WWE 2019 TV Deals (SD on FOX, Raw on USA)

[Majingir]

Seeing what the new Fox schedule for 18/19 looks like, there's still room for Raw to go on Mondays.


They've added 2 shows, have 4 new series, and have 6 series not returning from 17/18. Lucifer probably being the most notable of the ones not returning simply because it was in the Monday at 8pm timeslot.

FOX has 2 shows (The Resident and 9-1-1) which are both going to be entering their 2nd season into the Monday 8-10 timeslot. So there's no real commitment on the Monday primetime slot. Lucifer was on Mondays for 3 years, The Gifted(one of the 9pm shows) moved to Tuesday, and The Resident which is still in it's same Monday 9pm slot was averaging around 4M viewers(a number that I think Raw can easily top if it moves to FOX, even despite it's ratings drop lately).

[jvalverde88]

Looks like NBC Universal is going to try and keep Raw but let SD Live go up for bidding.

[Majingir]

Quote:

aired all three WWE shows: Smackdown, Raw and Tough Enough. It marked the first time that the top three shows were broadcast on the same network.

LOL, trying to make Tough Enough sound good. That's not a top 3 show, it's not even ahead of Main Event, Superstars or 205 Live lol.


I wonder what it is about SD that networks don't want. It gets moved from network to network so often. If Fox does want to put SD on FS1, I'd be all over that if I'm WWE.



WWE likely just takes the highest offer, but if it's between having a show on USA Network and having a show on FOX(not FS1, but FOX), I'd take FOX.

[UFCMPunk]

Quote: Originally Posted by Majingir

LOL, trying to make Tough Enough sound good. That's not a top 3 show, it's not even ahead of Main Event, Superstars or 205 Live lol. I wonder what it is about SD that networks don't want. It gets moved from network to network so often. If Fox does want to put SD on FS1, I'd be all over that if I'm WWE. WWE likely just takes the highest offer, but if it's between having a show on USA Network and having a show on FOX(not FS1, but FOX), I'd take FOX.

Wonder if they stacked SD in the Shakeup to make it more appealing to potential networks. Also, why not try airing SD Live on The Network every Tuesday Night with it being available to watch on demand on Wed.

[Majingir]

Quote: Originally Posted by UFCMPunk

Wonder if they stacked SD in the Shakeup to make it more appealing to potential networks. Also, why not try airing SD Live on The Network every Tuesday Night with it being available to watch on demand on Wed.

Where's the money in that? Having TV shows being network exclusive will limit WWEs profits and overall exposure.


Branching off into other networks and building relationships with ones like FOX and ESPN will help them alot more than just keeping everything "in house".

[Cubfan]

Moving Smackdown Live to the network would be a last resort if they can’t find a network. Maybe ESPN will take it they have a working relationship with WWE.

[chronoxiong]

Goes to show how much the RAW brand became a big name and commodity. For USA Network to want to triple their bid just to make sure they get 3 million viewers each week means they are serious about keeping their viewership. Without RAW, not many peeps are going to watch their channel. I hardly watch USA Network and it's only for WWE. I wonder who will pick up Smackdown. I'm thinking Fox will.

[reyes the roof]

Quote: Originally Posted by Majingir

Where's the money in that? Having TV shows being network exclusive will limit WWEs profits and overall exposure.

They technically could make their money selling advertising during smackdown, the problem is you'd probably need every single subscriber to be watching live to get a comparable audience to what they'd get from being on a network