Fox CFO John Nallen Discusses The Importance Of Having WWE on Fox
WWE SmackDown is set to move to Fox in October 2019 after the two sides struck a five-year deal in June.
Speaking to The Wrap, Fox CFO John Nallen discussed what it means to have the WWE brand on their network beginning next year.
“It’s a 50 to 52-week-a-year sport with no repeats. It’s a new novella every week,” said Nallen. “For us to have that kind of appointment programming, that audience, every week of the year, is a really unique opportunity for us.”
Nallen continued by saying that it was important “to lock up a Friday night and just not have to focus on programming it from an entertainment standpoint.”
SmackDown previously aired on Friday from 2005 to 2015 on UPN/The CW, MyNetworkTV, and Syfy.
The Fox CFO went as far to compare having WWE to having the NFL, MLB, and college football. Fox has rights to all three sports, which make up a bulk of their weekend programming.
SmackDown is scheduled to being its Fox run on Oct. 4, 2019. The deal between the two sides is worth $1 billion over the course of the five years.
