James Andrew Miller is the guest on the most recent episode of Jimmy Traina’s SI Media podcast. The pair discussed the future of the WWE on television and Traina suggested that the company may not actually be willing to give its current TV partners first right of refusal on new deals for Raw and SmackDown.
Monday Night Raw currently airs on the USA Network. SmackDown airs Friday nights on FOX. Miller says he thinks one company is ready to pounce if a WWE TV product hits the open market.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Warner Bros. Discovery would like a slice of that WWE pie,” he said.
He noted that Raw has been on Mondays since it first debuted, but there is no reason it has to stay there. Future bidders may be unwilling to meet WWE’s asking price for a product that will always finish second to Monday Night Football.
“I have not heard Nick [Khan, WWE CEO] advocate that, but I think my point is that if a player comes in and doesn’t want Monday night, that Monday night package is mobile. I mean, there’s no reason why it has to be Monday night.”
Warner Bros. Discovery is an interesting name to bring up. The company clearly believes in professional wrestling. It is already in business with AEW on TNT and TBS. So what would become of those shows if WWE rights are on the table?
Miller says he does not know if the company would abandon AEW or if it would find a way to air both promotions. He said that all he can say for sure is “that there are people at Warner Bros. who are interested” in WWE.
Negotiations are expected to begin this summer on new TV deals for the NBA. The league is at the center of the Turner Sports brand on TNT. It seems unlikely that Warner Bros. Discovery would let the NBA get away, but the company’s CEO David Zaslav is publicly posturing that he is not willing to meet any price that the NBA demands. Miller says if TNT loses the NBA, the WWE represents a very good replacement option.
“If they were to lose the NBA, I would imagine they would become a pretty big advocate for buying something,” he said. “That would create quite the auction unless it’s taken off. If either FOX or NBC comes in with a preemptive offer that the WWE likes, they won’t even get a chance.”
