What the sale of Warner Bros. to Netflix could mean for AEW
A few months ago, I wrote a column about the potential sale of WBD and what it would mean for AEW. At the time, there were three major contenders: Paramount, Netflix, and Comcast. I said the best-case scenario would be Paramount buying the whole thing, because AEW would have had a better chance of keeping — and possibly improving — its television deal under the Paramount umbrella than under Netflix or Comcast.
Unfortunately, the worst-case scenario happened not just for wrestling fans, but for movie fans as well. Netflix won the race and is now the only party able to negotiate to buy Warner Bros.
The deal is far from done, of course. It will still need to go through several government agencies for approval. But it’s still a dark day for fans everywhere.
So what could this mean for AEW’s current deal with WBD? Honestly, not much on the television side. Discovery will control the TV assets, so I doubt AEW will lose its TBS/TNT presence. Whether they can secure a larger rights increase when their current contract expires is another question, but it’s likely they’ll continue to have a home on those networks.
The streaming side, however, is a completely different story.
From what I understand, AEW’s deal with WBD to air its programming and PPVs on HBO Max ends at the end of 2026, because it was negotiated separately from the TV contract. So by the time Netflix actually takes control of Warner Bros. and HBO Max, the AEW streaming deal will be either almost expired or already finished.
Netflix, meanwhile, has a multi-year deal with WWE that they paid a massive amount of money for — and based on everything I’ve seen, they’re extremely happy with the results, especially internationally. They’ve gained a substantial number of subscribers from that partnership, which means more revenue for them.
Because of that, the last thing Netflix is going to do is sign AEW to a new streaming deal, especially since they’re expected to merge HBO Max into Netflix once the acquisition is finalized. That means AEW will have to find a new streaming home for their weekly content and PPVs.
The most obvious option would be Discovery+, but that would be a downgrade from HBO Max. AEW also already has an agreement with Amazon Prime for PPVs, but that comes without the discounted model fans enjoyed on Max. Viewers will likely have to go back to paying full price for PPVs, which could alienate parts of the fanbase.
In the end, this deal isn’t the end of the world for AEW, but it will change things — especially on the streaming side. It’s definitely going to be an interesting story to follow over the next year as we see whether this acquisition actually goes through.