WWE RAW & NXT Rebroadcast Rights Could Move To Peacock Soon

WWE fans have always griped that they have to use Hulu to see Raw and SmackDown the next day. If they’re not Hulu subscribers, they have to wait for the show to turn up on Peacock. Hulu currently holds the second-day rights to rebroadcast several WWE programs.

WWE president Nick Khan has been adamant that the company will make huge money with new streaming rights deals. Khan has touted the upcoming negotiations for WWE’s flagship television shows as heavily in-demand. The Hulu deal is coming up soon, and the WWE Universe could finally get their wish.

Dave Meltzer talked about the details on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio. When the second-day rights come up for negotiation, Peacock has an edge. NBC Universal, the parent company of Peacock, has budgeted a huge amount of money for new programming.

“They don’t want to focus on Hulu. Also, Peacock, which is losing money like crazy, it lost over a billion dollars this last year. Peacock has been given a budget of $3 billion for new programming for next year. So, this seems to add up to me that Peacock will bid heavily for the second-day rights to WWE since they already have a WWE section on Peacock to begin with and pretty much it’s the continuation of the WWE Network.

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So, all the people who were talking about, ‘Can’t they get that window for Raw and SmackDown down from 30 days?’ and the reason they can’t is because of deal with Hulu. When that deal runs out, I strongly suspect, given the budget of Peacock to get new programming, and what Nick Khan was saying and the fact that NBC Universal wants their own shows on Peacock.

SmackDown could be trickier because of Fox, but Raw… As far as Raw and NXT, I would strongly suspect that they would be on Peacock’s version of the WWE Network within a year. Well under a year, on the next day. I don’t know about SmackDown because that’s a little trickier.”

It would be a great convenience for fans to be able to watch Raw and NXT on Peacock the day after they air live. SmackDown might be trickier since the show airs on Fox. We will know within the year what kind of deal WWE can broker for their second-day rights.

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Transcription by Ringside News