WWE‘s Monday Night Raw franchise will stay on USA Network through the end of 2024 under an extended rights agreement between the wrestling circuit and NBCUniversal.TKO Group Holdings, which owns WWE, announced the mini-extension Wednesday along with its first-quarter results. NBCU paid $25 million for the additional months of rights, according to TKO.The milestone Netflix deal, announced earlier this year, is slated to start in January 2025. but the prior Raw agreement went only through September of this year. There had been questions lingering among Wall Streeters, viewers and fans about who would air those intervening months of action for the 52-week-a-year entertainment draw.For USA, which has been weathering major volatility in the programming and viewing environment in recent years, the short extension will give it a bit more time to explore its options. Sources told Deadline last December that the meteoric success of former USA series Suits on Netflix in 2023 has spurred the network to eye a fresh crop of “blue sky” dramas reminiscent of the USA slate of the 2000s and 2010s.Netflix starting next year will be the exclusive home of Raw in the U.S., Canada, UK and Latin America. The streaming giant paid more than $5 billion for a 10-year deal in a major statement about the company’s appetite for live sports (or at least sports-adjacent) programming. Additional territories from Netflix’s footprint of more than 190 will be added over time. USA launched Raw in January 1993.Along with the main Raw program, the deal gives Netflix rights to all WWE shows and specials outside the U.S., including other weekly franchises SmackDown and NXT. The streaming outlet will also have the company’s roster of live events, including WrestleMania, SummerSlam and the Royal Rumble, and also make WWE documentaries, original series and forthcoming projects available on demand outside the U.S. (Peacock, via the WWE hub it originated in 2021, has domestic rights.)
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