ESPN would be interested in hosting WWE’s back catalogue on its new streaming service if the opportunity arises.
Last week, it was announced that WWE and ESPN have entered into a new partnership that will see WWE’s main roster PLEs move from Peacock to ESPN in 2026. The PLEs will air on ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer service with select events also being simulcast on ESPN’s TV network.
The rights to WWE’s library content are not part of the deal, and it’s not yet known where the library will be hosted in the United States after the Peacock deal expires in March 2026. The Hollywood Reporter noted that, while Netflix or ESPN make the most sense, anything is on the table.
While appearing on The Ringer’s Press Box podcast, ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro was asked if he would be interested in bidding on the WWE library in the future.
“Yeah, we’re always interested in content of that quality,” Pitaro responded. “I will tell you that we will have the archival rights for the events that we are airing, but yes, in terms of their library, we certainly would be interested if and when those rights are available.”
Pitaro said one of the benefits of the PLE deal is that the WWE events will help ESPN fill some holes on the sports calendar and keep people subscribed to the new streaming service.
“One of the things that we are focused on from a direct-to-consumer perspective is churn and minimizing churn,” Pitaro said. “And when we first started to look at these premium [live] events, we immediately thought of the calendar and the fact that these events could help us plug in some holes, some gaps that we might have in our schedule and thereby minimize churn.”
Pitaro said he believes WWE would be willing to work with ESPN on scheduling if there are any gaps he needs to fill.
“I would also say that the executives at the WWE have been very clear with us that they are willing to work with us in terms of scheduling,” he said. “So no commitments and they’re producing these events, but I would expect that if I were to call Nick Khan and say, ‘Hey, can you work with me? We have a particular gap here in our schedule.’ I expect he will.”
Pitaro called it “incredibly exciting” to have events like WrestleMania and SummerSlam on the new streaming service, saying that entertainment has always been part of ESPN’s brand.
The PLE deal is reportedly worth $1.6 billion over five years, meaning WWE receives $325 million per year.
ESPN’s streaming service will cost $29.99 per month or $300 per year, though at least some viewers will receive the service at no extra charge if they already pay for ESPN through a TV provider.
Dave Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales are back with the Friday edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, talking about all the big news from today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
John LaRocca and Garrett Gonzales are back to discuss the latest happenings in the world of pro wrestling.
We kicked off the show with our Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down winners and losers of the week before getting to our big topic of the show which was the WWE/ESPN PLE deal.
We also dive deep into the SummerSlam fallout, including the controversial return of Brock Lesnar, the showdown between CM Punk and Gunther, and John Cena turning back the clock once more against Cody Rhodes.
On the AEW side, we talk about the ratings bump for Dynamite, the ongoing Tag Team Eliminator tournament featuring the Young Bucks vs. Brodido, and the latest on backstage heat surrounding MVP. We also take a look at the MJF vs. Mark Briscoe match.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez is back with tons to talk about including more details on the MVP story from yesterday, more details on the ESPN/WWE story, where Cena’s last match will be and why, the Dynamite report, and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
In a dizzying day of questions and answers regarding the availability of ESPN’s impending streaming service for existing cable & satellite subscribers, there are some updates that may make those subscribers a bit frustrated — at first, anyway.
This is especially pertinent for WWE fans given the news that the company’s full slate of premium live events will head to ESPN starting in April 2026 after WWE’s existing deal with Peacock ends.
Initially, it was reported by Alex Sherman of CNBC Wednesday that “cable subs will automatically get the ESPN (direct to consumer) product thru authentication.” That was followed by both Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and PWInsider reporting that only customers of Charter (Spectrum), DirecTV, FuboTV, Hulu Live TV, and Verizon Fios would have that luxury and that everyone else would need to pay for the service.
Sherman provided some updated reporting Thursday through his newsletter, verifying Thurston and PWInsider’s initial information and giving some hope for those that are customers of Xfinity, YouTube TV, and other major providers. He quipped that while WWE had the Attitude Era, this is the Confusion Era for ESPN.
“…I’m told discussions with all of these pay TV providers are ongoing, and Disney hopes to have most of them done by the end of the year. It’s still unclear to me at this point if Disney can accelerate some of these discussions if their pay TV carriage renewals aren’t until 2026.
Long-term, ESPN plans to have authentication deals with every major pay TV distributor. Disney doesn’t want existing cable customers leaving the bundle just because ESPN is now available outside of it.
But when the application is ready for showtime on Aug. 21, there are going to be a bunch of pay TV subscribers who aren’t going to get their authentication access that they’re paying for.”
The service that launches later this month will start at $29.99 per month or $300 for an annual subscription.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including all the details on the new WWE and ESPN deal, how much it’s worth, what will be changing, etc. Plus, the Hogan funeral, Brooke’s comments on her dad, AEW and NXT TV reports and tons more! A packed show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: ESPN to air WWE PLEs in United States starting next year
15:20: TKO Q2 report
24:19: Hulk Hogan’s funeral held, Brooke Hogan on Bubba the Love Sponge
38:42: Fightful report on MVP/Hurt Syndicate, Karrion Kross update
Khan spoke with Puck’s John Ourand about the deal and said that while the amount of shows always could grow, the current deal is for ten annual PLEs held over 12 nights as WrestleMania and SummerSlam will remain at two nights each.
When asked about whether unique shows like Evolution will be part of that, Khan said to assume that WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, Money in the Bank, and Survivor Series are set and that they will continue to look at other shows, citing this month’s Clash in Paris as an example.
**********
Beginning in April 2026, the new deal is reportedly for five years and $1.6 billion, an increase from what WWE was getting from Peacock annually.
Khan talked about the ESPN deal in aggregate, noting that “The marketplace dictates the price on all things in my opinion. The media rights marketplace to any reasonable person looking at it, has become reflective, relatively speaking, of the U.S. economy where the upper tier products continue to go up and the premium content gets premium pricing.”
As he has done in the past, Khan said that “the middle” when it comes to TV rights are getting “squeezed a bit” and that fortunately for WWE fans, they are not in the middle.
Without saying what other entities were interested, Khan said interest in the package “was real.” He said that “timing always matters on these things” and explained how the initial Peacock PLE deal was made during the height of the pre-vaccine COVID-19 era where NBCU needed content as the Olympics were postponed.
He did not say, nor was he asked, if Peacock made a final bid or if they were given the option to do so.
Khan said the ESPN deal didn’t take as long as the newly-announced NFL/ESPN deal did as, “It was sort of clear. Here’s this subscriber base, here’s how we think we can grow it together, and this is the perfect platform for us and our subscribers.”
Khan said he had dealt with ESPN/Disney extensively in the past on potential WWE deals but that it just didn’t work for timing reasons.
Following this morning’s huge announcement of WWE and ESPN’s new partnership, Paul “Triple H” Levesque made an appearance on the network to celebrate the news.
It was revealed this morning that WWE and ESPN have reached an agreement for WWE PLEs to air on ESPN’s new streaming service in the United States starting in 2026. The events will continue to stream on Peacock until that deal begins.
On ESPN’s Get Up, Levesque expressed his excitement for the partnership.
“There’s nothing bigger, there’s no bigger opportunity for us than this right now,” Levesque said about ESPN.
“Nick [Khan] and I have been thinking about it for a long time, of it is the right home for it. It’s something that we’ve been trying to work through for a long time. [ESPN Chairman] Jimmy Pitaro making it happen, it’s thrilling for us. Can’t be more excited.”
Levesque hyped that, with ESPN’s experience broadcasting huge events, WWE PLEs will be more of a spectacle than ever once this deal begins.
“From my point of view, nobody does large-scale, massive events like ESPN. Super Bowl, all of it, right? It’s what you do. And it’s what we like to think we do better than anybody else on the planet,” he said. “So this is the perfect marriage. When we get together, things like WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble are going to be bigger than ever. They’re going to be more of a spectacle than ever before. And we’re going to light the world on fire.”
The deal is reportedly worth $1.6 billion over five years, meaning WWE will receive $325 million per year. The ESPN streaming service is priced at $29.99 per month or $300 annually.
WWE PLEs will continue to be broadcast on Netflix in international markets.
Levesque’s complete appearance on Get Up can be seen below:
Starting in 2026, WWE premium live events will air on ESPN in the United States as part of their new streaming service.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal is reportedly for $1.6 billion over five years ($325 million per year). An official start date was not announced, but it’s all but certain to be with this April’s WrestleMania from Las Vegas.
Thurston also reported that “ESPN also has rights to create original WWE-related content and plans for SportsCenter to broadcast from the locations of certain WWE PLEs.”
The new ESPN streaming service launches on August 21st at $29.99 per month or $300 per year, meaning WWE fans will need to pay more than they were with Peacock. However, those with existing access to ESPN through a traditional cable/satellite package will get access to the new service at no additional cost through login authentication.
In the ESPN announcement, accessibility to archive content was also not mentioned. Lightshed Partners’ Brandon Ross speculated that Netflix may want to grab those rights with Thurston reporting that the PLEs that air on ESPN’s service will be available there for replay.
He also noted NXT PLEs are not in the deal, leaving another asset for TKO to get TV rights for.
ESPN is still negotiating with UFC as TKO’s other major content hub’s deal with the sports leader ends at the close of 2026. They are continuing to load up their impending service by signing a deal with the NFL that brings the popular RedZone and other content over.
The deal ends WWE’s five-year contract with NBC Universal that began in March 2021 and included both PLEs and archive content for domestic viewers. In the WSJ, they stated the Peacock PLE deal was at $900 million “according to people familiar with the pact.” Their contract for WWE SmackDown on USA and the quarterly Saturday Night’s Main Even specials remains intact.
*More on the death of Hulk Hogan *The ugliness of the aftermath of the death *An article talking about the aftermath of the death *Those close to him talk about his death *Those not remotely close to him get harassed about his death *Documentaries coming on Hogan *A look at the biggest names in history when it comes to drawing and how Hogan compares with them domestically and internationally *Hogan’s WWF peak *WWF business under Hogan and Austin *Hogan’s live show magic *The Andre match on NBC *Gorgeous George, The Rock, Sammartino, Londos, Rikidozan and Santo *Wrestling in the U.S. pre-Hogan and the myths that have been created *Hogan vs. Londos *Hogan’s family talks *SummerSlam story and interest levels *WWE, AAA and CMLL in Mexico this past week *Lots on WWE’s plans for AAA *TripleMania thoughts *Alberto, Dominik, Vikingo and Grende Americano in Mexico *A classic match at Arena Mexico with Neon vs. Mascara Dorada *Update on the G-1 Climax tournament *The life and times of Gerry Morrow, a Canadian wrestling journeyman who is one of the most underrated inflential wrestler of the st 40 years with comments by those he inflenced *Conor McGregor’s appeal of the sexual assault civil cse *The most detailed look at the ratings for all the TV wrestling shows *MJF to Arena Mexico *Five Star Grand Prix opens up *The Hogan vs. Andre match that never happened *Santo and Fuerza Guerrera retirement show notes *The first major ethnic draw in the U.S. *TNA looking for new TV deal *Will Ospreay update *Forbidden Door update *Details of the WBD split *Tony Khan has already made belts for a new title *Tag team tournament AEW update *TKO Boxing notes *Update on ringboys lawsuit against the McMahons and WWE *Vince McMahon auto accident details *Levesque and Trump *Thoughts on WWE Unreal *An original Mania show *Cody Rhodes on Bill Simmons *Lots of notes on the WWE tryouts this week
— Bryan and I will be back tonight covering SummerSlam night two, more from night one, G-1 and more. Our night one show is up right now as is my weekend show with Garrett Gonzales with lots of talk on all the current news, Hulk Hogan questions and more.
— ESPN’s new streaming service that will carry all of ESPN programming launches this fall, with no date announced for the launch. It will contain all of the ESPN Networks and cost $29.99 per month.
— On paper tonight’s show is much stronger than last night’s with the women’s three-way and TLC match. We have a preview of this in the issue discussing finishes and such:
Dominik Mysterio vs. AJ Styles for the IC title
Wyatt Sicks (Joe Gacy & Dexter Lumis) vs. DIY vs. Motor City Machine Guns vs. Street Profita vs. Fraxion vs. Andrade & Rey Fenix in a TLC match for the WWE tag titles
Becky Lynch vs. Lyra Valkyira for the IC title no DQ no count out – If Valkyria loses she can never challenge for the title as long as Lynch is champion
Solo Sikoa vs. Jacob Fatu in a cage match for the U.S. title
Naomi vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Iyo Sky for the world women’s title
John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes for the world title in a street fight
Most fans based on polls think the Cena face turn was fake. Don’t know but it came across very weak.Supposedly the finish of the show will have another big surprise.
— We’re looking for your thoughts on both nights of SummerSlam, thumbs up down or middle, best and worst match for each show to [email protected]
— We’re also looking for dark match results from Friday’s Smackdown tapings in Newark, NJ to [email protected]
— Mistico beat Mascara Dorada and Bandido on Friday night in Tijuana before a sellout crowd to win the Lucka (correct spelling of the promotion) Libre heavyweight championship when Bandido tapped out to the Mistica.
— SummerSlam did 600,000 Google searches as of this morning which is very high for a WWE event. The UFC show yesterday on ESPN did only 60,000.
— Zero-1 today did a match at Shin-kiba with mask vs. leaving Zero1 with Hayabusa vs. Masato Tanaka. It ended up in a 30:00 draw.
— Colby Corino went to the hospital Thursday and needed emergency surgery on his neck and back. Best wishes to him.
— The Zennichi Jr. tournament ended today with Atsuki Aoyagi over Rising Hayato in a match I was told was great. All Japan drew more today at Ota Ward Gym than Stardom did for its first night of the Five Star Grand Prix and more than the first night of G-1 in that building.
— Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport from yesterday in Rutherford, NJ:
Matt Mako b Ray Jaz
Janai Kai b Jordan Bade via decision
Simon Gotch b Nick Comoroto
Charlie Dempsey b Dominic Garrini
Royce Isaacs b Ivar
Timothy Thatcher b Slade-DQ
Erik’b Manders
Pete Dunne b Jonathan Gresham
Nattie Neidhart b Masha Slamovich – this was very intense. Real good stuff.
— Boca Raton Wrestling on 8/31 in Mizner Park in Boca Raton, FL saw Ricky Morton vs. Seve Maclin for the BRCA title, Ash by Elegance vs. Mila Moore for the women’s title, Jonny Fairplay vs. Alan Martinez, Monster Fulton vs. Noah Kekoa falls count anywhere plus Enzo, James Ellsworth, Moose, Matt Taven and Bull James.
— Bully Ray defends the Crown Jewel title against Zilla Fatu on 9/4 in Philadelphia at Trinity on 22nd. Shotzi Blackheart, Lio Rush and Action Andretti are on the show.
— BOOM! Pro Wrestling in Vancouver, BC did their 40th straight sellout on 7/26, running that show at the larger 800 seat Commodore Ballroom with Casey Ferreira over Brady Malibu for the Vancouver City title. Next show is 9/27.
— WWE has filed to trademark “The Vision,” which may be a new faction.
— Masa Kitamiya joined Team 2000X on today’s NOAH show as The Chairman.
— At The Gathering in Charlotte, NC last night as part of the convention there:
Ten bell salute for Hulk Hogan led by Ken RDQ
Bam Bam Bundy b Aubrey Wright
Boswroth b Andrew Anderson
Kerry Morton b Psycho Boy Fodder
Caleb Konley b Mike Jackson
Court Montgomery b CW Anderson
Bosworth b Bam Bam Bundy
Samantha Star won four-way for the women’s title over Ella Envy. Rachael Ellering and Savannah Evans
Count Montgomery b Bosworth
Caleb Konley b Kerry Morton
Court Montgomery b Caleb Konley to the win the TMart title in the tournament finalesnick
Kerry Morton b Brock Anderson-COR (Brock managed by Arn Anderson)
Psycho Boy Fodder (managed by Jim Mitchell) b Lodi
First reported Tuesday night by Sean Ross Sapp, a SummerSlam pre-show audio special hosted by Booker T and Hall of Fame podcast co-host Brad Gilmore will air this Saturday from 1-4 PM Eastern on ESPN Radio. Their show airs on ESPN 97.5 in Houston three nights a week.
For the first time ever, SummerSlam will be held on both Saturday and Sunday, emanating from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, this weekend.
WWE SummerSlam night one (Saturday, August 2):
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Gunther defends against CM Punk
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez defend against Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss
Randy Orton & Jelly Roll vs. Drew McIntyre & Logan Paul
Roman Reigns & Jey Uso vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed
WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton defends against Jade Cargill
Sami Zayn vs. Karrion Kross
WWE SummerSlam night two (Saturday, August 2):
Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena defends against Cody Rhodes in a street fight
WWE Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio defends against AJ Styles
WWE United States Champion Solo Sikoa defends against Jacob Fatu in a steel cage match
WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch defends against Lyra Valkyria in a no DQ match (if Lynch retains, Valkyria cannot challenge for the title again while Lynch is champion)
WWE Women’s World Champion Naomi defends against IYO SKY and Rhea Ripley in a triple threat match
WWE Tag Team Champions The Wyatt Sicks defend against Motor City Machine Guns, The Street Profits, DIY, Fraxiom, and Andrade & Rey Fenix in a six-pack TLC match
ESPN has revealed the premiere date and full list of episodes for “Stephanie’s Places,” a new ESPN+ series set to debut later this month.
The Stephanie McMahon-hosted series will debut on March 26 with an episode featuring CM Punk. New episodes will then be uploaded to ESPN+ every Wednesday through May 28. Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley, Steve Austin, Charlotte Flair, Roman Reigns & The Bloodline, Pat McAfee, The Undertaker, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, and John Cena will be guests on the 10-episode series.
A spinoff of the ESPN+ show “Peyton’s Places,” this series is being produced by ESPN, WWE, and Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions. It features Stephanie McMahon traveling the country and speaking with some of the most famous names in WWE history.
“WWE has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember,” Stephanie said in a press release. “I’m looking forward to having viewers join me as we visit some of the most iconic stars of past and present, in places of meaning for them, and hear how they overcame adversity to become who they are today.”
Stephanie resigned as WWE’s co-CEO in January 2023 and has not returned to the company in an executive capacity, though she has made increasingly frequent appearances for WWE over the past year. She is also expected to launch an official WWE podcast in the coming months as part of a new slate of podcasts being produced by WWE and Fanatics.
Here are the full details for each “Stephanie’s Places” episode:
Episode 1: The Return of CM Punk (March 26)
Stephanie McMahon visits her husband and WWE Chief Content Officer, Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque, at the new WWE Headquarters before she heads to Cleveland for SummerSlam, where she meets up with CM Punk who reflects on his shocking return to the WWE after nearly a decade away from the ring.
Episode 2: Cody Rhodes Takes Center Stage (April 2)
Stephanie meets with ‘The American Nightmare’ Cody Rhodes at the historic Center Stage Theater in Atlanta, the former home of the WCW. Cody shares his unique path to WWE stardom and what he envisions as his legacy.
Episode 3: Rhea Ripley’s Rise (April 9)
Stephanie visits the WWE Performance Center in Orlando where she meets up with Rhea Ripley and the WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels to discuss how the next generation of stars are trained. Later, Rhea surprises Stephanie with a dramatic makeover to prepare for a wild entrance.
Episode 4: Stone Cold Rides Again (April 16)
Stephanie spends a day with Steve Austin at Broken Skull Ranch to learn about how he became ‘Stone Cold’ and life after the WWE. The two end their day with Stephanie experiencing Steve’s newest adventure: off-road racing.
Episode 5: The Evolution of Charlotte Flair (April 23)
Stephanie meets up with the ‘Queen,’ Charlotte Flair at Nassau Coliseum to discuss the origins and evolution of women in the WWE, before they take a helicopter to MetLife to relive her epic WrestleMania 35 arrival.
Episode 6: Roman Reigns and The Bloodline (April 30)
Stephanie hits the open waters of Miami on a yacht with Roman Reigns and ‘The Bloodline’ to discuss the Anoa’i family’s wrestling legacy. Stephanie then enjoys some traditional Samoan cuisine alongside the family, including a unique delicacy.
Episode 7: Pat McAfee Can’t Be Stopped (May 7)
Stephanie sits down with Pat McAfee to find out how the art of a WWE ‘promo’ helped him become one of the biggest names in sports and entertainment. A visit to Indianapolis allows Stephanie to pick Pat’s brain and hear his unlikely journey from NFL punter to podcaster and his dream job at WWE.
Episode 8: Digging Deep with Undertaker (May 14)
Stephanie heads to Madison Square Garden, the location of the first WrestleMania, and meets up with The Undertaker. They discuss his career and his own iconic moments at the Garden.
Episode 9: Triple H’s Perfect Entrance (May 21)
Stephanie and Triple H examine the power of an iconic WWE entrance, later they head to Las Vegas to get a first-hand look at the pageantry and spectacle that can only be found at WrestleMania.
Episode 10: John Cena’s Final Round (May 28)
Stephanie meets up with John Cena as he reflects on his incredible 20-plus year sports entertainment journey. She gets a tour of his personal gym and sees how one of the most decorated WWE Superstars of all time stays at the top of his game as he winds down his incredible career.
The official trailer for the show can be seen below:
A new show featuring Stephanie McMahon talking to WWE stars is on its way to ESPN+.
Stephanie’s Places will debut in March and is produced by Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions in conjunction with WWE and ESPN. It’s a spinoff of Manning’s Peyton’s Places show.
The exact start date, the total amount of episodes, and runtime per episode was not revealed.
It will be the first public project the 48-year-old will be part of since resigning from WWE in January 2023 following Vince McMahon’s ill-fated return to the company.
McMahon talked about the show during her appearance on Thursday’s Pat McAfee Show, saying she would go all over the world to talk about the stories behind the biggest stars in WWE history.
McMahon said part of the focus will be how talent overcame obstacles in their career and got to where they are. She said she was initially nervous at first, but really enjoyed the experience.
A clip sent out Thursday showed her in conversations with Roman Reigns and The Bloodline, Steve Austin, and Charlotte Flair:
Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes is stopping by ESPN’s College GameDay for a special guest appearance this weekend.
ESPN has announced that Rhodes will serve as the guest picker on GameDay this Saturday morning, making predictions for that day’s slate of college football action. GameDay — which takes place from a different school every weekend — will be in Rhodes’ home state of Georgia on Saturday ahead of a matchup pitting the Georgia Bulldogs against the Tennessee Volunteers.
The American Nightmare 🤝 College GameDay Guest Picker‼️@WWE Superstar and Georgia fan @CodyRhodes is our guest picker in Athens this weekend! pic.twitter.com/PN1Qupj5jH
GameDay airs weekly from 9 a.m. Eastern time to noon during college football season. Pat McAfee — who is currently on hiatus from his WWE commentary role — is one of the hosts. McAfee stepped away from WWE commentary when football season began, but he’ll be back when Raw moves to Netflix starting in January 2025.
Sheamus was also a guest picker on College GameDay earlier this season.
Rhodes has now been Undisputed WWE Champion for seven months after dethroning Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40. A title defense against Kevin Owens is likely on the horizon for Rhodes soon.
In what promises to be a game-changer in the world of streaming rights, Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox and Disney will launch a sports-centric streaming venture in the United States that will combine each services’ various rights under one digital roof.
The unnamed service is expected to launch this fall with pricing yet unknown. It will be owned by a newly-formed company with its own leadership team.
According to Variety, each group will own a third of the service, licensing their sports content to it on a non-exclusive basis, meaning it would also air on their traditional home for non-subscribers.
From their report:
“Subscribers would get access to linear sports networks including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV and ESPN+, as well as hundreds of hours from the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL and many top college divisions. Pricing will be announced at a later date,”
CNBC reported subscribers will be able to bundle the new service with Hulu, Disney+ and/or Max. This will not affect ESPN’s continued plans to launch their full direct-to-consumer product either this year or next.
That will also affect MMA fans and pro wrestling fans as well.
Both the UFC and PFL have deals with ESPN with the former’s contract set to expire at the end of 2025 while the PFL signed a multi-year extension in November 2023.
UFC head Dana White said in January that parent company TKO expects to begin talks with ESPN in the next “three or four months.”
How this bundle plays into ESPN’s exclusive domestic PPV rights distribution deal with the UFC remains to be seen. Currently, one must subscribe to ESPN+ in order to be able to order UFC PPVs.
WBD has an existing deal with AEW that expires at the end of 2024. While their exclusive negotiating window isn’t public knowledge, WBD is considered the front-runner given Tony Khan’s publicly stated desire to remain loyal to his lone domestic TV partner.
AEW has yet to become part of WBD’s BR Sports tier on the Max streaming service despite being listed within TNT Sports. However, Dynamite, Collision and Rampage would be available via this new “skinny bundle” if they remain on the WBD networks.
