TKO Group Holdings Secures WWE Broadcast Rights

Following the UFC and WWE merger, TKO Group Holdings has gotten its first broadcast rights deal.

TKO Group Holdings went public on the New York Exchange on September 12th, 2023, as the share prices of the company rose by 2.6 percent at the end of the first day of trading. And now TKO Group Holdings have confirmed that WWE Smackdown will air on USA Network instead of FOX on a five-year deal that will start next year in October. In addition, this will include four specials every year that will be broadcast on the NBC network. The deal is alleged to be worth $287 million per year, which will take the total deal over the five-year period, in excess of $1.4 billion.

“Your goal is to maximize price. Let’s be clear about that. In any renegotiation that [WWE president] Nick Khan is doing in WWE, his goal is to maximize price. Our goal with UFC is to maximize price,” Endeavor president Mark Shapiro

Thereafter, the focus is expected to turn towards the UFC’s broadcast deal. As of now, the UFC has a deal with ESPN until 2025 following the move from FOX. The deal also includes pay-per-view events via ESPN+. Despite the announcement of the new deal, TKO Group Holdings’ stock decreased. The share price opened at $102, but it has now gone below $90. But moving forward, there is plenty in the works for TKO Group Holdings.