News broke on Monday morning that WWE was officially selling the WWE Network’s streaming rights in the United States to Peacock, merging the wrestling company’s streaming network with NBCUniversal’s. Variety‘s initial report did not disclose the finances behind the deal, but both the Wall Street Journal and Sports Business Journal have since come forward with reports stating the five-year deal earned WWE more than one billion dollars.
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“Terms of the pact weren’t disclosed. A person familiar with the deal said it runs five years and is valued at more than $1 billion,” WSJ‘s Joe Flint reported.
Nick Khan, WWE president and chief revenue officer, discussed the deal with The Wrap in an interview on Monday.
“Vince McMahon and the WWF, at the time, were the first movers from closed circuit to pay-per-view in the early ’80s, the first mover in the sports/entertainment space, outside of Netflix, to the SVOD model in 2014, and we believe the first mover, again, in this deal to partner with a massive conglomerate that has significant reach, in order to serve our fans and expand our audience,” Khan said.
“So I’ll give you an example: Peacock is free in the [24 million] Comcast cable and Cox cable homes, as I’m sure you know, so…for the first time ever, WrestleMania, which is our Super Bowl, is going to be available for free to those homes. In addition to that, it cuts the cost for our consumers from $9.99 a month for WWE Network to $4.99 a month on the ad-supported tier of Peacock, where they’ll get not only WWE but EPL (English Premier League), “The Office,” Dick Wolf and so many other titles,” he added.
The first WWE pay-per-view that will take place on Peacock will be the Fastlane event on March 21. All pay-per-views, including WrestleMania, will be available on the streaming service going forward from there.
WWE’s next major event, the Royal Rumble, takes place this Sunday. Check out the full card below:
- WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens (Last Man Standing)
- WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre vs. Goldberg
- Men’s Royal Rumble Match: Daniel Bryan, Bobby Lashley, AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Otis, The Miz, Jey Uso, Cesaro, Jeff Hardy, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, Shinsuke Nakamura, TBA
- Women’s Royal Rumble Match: Nia Jax, Charlotte Flair, Bianca Belair, Bayley, Mandy Rose, Dana Brooke, Peyton Royce, Alexa Bliss, Shayna Baszler, Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott, Tamina, TBA
