How Major WarnerMedia Changes Could Impact AEW's Future
New Warner CEO David Zaslav is expected to "take a scalpel to the business."
WarnerMedia's recent merger with Discovery could have an impact on All Elite Wrestling's television deal.
Last week saw the completion of Discovery's acquisition of WarnerMedia, which has served as AEW's official TV partner since Dynamite debuted on TNT in October 2019. The new business, Warner Bros. Discovery, has a new CEO in David Zaslav, whom the New York Post claim is "expected to take a scalpel to the business in the coming months." This will involve finding "cost synergies" of at least $3 billion next year.
Next year is when AEW's existing television contract with the former WarnerMedia expires. The two parties signed a four-year extension to their original deal in January 2020, worth around $44 million annually, though the level of compensation is believed to have increased by an eight-figure sum when the contract was expanded to include a second weekly show last spring.
Part of the WarnerMedia/Discovery merger will see Kathleen Finch head TBS, the channel currently airing AEW Dynamite on Wednesday nights. Dave Meltzer noted in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter that TBS will have Finch's vision going forward. She will therefore be influential in AEW's next set of TV rights negotiations, which are expected to commence in late 2022 ahead of the current deal's expiration.
Dynamite is currently TBS's highest-rated show outside of NBA and other major sports coverage. This puts AEW in a good position, negotiations-wise, though wrestling's longstanding stigma may yet prove a stumbling point.