10 months ago
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This morning, WWE announced that its flagship series, "WWE Raw," would be heading to streaming giant Netflix in several major territories, including the United States, starting next January. With the current American TV rights for "Raw" expiring in October, that leaves the series without a broadcast home for several months later this year. According to a report from Variety, it is still being determined where exactly "Raw" will air to close out 2024. Wrestling Inc's sources at WWE said a plan for Q4 2024 is "forthcoming" but did not provide specific details.
It remains possible that WWE could work out a deal to extend its contract with NBC Universal until the end of 2024. With the next destination for "Raw" already set in stone, it's hard to envision any TV network agreeing to air the series for such a brief time before it heads to streaming for the foreseeable future, taking a significant TV audience with it.
"Raw" is still set to air live, 52 weeks per year, according to Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria. Starting out, the show will air on Netflix in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and the United Kingdom. It was pointed out that WWE will continue moving its shows to Netflix in more territories as their existing broadcast deals come to an end, strongly implying that the brand aims to be the global home of "Raw" and WWE in general.
Outside the United States, the broadcast deal includes the company's other TV shows as well as all WWE PLEs. Within the United States, WWE's content is on Peacock, but that deal is set to expire in 2026. It certainly seems as though Netflix is now a lead contender to bid for WWE's content library in the United States when it becomes available.
