Quoted By:
Because WBD’s Turner Sports is still in the exclusive negotiating window with AEW. The upstart WWE competitor signed a multi-year deal with Turner in 2020 with an option that Turner exercised, and now Zaslav and TNT Sports head Luis Silberwasser would like to keep the five hours of AEW programming per week on TNT and TBS.
But the clock is ticking. I’m told the exclusive window closes in July, and AEW leader Tony Khan is said to be disappointed with the offer currently on the table. Khan also surely knows that Zaz losing the NBA would give AEW more leverage, even though the money to re-up AEW is a mere drop in the NBA bucket. If the window closes without a deal, others could swoop in for those rights, as Comcast has done with the NBA. (Extra awkward because WBD is said to own a stake in the league.)
I’m not sure how alluring AEW would be to another platform, especially since only non-WWE partners could bid. But the wrestling shows still do okay on the Turner networks, it’s reliable programming, and a rival suitor could further push Zaslav into hot water in his cable carriage deals. For now, though, both sides are playing nice. Last night, after the league’s “Double or Nothing” pay-per-view event (yes, I watch pro wrestling press conferences now), Khan said, “I’m happy working for Mr. David Zaslav and I’m hoping we can do it for a long time.”
Source: Puck News
