Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that WWE has had a recent interest in purchasing FITE TV. They are so serious about this that there are meetings coming up regarding this.
If WWE were to purchase FITE TV, this would affect AEW because their pay-per-view events air on that platform for fans outside of the United States in Canada. This could also impact independent promotions and the Starrcast events that stream live on the weekend of major AEW shows. Triple H said on the TakeOver: Toronto media conference call that the idea is to make the WWE Network a one-stop shop service. WWE has plans to add independent promotions to the WWE Network within the next year and purchasing FITE TV would help them achieve that goal.
AEW would be fine because they could just move their shows to a Turner-owned streaming partner. They already stream their shows on Bleacher Report Live in the United States and Canada.
On Twitter, FITE TV said that they were not in merger and acquisition discussions with WWE.
For what it’s worth, Meltzer’s report did not say that merger or acquisition talks have happened. His report stated that WWE was interested and there is a meeting coming up soon.
Meltzer also noted that WWE talks to a lot of people and their interest doesn’t mean that a deal will get done.
Hello! These rumors are not true. We are not in merger and acquisitions discussions with WWE. We constantly appreciate all of your support and passionate comments.
— TrillerTV (@FiteTV) August 9, 2019