Posted on 8/09/125 by Colin Vassallo
John Ourand of Puck News is reporting that Peacock had a
right of first refusal in their WWE deal and had the
opportunity to match ESPN’s $1.6 billion offer to keep the
WWE premium live events on their streaming service.
While NBCU did bid to keep the rights, it was a few hundred
million less than what ESPN offered and eventually decided
to pass it on and not match it.
WWE will still be airing Saturday Night’s Main Event on
Peacock – and NBC – for the duration of their current
Smackdown contract and Smackdown replays will also be
staying on Peacock.
Peacock’s WWE PLE deal expires in March of next year and
WrestleMania 42 will be the first major show on the new ESPN
DTC service.