Tony Khan Discusses AEW’s Next Media Rights Contract Negotiations, Thinks WB & Paramount Bundle Can Be Great for AEW

It’s a new era for AEW following the recent merger of Warner Bros. Discovery with Paramount Skydance, now dubbed simply Skydance. During today’s AEW Full Gear 2026 media call, AEW President and CEO Tony Khan was asked about prospective negotiations for AEW’s next media rights deal, now that their corporate broadcast partners have changed.

Speaking on the matter Khan addressed a bundle deal featuring the HBO Max and Paramount+ streaming services. He commented (via Fightful), “I think Warner Bros. and Paramount can be a great team. They’ve talked about a bundle with HBO Max and Paramount+. I think that creates great opportunities for AEW to grow our viewership.”

He continue on AEW’s next media rights contract, “Absolutely, we’ll be looking to a contract renewal; we’re not really in the process of doing that as a negotiation right now because we still have a lot of time left. Right now, I’m excited to be working with this new group under the deal we have, and I’m not the person that’s gonna chase people around and ask about contracts.”

The AEW President and CEO added, “I really just wanna put my head down and deliver and do a very good job, and that’s also what I had stressed to David Zaslav when he was running Warner Bros., that, ‘I want to do a good job for you. I really care about this. We do this 52 weeks a year. I’ll never take a day off from it. You’ll always get my very best, and I’m not chasing you for money. I’m not doing this for the money.’ We do need the money to make this a strong company and to grow the business, but it’s because I love wrestling…”

What’s Next for AEW Under the Skydance Regime?

AEW is currently in the second year of a multi-year media rights agreement, which runs through the end of next year, with an option for a fourth year if it’s picked up. That could potentially give AEW a fourth year under the newly merged Skydance entity.

At the time of the Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance merger, WBD also had a minority ownership stake in AEW. Additionally, Tony Khan has spoken positively about the merger and Skydance CEO David Ellison, expressing his belief that it will be good for AEW.