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WWE President Nick Khan on How Peacock Deal Benefits WWE and What It Means for ‘SmackDown’
Plus: Peacock Chief Revenue Officer Rick Cordella updates TheWrap on carriage negotiations with AmazonTony Maglio and Jennifer Maas | January 25, 2021 @ 4:48 AM Last Updated: January 25, 2021 @ 3:01 PM
WWE.com
WWE Network is being folded into Peacock, a win for the NBCUniversal streaming service amid the content wars, and with a starting price of $4.99/month, one for cost-conscious wrestling fans. But how does the five-year deal benefit WWE? (You know, beyond its approximate $1 billion price tag, a reported figure that two individuals with knowledge of the deal confirmed to TheWrap to be accurate.)
In an interview with the Wrap, WWE President Nick Khan spoke about the big announcement from earlier today that the WWE Network will become part of NBC’s Peacock service starting in March. Here are highlights:
On how the deal benefits WWE: “No, so here’s what it is. 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.
WWE President On If Peacock Deal Will Mean Anything For SmackDown, Peacock Executive On Possible Price Increase
WWE President & Chief Financial Officer Nick Khan recently spoke with Tony Maglio and Jennifer Maas of The Wrap to discuss the new multi-year deal between WWE and NBCUniversal, which will see Peacock become the new exclusive home of the WWE Network in the United States, beginning Thursday, March 18. Khan said the new deal will not result in any change to WWE SmackDown airing on FOX.
It was noted that the new WWE Network deal makes for an even deeper alliance between NBCU and WWE, which has been going for almost 30 years. NBCU owns the USA Network, which airs WWE NXT and the USA Network each week. Khan was asked what the new deal means for the future of SmackDown on FOX. He said WWE is confident and happy with the FOX relationship.