AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com
AEW will run Dynamite/Collision three hour back-to-back on
TBS during three weeks in May due to NHL Stanley Cup
playoffs. The May WBD schedule shows that the May 6 episodes
from North Charleston, SC. the May 20 episodes from
Portland, and the May 27 episodes from Philadelphia are
scheduled to air from 8-10 PM ET but a one hour Collision-
episode will be one hour each starting at 10-11 PM ET.
AEW will also have another one-hour special episode of
Collision titled Fairway to Hell, and another regular
Collision on May 30 respectively. During those two weeks,
there will be two one-hour episodes of Collision during the
week. As usual, all shows will also simulcast live on HBO
Max.
The CW Network and WWE announced last Tuesday all NXT PLEs
will now air exclusively (for US viewers) on The CW,
beginning with The Great American Bash later this summer.
During the contract, The CW will broadcast 20 PLEs in their
entirety live on both coasts over the next several years,
including Stand and Deliver, Deadline, and Vengeance Day.
With the addition of NXT PLEs to The CW’s lineup, the
network is now the exclusive home for all NXT programming.
WWE will continue to produce all such events.
“WWE NXT has energized our Tuesday nights by consistently
delivering a loyal and passionate fanbase to The CW every
week,” said Brad Schwartz, President of The CW Network.
“Adding WWE NXT Premium Live Events to our schedule is a
natural fit, providing one broadcast destination for
audiences to watch all their favorite Superstars, storylines
and championship matches.” The CW signed a five-year
deal with WWE in October 2024 to bring NXT to broadcast
television for the first time in NXT's history. This
parallels TBS/TNT airing the Clash of The Champions from
1988-1997, essentially as special events, rather than PLEs
as we've commonly known them.
As announced on Variety.com last Wednesday, those streaming
who want to watch NXT PLEs will have to watch them on the
ESPN Unlimited app.
Under a deal announced last Wednesday, ESPN Unlimited will
stream all CW Sports, consisting of around 800 hours of NCAA
football and basketball, PBR, NXT PLEs, NASCAR O'Reilly Auto
Parts Series races, PBA and professional volleyball that air
each year on Nexstar’s CW broadcast network will stream on
ESPN Unlimited.
The CW's scripted and entertainment shows will move to The
Roku Channel for next-day streaming in Fall 2026, rather
than the ESPN app.
CW's President Brad Schwartz said during a recent interview
“Instead of standing up our own DTC product, we have a
built-in audience at ESPN", addressing growing concerns
about the ongoing fragmentation of sports properties across
streaming services: “'The last thing the world needs' is
another stand-alone streaming outlet...People don’t want to
subscribe to another platform.”
The Variety article announcing the deal indicated the
agreement between the two media companies are the latest in
continuing efforts to bundle content/services as consumers
have multiple subscription-based broadband bundle options to
consider, including those from ESPN, WBD, and Fox, with
cable services like Xfinity offer different bundle options.
The idea of melding CW’s sports content with ESPN Unlimited
came about as Schwartz spoke regularly with Nick Dawson, who
oversees college sports programming and acquisitions at
ESPN. CW has access to ACC games that ESPN does not, even
though ESPN operates a stand-alone outlet devoted to ACC
sports. CW also has access to Mountain West and Pac-12 games
and WWE content that ESPN does not. ESPN currently does not
have a major rights deal with NASCAR or Professional Bull
Riders. Nick Dawson sees this as a reason for fans of those
sports to come to ESPN.
The CW becomes the latest in a small number of third-party
offerings that have made their way under the ESPN Unlimited
umbrella, which includes NFL Network, NFL RedZone and
MLB.tv, a package of out-of-market baseball games.
International viewers will continue to watch the NXT events
on Netflix.
It'll be interesting to see if WWE will make another attempt
to use these NXT "PLE" events to run against AEW PPVs, given
that the events will air on broadcast TV, rather than cable,
plus airing on ESPN Unlimited.
Until next time...
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