The internal reaction in WWE for FOX dropping SmackDown has been revealed.
The SmackDown television rights deal has been one of great intrigue throughout 2023, and eventually the program landed on USA in a confirmed deal earlier this fall.
FOX however, did not have large amounts of interest in once again agreeing a deal with WWE for the broadcast rights of the blue brand.
Recently, in the Q1 2024 FOX Earnings Conference Call, Lachlan Murdoch, FOX’s CEO, noted why FOX did not renew their deal with WWE.
“We were not hitting the advertising numbers due to the audience of the WWE to make…to return for our return on investment to be above the levels that we would accept. But also, we didn’t attribute enough significant retransmission revenue to the WWE either.”
Lachlan Murdoch
Ringside News reports that the reaction internally in WWE was a lax one, as there is a belief that no damage was done by the comments.
One tenured member of the team remarked to us to say, “No one is surprised by the comment. And the stock is up this week, so no damage was done.”
RSN
We will have to wait and see how WWE does on USA when the time comes for SmackDown to make the jump from FOX next year.
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