The just merged Paramount Skydance is exploring bid to acquire all of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Lots of chatter about this today. If it happens, it could potentially impact AEW, especially given how eager Paramount/Skydance has been to please Trump through their merger process and how tight he is with TKO.

  • rozodru@piefed.socialEnglish
    4·
    2 days ago

    could you imagine if the biggest threat to AEW is the president of the fucking united states?

    you know…Honestly at this point with Linda on his administration and how buddy-buddy he is with Triple H and TKO/WWE I’m kinda surprised Nick Kahn or anyone hasn’t called him up and said “you should really do something about these other Kahn guys and AEW…”

  • Neon_Carnivore@lemmy.zipMEnglish
    8·
    3 days ago

    IIRC, TK and his father are the actual owners of AEW. So, at worst, they lose their broadcast/streaming deals. The easy fallback would be to stream on WatchRoH or YouTube until a new tv deal is signed. It would definitely suck, but it wouldn’t end AEW.

    • JelloBrains@piefed.zipEnglish
      5·
      2 days ago

      until a new tv deal is signed

      I’m certainly hopeful for them, we desperately need large alternatives to WWE, but I have doubts that if this merger happens US cable would still be an option. TKO has deals with Disney for WWE PLE’s, NBC Comcast with SmackDown, SNME, and for now NXT PLE’s, Paramount for UFC. Unless AEW can get on Hallmark (lol) I don’t see much with a big footprint on cable.

      I’m assuming all that based on potential TKO exclusivity agreements, WWE couldn’t get WCW programming on TV because of the TNN exclusivity clause, WWE was accused of blocking MLW from Fox owned Tubi when SmackDown was on Fox… there has been a pattern, but I hope that’s not true.

      • ImADifferentBird@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
        4·
        2 days ago

        Cable is increasingly obsolete anyway. Though I’m not sure what streamers would be a good option here if this deal caused the WBD deal to go sour. Netflix, NBCU/Peacock, and Disney/ESPN are all in bed with WWE at this point. Amazon Prime, maybe? They already do a PPV deal with them.

        • JelloBrains@piefed.zipEnglish
          5·
          2 days ago

          I’m not gonna lie, I would prefer they went to Prime, Prime did a good job with NASCAR this year, and TNF isn’t too bad.

          EDIT: Also cable may be on the way out, but it’s still the advertisers preferred ratings metric. I assume because the streamers hide the numbers where nielson numbers are easy to get if they have the money.

      • Neon_Carnivore@lemmy.zipMEnglish
        4·
        2 days ago

        Unless they gave AEW a huge contract buyout, Paramount would also have to honor remaining AEW deals. Which probably includes timeslots, promotion, etc. Which would give them even more time to find a new broadcast home. Hell, even something like Tubi would be kinda huge.

        • JelloBrains@piefed.zipEnglish
          4·
          2 days ago

          Yeah, 2027 is what I heard is when they are due to renegotiate, although WBD has an option for an extra year, if you believe Dave that is.

  • JelloBrains@piefed.zipEnglish
    8·
    3 days ago

    Assuming the rumor is true, this is going to be bad. Paramount has already shown they’ll do whatever it takes to get the administration to approve it, the only thing that could come out of this is knowing for sure if the TKO/WWE contracts rumored exclusivity clause is real or not.

    Workers and actors will lose out as there will be less places to work, there will likely be fewer movies/shows in production, consumers will lose out as the bills are going up up up to pay down the debt this will incur, all around this is going to suck if it happens, even if AEW some how doesn’t end up in a bad spot.