According to ESPN’s Darren Rovell, WWE Smackdown Live will be moving to FOX beginning in October 2019.
The report adds that NBCUniversal, which currently airs WWE Smackdown Live on USA Network, relinquished its right of first refusal on a new TV rights deal, and FOX made a “massive” offer to WWE which the company accepted.
As we reported last week, NBC will focus its attention on Monday Night Raw and is expected to offer WWE a massive deal for the rights to continue broadcasting the show, likely on USA Network.
Read Also: NBCUniversal Expected to Make ‘Massive’ Offer to WWE to Retain Monday Night Raw
Since Thursday morning, when the Hollywood Reporter broke the news of the opening of negotiations, WWE’s stock, through 11:30 a.m. ET Monday, was up 19.1 percent. Since the news broke today about the new FOX deal, WWE’s stock has spiked about $2 per share.
Additionally, The Wrap has noted that the new FOX – WWE deal will see the blue brand move from airing on Tuesday nights to airing on Friday nights.
The report notes Smackdown will likely retain its 8-10pm EST time slot, meaning FOX will have to figure out new time slots for the shows “Last Man Standing”, “The Cool Kids” and “Hell’s Kitchen” which currently air between 8pm and 10pm EST.
WWE ‘SmackDown’ Sweepstakes: Fox Scores Wrestling Show, Will Shift It to Fridays (Exclusive)#SDLive #Raw #SmackDown #SmackDownLive #SmackDownOnFox https://t.co/BGZca1Q0dA pic.twitter.com/LHh3TtpspL
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) May 21, 2018
ESPN