WWE Likely To Get Rights Fee Increase From India

The latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter states that even though WWE is set to lose viewers when they move from Sky Sports to BT Sport (Sky is available in 8.56 million homes vs. BT’s 2.19 million homes), they are likely to gain a huge rights fee increase from India. The TV revenue is expected to make India the #2 market starting in 2020, as the UK has been the UK overseas market for years.

As we noted, AEW is hoping to land on ITV 4 in October with their weekly series, which would actually give them more viewers.

WWE is giving up about sixty hours of content per week on Sky. WWE previously hurt their relationship with Sky after announcing the WWE Network right after signing a deal with Sky Box Office to market all WWE PPVs, and not informing them ahead of time. Ratings for WWE programs had dropped a lot in recent years, with declines greater than in the US and Canada. Other issues included a delay in launching the network in the UK, Sky objecting to the WWE airing Main Event live on Tuesday nights at 7 PM ET on the Network (which meant it aired on the Network before Sky), which meant WWE didn’t air Main Event live.