WWE's deal for Raw is with NBCUniversal on the USA Network, thought to be paying WWE on average in the range of $142.5 million per year over the course of the deal. This is for the broadcast rights to Raw and Smackdown in the United States. It means that the cost of Raw's expensive production costs are well covered, and bear in mind that WWE also makes lucrative returns on international deals for their flagship show. However, when the new NBCUniversal / WWE deal was announced in May 2014, WWE shares were sent plummeting. Vince McMahon had predicted his new US TV deal would be upwards of $200 million, something which just didn't add up for the TV industry executives who view WWE as "low rent" programming that doesn't really attract valuable advertisers.
