Real Reason FOX Decided Not To Renew WWE SmackDown's TV Deal

WWE recently came to terms on a new deal with NBCUniversal, with WWE SmackDown set for USA Network once more from October 2024.

The deal will see an end to SmackDown’s five-year run on FOX, and FOX CEO Lachlan Murdoch has revealed why the broadcasting powerhouse didn’t renew SmackDown’s TV deal during a Q1 earnings call:

"We were not hitting the advertising numbers due to the audience of the WWE for our return on investment to be above the levels that we would accept," Murdoch said. "But also, we didn’t attribute enough significant retransmission revenue to the WWE either. So, it made sense for us to move on. They’ve been a great partner for many years but just quite simply, we're very disciplined and the ROI didn't meet our pretty disciplined parameters. So, we wish them luck and we've moved on from them." 

The new deal with USA is believed to be worth over $1.4billion across five years, with the deal also calling for four WWE primetime specials for NBC per year.

WWE SmackDown has aired on FOX since October 2019 in a deal worth $205 million per year for WWE. It is believed that FOX lost money on the deal.

H/T: F4WOnline