Tony Khan on AEW’s Relationship With Warner Bros. Discovery, Discussions on TV Rights

– During the post-show media scrum for last night’s ROH Final Battle pay-per-view event, AEW CEO and ROH Owner Tony Khan discussed AEW’s relationship with broadcast partner Warner Bros. Discovery. As previously noted, WWE officials reportedly met with Warner Bros. Discovery to negotiate a potential move for Monday Night Raw, which will be leaving USA Network next year.

AEW’s current broadcast TV deal with Warner Bros. Discovery is expected to end at the end of 2024. According to Khan, AEW and WBD have a “strong relationship” and that AEW is in a good position heading into next year. Below are some highlights of Khan’s comments from the scrum:

Tony Khan on discussions with WBD for ROH programming and AEW: “Ring of Honor, we haven’t had recently as many, but we’ve had really good conversations about AEW, even in recent days, I’ve had really good talks with Warner Brothers Discovery. We’ve been with them for several years, it’s a really exciting time for AEW.”

On AEW’s recent ratings performance: “We were the number one cable on Wednesday in really what are considered both of the key demographics on TV, which are 18 to 49 and 25 to 54. So, it was a great week for AEW. I think we’ve been putting out some of the best shows we’ve ever done. Right now, we’re on this incredible run. You know, tonight was a great episode of Rampage in addition to the great wrestling here on ROH Final Battle. The last few episodes of collision have been tremendous, I think some of the best in the history of that show, and also Dynamite has been on a great roll. I think there’s so many great things happening in AEW, so it was great to come in and have the number one
rating and be the number one show on cable, which we’ve done so many times.”

On AEW’s relationship with WBD: “We’ve performed incredibly well for Warners Brothers Discovery, and we’re a very, very strong relationship. I think with media rights and all the things coming up, everyone has to do their due diligence. It’s just part of the TV business. But I think where we stand, we stand in a position for AEW to have a huge growth year in 2024. There are a lot of really exciting things happening that I know Warner Brothers is really excited about that we’ve talked about.”

On talking to WBD about the advance sales for AEW All In: London 2024: “The advance for All In just being a massive success as we’re approaching a five million dollar gate for a show that is eight-and-a-half months away. And we’re so far ahead of where we were, we didn’t put the tickets on sale last year [2023] until spring. And now, getting on sale before the holiday season, it’s been a huge success. It’s going to be one of the biggest wrestling shows in the history of the world following up on the biggest wrestling show in the history of the world just months ago. We’ve done great show after show. It’s been a great year for us.”

On how AEW has performed this year for Warner Bros. Discovery: “In particular, focusing on the Warner Brothers Discovery relationship that you asked about, we’ve just gone out and crushed it time after time, and this has been a great year for us. And really, All In is the biggest thing we’ve ever done, and I think it’s one of the biggest things anybody’s ever done in wrestling. But you have to also look at all the other huge events we’ve had recently month after month. You know, All In was a great show, but really since Collision started, I think we’ve been able to do so much with five hours of television. So this was a big year for us with Warner Brothers Discovery. They came to us and asked us to go from doing three hours of TV a week on TBS and TNT, expanded it to five hours, and that’s been very very successful. Collision did a great audience this past weekend. It’s been up the last couple weeks and also the shows have been as good as ever, really strong shows. I was really proud in particular the last few weeks, the Continental classic I think has been something really special. So it’s a great relationship, and it’s going very very well for us.”

Tony Khan the TV business side compared to the NFL and Premier League: “And I think part of the TV business for both sides is going to be doing their due diligence and that’s just a part of sports and television really and being a part of the NFL and the Premier League. You know, I’ve seen seen that process play out with certainly different TV networks looking at different sports and the sports themselves looking at different TV networks. We’ve been a part of this multiple times in the NFL. I’m part of the NFL’s fan engagement and major events committee, so I sit in a select group of people in the NFL looking at our different fan metrics. looking at how we’re engaged with the fans digitally, and in real time and also planning major events and looking at those trends, and I’ve been able to take a lot of the things I’ve learned in the world of professional sports working in the two biggest sports leagues in the world and being around some of the biggest rights fees in the history of sporting with the Premier League and in particular the NFL which is the biggest media superpower in the entire planet and is running hotter and hotter every year and defying gravity. So for what we’re doing here and my experiences in the TV business, we stand to be in really really good position going into 2024.”

If using any of the above quotes, please use an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.