Eric Bischoff comments on the possibility of Warner Brothers Discovery not renewing AEW programming
As previously noted, CM Punk reportedly helped renew talks between WWE and Warner Brothers Discovery for a potential media rights deal with RAW. Paul Levesque aka Triple H, Nick Khan and TKO’s Marc Shapiro were said to have met with WBD last week.
During his podcast, former WCW President Eric Bischoff commented on the possibility of WBD not renewing AEW programming…
“Let me make it simple. If in fact, they lose WBD, Warner Brothers Discovery, if they’re no longer part of that platform. I’m not sure where they’re going to go. It’s going to be a smaller cable outlet. I don’t see a big cable outlet [picking them]. And this whole thing with Paramount and WBD, that’s such a wildcard. I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of variables that’s gonna throw into the equation. It could be really good for AEW. Whenever that is, the Paramount WBD thing if it actually becomes a reality. Because it’s too soon to know if it’s real or not. But if it becomes a reality, and there’s a merger there, it can either be the absolute stake through the heart of AEW or it can be the golden ticket. We don’t know. But in a case where it’s not the golden ticket and AEW finds itself on the outside looking in and WWE is now the television partner for Paramount WBD or whatever that ends up looking like.”
“I don’t know where Tony [Khan]’s gonna go. Because the world is getting so small. Vertical integration, you’re looking at probably two or three companies that own everything. Where are you going to go? What cable outlet are you going to go to that isn’t owned by NBC Universal, Paramount. Where are you going and what do you have to sell? Not much. Here’s what you get to sell, ‘Hey, we were on Turner for five years and prime time. Over the last five years, our audience has deteriorated. But we want to be on your network.’ I don’t want to sell that. I wouldn’t want to be the person assigned to try to sell that story.” (quotes courtesy of SEScoops.com)