall of 2019 by @BCampbellCBS May 21, 2018 • 2 min read Brian Campbell WWE SummerSlam SummerSlam date, matches, start time Brian Campbell's In This Corner Podcast Although it has been 20 years since WWE faced legitimate opposition from a competing professional wrestling sports entertainment company, a move made Monday may have signaled the start of an in-house ratings war between its two biggest brands. Less than one week after The Hollywood Reporter broke news that NBCUniversal declined its first right of refusal for SmackDown Live in order to focus resources on re-signing a deal to broadcast Raw ESPN's Darren Rovell . Following an offer described by sources as "massive," SmackDown will move to Fox starting in October of 2019 at the end of WWE's current contract with NBCU's USA Network. Additionally, and remain a two-hour broadcast beginning at 8 p.m. ET, although there has been no word as to whether the show will air live or return to a tape-delayed format as it did previously when aired on Fridays. The new deal is reportedly for five years at a total of more than $1 billion, , which calls the figure "a three-fold increase" over what WWE currently makes for SmackDown from NBCU. The outlet also notes that WWE "had an even higher bid from a third party" that it turned down due to the massive financial and marketing commitment made by Fox. While Raw has been broadcast on the USA Network since 2005 (and originally from 1993 to 2000 before jumping to TNN/Spike TV), SmackDown is leaving the NBCU banner for the first time since 2010, which could lead to genuine competition between networks in terms of both ratings and the way WWE distributes talent between both shows. Although SmackDown has long been seen as the "B show" in comparison to the flagship Raw, the blue brand has still averaged 2.59 million viewers per episode in 2018. Raw has averaged about three million per show over the same time period. One of the issues in SmackDown never reaching the level of popularity compared to Raw has been how often it has switched both nights and networks. Since it's 1999 debut on UPN, the show has floated between Thursday, Friday and now Tuesday nights, including runs on The CW, MyNetwork TV and Syfy. It has aired both as a live and tape-delayed show. In July 2016, following WWE's first brand split in five years, SmackDown moved from its tape-delayed Thursday slot to its current format of being a live show on Tuesday nights. The likelihood for competition between brands only increases when one considers that SmackDown moves to network television on Fox, as opposed to a smaller cable home like FS1, which was rumored to be the case had Fox been able to secure rights to both shows. WWE has never run one of its weekly non-syndicated TV properties on one of the "big four" broadcast networks, though it has previously aired specials, "as much as three times its current value," reported Monday that the blue brand also has a new home The Wrap reports that the show will move back to Friday nights according to The Hollywood Reporter WWE RAW RECAP (5/14/18): POOR BOOKING OVERSHADOWS MITB QUALIFYING WWE RAW Recap (5/14/18): Poor booking overshadows MITB qualifying WWE RAW RECAP (5/14/18): POOR BOOKING OVERSHADOWS MITB QUALIFYING WWE RAW Recap (5/14/18): Poor booking overshadows MITB qualifying WWE RAW RECAP (5/14/18): POOR BOOKING OVERSHADOWS MITB QUALIFYING WWE RAW Recap (5/14/18): Poor booking overshadows MITB qualifying 24/7 SCORES, NEWS, HIGHLIGHTS FREE ON ALL YOUR DEVICES HOME PPV SCHEDULE PODCAST SUMMERSLAM G1 CLIMAX STUBHUB LOG IN
2
Embed
WWE TV deals: SmackDown will reportedly air on Fox, move ...
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
7202018 WWE TV deals SmackDown will reportedly air on Fox move to Friday beginning in 2019 - CBSSportscom
C B S S P O R T S C O M 2 4 7 S P O R T S M A X P R E P S S C O U T S P O R T S L I N E S H O P G O L F B O O K S T U B H U B
WWE TV deals SmackDown will reportedly air onFox move to Friday beginning in 2019There will be a massive shakeup to WWEs TV programming in the fall of 2019
by BCampbellCBS May 21 2018 bull 2 min readBrian Campbell
WWE SummerSlam
SummerSlam date matchesstart time
Brian Campbells In This CornerPodcast
Although it has been 20 years since WWE faced legitimate opposition from a
competing professional wrestling sports entertainment company a move
made Monday may have signaled the start of an in-house ratings war
between its two biggest brands
Less than one week after The Hollywood Reporter broke news that
NBCUniversal declined its first right of refusal for SmackDown Live in order
to focus resources on re-signing a deal to broadcast Raw
ESPNs Darren Rovell
Following an offer described by sources as massive SmackDown will move
to Fox starting in October of 2019 at the end of WWEs current contract with
NBCUs USA Network Additionally
and remain a two-hour broadcast beginning at 8 pm
ET although there has been no word as to whether the show will air live or
return to a tape-delayed format as it did previously when aired on Fridays
The new deal is reportedly for five years at a total of more than $1 billion
which calls the figure a three-fold
increase over what WWE currently makes for SmackDown from NBCU The
outlet also notes that WWE had an even higher bid from a third party that it
turned down due to the massive financial and marketing commitment made
by Fox
While Raw has been broadcast on the USA Network since 2005 (and
originally from 1993 to 2000 before jumping to TNNSpike TV) SmackDown
is leaving the NBCU banner for the first time since 2010 which could lead to
genuine competition between networks in terms of both ratings and the way
WWE distributes talent between both shows
Although SmackDown has long been seen as the B show in comparison to
the flagship Raw the blue brand has still averaged 259 million viewers per
episode in 2018 Raw has averaged about three million per show over the
same time period
One of the issues in SmackDown never reaching the level of popularity
compared to Raw has been how often it has switched both nights and
networks Since its 1999 debut on UPN the show has floated between
Thursday Friday and now Tuesday nights including runs on The CW
MyNetwork TV and Syfy It has aired both as a live and tape-delayed show
In July 2016 following WWEs first brand split in five years SmackDown
moved from its tape-delayed Thursday slot to its current format of being a
live show on Tuesday nights
The likelihood for competition between brands only increases when one
considers that SmackDown moves to network television on Fox as opposed
to a smaller cable home like FS1 which was rumored to be the case had Fox
been able to secure rights to both shows
WWE has never run one of its weekly non-syndicated TV properties on one
of the big four broadcast networks though it has previously aired specials
as much as three
times its current value reported Monday that the blue
brand also has a new home
The Wrap reports that the show will move
back to Friday nights
according to The Hollywood Reporter
WWE RAW RECAP (51418) POOR BOOKINGOVERSHADOWS MITB QUALIFYING
WWE RAW Recap (51418) Poor bookingovershadows MITB qualifying
WWE RAW RECAP (51418) POOR BOOKINGOVERSHADOWS MITB QUALIFYING
WWE RAW Recap (51418) Poor bookingovershadows MITB qualifying
WWE RAW RECAP (51418) POOR BOOKINGOVERSHADOWS MITB QUALIFYING
WWE RAW Recap (51418) Poor bookingovershadows MITB qualifying
247 SCORES NEWS HIGHLIGHTS FREE ON ALL YOUR DEVICES
H O M E P P V S C H E D U L E P O D C A S T S U M M E R S L A M G 1 C L I M A X S T U B H U B LO G I N
7202018 WWE TV deals SmackDown will reportedly air on Fox move to Friday beginning in 2019 - CBSSportscom