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C B S S P O R T S C O M 2 4 7 S P O R T S M A X P R E P S S C O U T S P O R T S L I N E S H O P G O L F B O O K S T U B H U B

WWE TV deals SmackDown will reportedly air onFox move to Friday beginning in 2019There will be a massive shakeup to WWEs TV programming in the fall of 2019

by BCampbellCBS May 21 2018 bull 2 min readBrian Campbell

WWE SummerSlam

SummerSlam date matchesstart time

Brian Campbells In This CornerPodcast

Although it has been 20 years since WWE faced legitimate opposition from a

competing professional wrestling sports entertainment company a move

made Monday may have signaled the start of an in-house ratings war

between its two biggest brands

Less than one week after The Hollywood Reporter broke news that

NBCUniversal declined its first right of refusal for SmackDown Live in order

to focus resources on re-signing a deal to broadcast Raw

ESPNs Darren Rovell

Following an offer described by sources as massive SmackDown will move

to Fox starting in October of 2019 at the end of WWEs current contract with

NBCUs USA Network Additionally

and remain a two-hour broadcast beginning at 8 pm

ET although there has been no word as to whether the show will air live or

return to a tape-delayed format as it did previously when aired on Fridays

The new deal is reportedly for five years at a total of more than $1 billion

which calls the figure a three-fold

increase over what WWE currently makes for SmackDown from NBCU The

outlet also notes that WWE had an even higher bid from a third party that it

turned down due to the massive financial and marketing commitment made

by Fox

While Raw has been broadcast on the USA Network since 2005 (and

originally from 1993 to 2000 before jumping to TNNSpike TV) SmackDown

is leaving the NBCU banner for the first time since 2010 which could lead to

genuine competition between networks in terms of both ratings and the way

WWE distributes talent between both shows

Although SmackDown has long been seen as the B show in comparison to

the flagship Raw the blue brand has still averaged 259 million viewers per

episode in 2018 Raw has averaged about three million per show over the

same time period

One of the issues in SmackDown never reaching the level of popularity

compared to Raw has been how often it has switched both nights and

networks Since its 1999 debut on UPN the show has floated between

Thursday Friday and now Tuesday nights including runs on The CW

MyNetwork TV and Syfy It has aired both as a live and tape-delayed show

In July 2016 following WWEs first brand split in five years SmackDown

moved from its tape-delayed Thursday slot to its current format of being a

live show on Tuesday nights

The likelihood for competition between brands only increases when one

considers that SmackDown moves to network television on Fox as opposed

to a smaller cable home like FS1 which was rumored to be the case had Fox

been able to secure rights to both shows

WWE has never run one of its weekly non-syndicated TV properties on one

of the big four broadcast networks though it has previously aired specials

as much as three

times its current value reported Monday that the blue

brand also has a new home

The Wrap reports that the show will move

back to Friday nights

according to The Hollywood Reporter

WWE RAW RECAP (51418) POOR BOOKINGOVERSHADOWS MITB QUALIFYING

WWE RAW Recap (51418) Poor bookingovershadows MITB qualifying

WWE RAW RECAP (51418) POOR BOOKINGOVERSHADOWS MITB QUALIFYING

WWE RAW Recap (51418) Poor bookingovershadows MITB qualifying

WWE RAW RECAP (51418) POOR BOOKINGOVERSHADOWS MITB QUALIFYING

WWE RAW Recap (51418) Poor bookingovershadows MITB qualifying

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FOLLOW

Brian Campbell covers MMA boxing and WWE The Connecticut native joined

CBS Sports in 2017 and has covered combat sports since 2010 He has written

and hosted various podcasts and digital shows for ESPN FULL BIO

such as Saturday Nights Main Event on NBC

Fox was also rumored to have been interested in buying WWE outright from

chairman Vince McMahon with the company making headlines when FS1

television host Colin Cowherd long a pro wrestling detractor posted pictures

on social media of a backstage visit to SmackDown in February

Brian CampbellCBS Sports Insider

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