{"id":423140,"date":"2026-01-21T07:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T07:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/423140\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T07:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T07:32:08","slug":"aew-not-going-to-netflix-in-warner-bros-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/423140\/","title":{"rendered":"AEW Not Going to Netflix in Warner Bros. Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIn the early hours of Tuesday, Jan. 20, Netflix<\/a> and Warner Bros.<\/a> Discovery jointly filed a 519-page proxy statement with the latest update to their Hollywood-shaking deal. Basically, Netflix revised its offer<\/a> for Warner Bros.\u2019 studios, streaming and linear HBO to an all-cash arrangement, just like rival Paramount\u2019s losing proposition. (See, longwinded lawyers and CPAs? That took me all of one sentence.) Welcome back from MLK Weekend, everyone!<\/p>\n

\n\tBuried in the lengthy filing \u2014 in a 519-page SEC document, everything is buried \u2014 were some random nuggets about the landing spot for certain secondary WB rights, like the destination for Turner Classic Movies<\/a>. Sports rights will be especially mobile, and you can double that generalization for international markets.<\/p>\n

\n\tThough neither the phrase \u201cAll Elite Wrestling\u201d nor the acronym AEW<\/a> appeared once in the proxy, page 53 foretold the future for the WWE competitor. Really, it was the absence of the words and letters that informed (some of) this reporting. Following the close of the Netflix\/WB deal, All Elite Wrestling rights will ostensibly remain with Discovery (aka the \u201cGlobal Linear Networks\u201d company), though the league\u2019s weekly series and premium live events (PLEs) are expected to continue streaming on HBO Max throughout the remainder of AEW\u2019s current contract. (AEW Dynamite airs on TBS and AEW Collision is on TNT; both stream on HBO Max.)<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s not necessarily unexpected, but it is confirmation. The AEW TV deal is tied to the basic cable channels TNT and TBS and expires at the end of 2027 or 2028, depending on what becomes of the contract\u2019s fourth-year option. At that time, AEW programming is likely to leave HBO Max and join the upcoming Turner Sports streaming app. Of course, two (or three!) years is an eternity in the current media landscape, and so much can change within that time frame. There\u2019s even the possibility of a nonexclusive arrangement in which both HBO Max and Turner Sports stream AEW events \u2014 perhaps the former gets the PLEs and latter the episodic TV shows.<\/p>\n

\n\tThough WBD and AEW will never say this aloud \u2014 because at a less than 10 percent stake, they don\u2019t legally have to \u2014 WBD owns a minority position in the latter. That position will remain with the Global Linear Networks piece following the split and spin and the close of the Warner Bros. sale to Netflix<\/a>, a source tells The Hollywood Reporter. All Elite Wrestling is majority owned by Tony Khan, the son of Jacksonville Jaguars billionaire-owner Shahid Khan.<\/p>\n

\n\tComplicating matters further, AEW is not technically on the sports side of the Warner Bros. Discovery business. It has always been considered a piece of WBD\u2019s \u201centertainment\u201d division \u2014 save its PR servicing, which is handled by Turner\u2019s sports communications team. I could probably pen 519 pages on that whole thing.<\/p>\n

\n\tAssuming HBO Max still exists as a standalone service (and not fully integrated into the Netflix app) at the expiration of Turner\u2019s AEW deal, it likely won\u2019t put up much a fight to keep AEW. It stands to reason that Netflix, the home to WWE\u2019s flagship episodic series Monday Night Raw (in the U.S.) and the promotion\u2019s PLEs (outside the U.S.; the ESPN app has them here), has little need for AEW. And should Netflix integrate HBO Max into its own service, it may not even be able to carry AEW programming. Though unconfirmed, it is believed WWE\u2019s parent company TKO incorporated a noncompete clause in its deal with Netflix, a relic of the old days. Because everything in professional wrestling is some sort of a relic of the old days.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs if all of this was not confusing enough, WWE programming will exist within the broader Global Linear Networks portfolio \u2014 but only in Italy. And that\u2019s not the only Italy-based quirk revealed in the proxy.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe UFC<\/a>, which shares a parent company with the WWE, begins its Paramount+ era four days from now. However, 12 to 18 months from now, according to projections, Netflix WB will have UFC rights in \u2014 you guessed it \u2014 Italy. Netflix will also carry the rights in San Marino, Spain, Andorra, the Netherlands and \u2026 Vatican City. Yes, Vatican City, the home to all of 800 people, mostly high-ranking officials in the Roman-Catholic church, gets UFC fights. Pope Leo XIV: you may want to double down on those \u201cturn-the-other-cheek\u201d messages in mass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the early hours of Tuesday, Jan. 20, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery jointly filed a 519-page proxy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[79,45,49,48,1316,640,4432],"class_list":["post-423140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-aew","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-netflix","tag-ufc","tag-warner-bros"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}