5. NBCUniversal
Where things would go: If NBCU won the bidding war for WWE, things would probably stay very similar to how they are today. It's possible that Smackdown would go live, but seems less likely if WWE keeps their programming under the Comcast banner.
Raw - Monday, USA (3 hours)
Smackdown - Friday, Syfy (2 hours)
Total Divas! - E! (1 hour)
Main Event/Superstars/NXT - Probably not part of the deal. Comcast is already a 32% owner of Hulu, which airs these shows.
WWE Studios - Possible closer relationship with Universal Studios or fledgling channels like Esquire Network.
Why they might win: The incumbent bidder is still a strong favorite to retain the WWE contract. As explored in my earlier Whatculture piece,
WWE's Current 15 Year Stock High Is Tied To Their Domestic TV Future, there's two central strengths to the NBCU/WWE partnership:
Comcast (NBCU's parent company) is continuing to grow & change. They're buying rival cable operators (Time Warner Cable) and they're reorganizing their advertising sales operations (Dan Lovinger as the executive in charge of sales for NBC, USA, Syfy and WWE programs). It's a powerful partnership for WWE. Historic Relationship with NBCU. WWE has been putting pro-wrestling on the USA Network since the early 1980's. WWE just renewed their international television deal in the UK with BSkyB to further their "30-year partnership". Bonnie Hammer, a long-time partner of Vince McMahon, is at the helm as the "Queen of Cable" controlling the fate of USA/SyFy/E!/Bravo programming. NBCU has
even offered the WWE space in their Universal Studios Theme Park in Florida for a physical WWE Hall of Fame. Should the WWE sign a long-term deal with NBCU, investing in such a building would make a lot of sense.
Why they might lose: The exclusive negotiation period with NBCU came and went without a deal. While NBCU does have matching rights to a competitor's offer, it's sounds like WWE and NBCU were far apart on the value of the future contract. While losing both
Raw and
Smackdown would hurt USA and SyFy cable rankings immensely, it's possible that NBCU could replace those shows with content that generate much higher CPMs. (While pro-wrestling gets a lot of a viewers, they have notoriously poor advertising rates.) WWE angered a lot of major multi-channel programming video distributors (cable & satellite operators including Comcast) when they launched the WWE Network and offered live PPVs (including juggernaut Wrestlemania) for just $9.99/month. The TV rights deal is being negotiated by Chief Marketing Officer Michelle Wilson and Chief Strategy & Financial Officer George Barrios alongside hired media rights consultant Chris Bevilacqua. It's possible these heavy-hitters are out to find the richest price, and past relationships may well not count for as much they used to.