MLW Forms Streaming Partnership With DAZN, DAZN to Reportedly Stream Live Cards, ESPN Deal Also Rumored

– Major League Wrestling (MLW) has officially joined the on-demand streaming service, DAZN. According to a report by PWInsider, fans can now stream MLW Fusion TV and the complete MLW Opera Cup on the service. Additionally, MLW is reportedly going to be added to DAZN’s linear program schedule.

Major League Wrestling is now the first wrestling promotion to be available on the platform in the US. PWInsider also notes that a DAZN source indicated that once MLW resumes live events, DAZN will be showing live Major League Wrestling content. So, you should expect DAZN to carry live MLW pay-per-view events in the near future.

Under the new deal, DAZN is said to not be a replacement for MLW’s current broadcast deal for Fusion on BeIN Sport, but will be an additional outlet for the wrestling promotion. Major League Wrestling is reportedly not expected to leave BeIN Sport. However, Fusion will likely no longer be released via YouTube in the foreseeable future due to the monetization for YouTube being poor, and the series could potentially receive better monetization elsewhere. Also, the report notes that MLW officials think WWE tends to receive preferential treatment in terms of ad revenue for YouTube. Granted, WWE does have a subscriber base of over 61 million people on the platform.

The same report by PWInsider states that MLW has been in discussions with ESPN about bringing content to some ESPN platforms that began Last January. These talks reportedly predated WWE offering old-school WrestleMania broadcasts for Sunday programming. However, that deal ended quickly as WWE started moving its older WrestleMania broadcasts to FOX Sports 1.

PWInsider reports that MLW’s new streaming deal with DAZN will not stop the promotion from looking for other cable TV partnerships.

Last month, company CEO Court Bauer discussed finalizing a “transformative” deal for the promotion. It’s unknown if this was the deal he was referring to for MLW. Earlier today, he wrote on Twitter, “This summer is all about ‘@MLW in the zone'”

This summer is all about "@MLW in the zone"

— Court Bauer (@courtbauer) June 9, 2020