An update has emerged on the status of WWE SmackDown following the announcement of a new Premium Live Events deal with ESPN.
The new deal with see WWE PLEs move off Peacock and onto ESPN platforms in the US starting in 2026.
Since September 2024, WWE SmackDown has been airing on USA Network and streaming on Peacock, with USA and Peacock both owned by Comcast.
According to a new report from CNBC, SmackDown will not be affected by the new PLE deal that was announced earlier today.
Per the report, SmackDown will continue to air live on USA and then be available to stream on Peacock thereafter.
The SmackDown deal with USA & Peacock ends in 2029, according to “people familiar with the matter”.
As for Premium Live Events, those have been streaming live and on demand on Peacock since 2021 on a five-year deal that reportedly saw Peacock pay an average of $180 million per year over the five years.
With the new ESPN deal, which is a five-year agreement, ESPN is reportedly paying an average of $325 million per year for 10 PLEs each year until 2031.
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