Smackdown looking for new home after USA Network drops show from next year

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that WWE is looking for a new home for Smackdown after NBCUniversal passed on the opportunity to keep the show on its network after the current deal expires in October 2019.

Smackdown moved to USA Network in January 2016 after NBCUniversal acquired the rights for the show for $30 million six years earlier. It had aired on SyFy until its move to USA Network where it also switched to a live broadcast.

Sources told the entertainment website that FOX is in the hunt to land Smackdown on their network. THR also adds that NBCUniversal is looking to keep Monday Night Raw on USA Network by paying three times as much as the current deal. Both NBCU and WWE declined to comment on the negotiations.

Raw and Smackdown have historically been kept on different networks and Smackdown typically aired on network television rather than broadcast but that all changed when NBCU picked up the show for SyFy.

WWE is looking to announce new television deals this year that will go in effect in Fall 2019.