21st Century Fox VP & CFO John Nallen spoke at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference this morning and discussed the new broadcasting deal with WWE SmackDown Live, per The Wrap.
Nallen praised how WWE is providing a “50 to 52-week-a-year sport with no repeats,” as opposed to the other sports they broadcast on Fox such as college football, the NFL and MLB:
“It’s a 50 to 52-week-a-year sport with no repeats. It’s a new novella every week,” said Nallen. “For us to have that kind of appointment programming, that audience, every week of the year, is a really unique opportunity for us.”
Nallen also said that one of the biggest benefits from the deal is for SmackDown “To lock up a Friday night and just not have to focus on programming it from an entertainment standpoint.”
Fox and WWE agreed to a broadcasting deal for SmackDown Live earlier this year. Fox is scheduled to begin airing SDL on October 4, 2019, after agreeing to a five-year deal worth over $1 billion.
