As we previously reported here on eWn, AEW President Tony Khan traveled to Paris last week to meet with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav during the Olympic Games. The two parties are continuing to negotiate a new media rights deal.
In a recent interview with “Q101,” Khan commented on the ongoing talks between AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery regarding the new television rights.
Khan said, “Right now is the most important time ever in AEW. We’re on the verge of the most important deal we’ll ever make, this upcoming media rights, and it’s been great working with Warner Brothers Discovery on the future. For all these years, we’ve had so much great experience with Warner Brothers Discovery, and now, under the leadership of David Zaslav, the company, for us, the connection, the things we’ve been able to do, I think it’s getting stronger and stronger. I think now, over five years, it’s really been building to this point where AEW’s going to jump into the media rights and be a very profitable, successful company that has lived up to every expectation we ever could have had because we’ve done so many amazing things in this years. We’ve had all these amazing pay-per-view records. We’ve really come in and we’ve done pay-per-view numbers, whether adjusted or straight-up, head-to-head, very strong compared to the last few years of WCW, and I think that’s really a success story. I think pay-per-views are really fun, but it’s a really interesting business point that our business on pay-per-view has continued to get stronger. This year’s been great for us, we’ve had some huge events, including Revolution, which was one of our biggest pay-per-views ever.”
Since the launch of AEW Dynamite in October 2019, AEW programming has been featured on Warner Bros. Discovery channels. Khan has consistently emphasized the significance of bringing wrestling back to TBS and TNT following the conclusion of WCW in 2001.
