The major news broke on Tuesday was that WWE made a deal with Netflix that will see its flagship show, Monday Night Raw, move from the USA Network to the streaming service beginning in January 2025, marking the first time that Raw has not aired new episodes on a linear television network.
The deal
The deal is reportedly valued at $500 million per year and runs for ten years. This is a notable increase from the existing deal that WWE has with NBCU, the parent company of the USA Network, as they had been paying WWE for five years for the media rights that is worth approximately $250-260 million per year.
The deal will see Netflix be the exclusive home to Raw in the US, UK, Canada, Latin America, and other territories. Also, Netflix will be the TV home for all WWE shows outside of the US, including SmackDown, NXT, and PLEs. WWE’s deal with Peacock to host the WWE Network library and PLE’s in the US expires in March 2026.
Uncertainty
WWE’s deal to air Raw on USA Network runs through October 2024. Variety was told by an individual with knowledge of the situation that exactly where Raw will “air between the end of that deal and the beginning of the Netflix deal is still being determined.”
It’s likely that the USA and WWE reach a short-term extension to keep Raw on the network through December 31, 2024, when the Netflix deal would then kick in.
