AEW Reportedly To Remain with Discovery & Not Going to Netflix Following Closure of Netflix’s Acquisition Deal for WBD

As noted before, Warner Bros Discovery has been seeking a sale of their company and announced this past December that Netflix had the winning bid for it. Netflix officially announced their acquisition deal for WBD this past December that resulted in Paramount Skydance launching a hostile takeover bid to acquire WBD in response and later amended their “superior” bid. Netflix and WBD recently announced that Netflix had amended their bid to now be an “all cash” transaction deal. WBD is the current media broadcast partner of AEW.

The Hollywood Reporter reported that despite neither the phrase “All Elite Wrestling” nor “AEW” appears once in Netflix and WBD’s jointly filed 519-page proxy statement, the future of AEW on WBD was foretold on page 53.

It was reported that AEW’s television rights will ostensibly remain with Discovery following the closure of Netflix’s acquisition deal for WBD. Discovery is currently set to be renamed to Discovery Global Linear Networks following the upcoming split of WBD into two separate new companies.

It was also reported that AEW’s weekly television series and Pay-Per-View/Premium Live Events are expected to continue streaming on HBO MAX throughout the remainder of AEW’s current media rights deal.

AEW’s TV deal reportedly is tied to WBD’s basic cable channels TNT and TBS and is currently set to expire at the end of 2027 or 2028 if he fourth year option is picked up. It was reported that AEW’s programming is likely to leave HBO MAX and join the upcoming new Turner Sports streaming app after that time.

One source spoken to reportedly stated that WBD’s minority ownership in AEW will remain with the Global Linear Networks company following the spin-off of WBD into two separate companies and closure of the acquisition deal to Netflix. This ownership stake reportedly is believed to be less than 10% or else WBD would have been legally required to publicly disclose the information.

It was speculated that HBO MAX likely won’t put up much of a fight to keep AEW once the current media rights deal expires and Netflix likely would have little need for AEW due to their current media rights deal with WWE.

It was reported that should Netflix integrate HBO MAX into their own streaming service, they might not be able to carry AEW programming due to the belief that WWE’s parent company TKO incorporated a non-compete clause with their deal with Netflix. This reportedly is something that has yet to be confirmed.