WWE spoke about the company’s ongoing TV rights fees negotiations at Thursday morning’s investor conference call. Here are some highlights:
– WWE is now engaged in negotiations with several other companies now that they are outside of their exclusive window with NBCU.
– They expect to have a deal done by the end of April.
– George Barrios would not comment on how many bidders they expect for WWE TV, but they are confident in the final outcome due to the strength of the product.
– When asked why they couldn’t reach a deal with NBC Universal, Barrios said NBC U didn’t want to pay what they were looking for. He would not comment if the WWE Network played a factor in the negotiations.
– Regarding whether WWE will realize the benefits of the new TV deal at once or gradually, they said the deals have “escalation clauses” built in.
