WWE publicizes main change to RAW forward of £3.8bn transfer to Netflix
- WWE made the announcement on social media during Monday’s RAW show
- Fans had been critical of the structure, which came into play back in 2012
- The historical deal which will see show move to Netflix was announced this year
WWE has announced a major change to its scheduling amid the imminent move of its RAW show to Netflix.
RAW, which airs on Monday nights, has been running since 1993 and going as a three-hour show since its 1,000th episode in 2012.
Prior to that, it had been a two-hour show, mirroring the company’s other flagship programme, SmackDown – which airs on Fridays – and its developmental show, NXT, on Tuesdays.
Fans have often been criticial of the extended length of the programme, but it will now once again be trimmed down to two hours, starting in around a month’s time.
During Monday night’s episode of RAW, the official WWE X account posted: ‘BREAKING: #WWERaw will be on from 8pm ET to 10pm ET starting on Monday, October 7th and through the rest of 2024 culminating with the finale on Monday, December 30!’
WWE has announced a major change to its RAW show ahead of its historical move to Netflix
The company made the announcement on social media during Monday night’s RAW episode
The moves comes ahead of the historic deal that will see the RAW programme move to Netflix at the start of the new year.
It is currently broadcast on the USA Network, with the deal expiring in October, which would have left a gap between the end of that deal and the start of the Netflix agreement.
A solution has now been found, however, with a deal agreed to keep the show on the USA Network through to the new year, though at a reduced length.
There has been no confirmation on whether the show will move back to three hours or remain at two when it moves to Netflix.
It will run from 1am to 3am in the United Kingdom.
In a move TKO have described as ‘a major programming shift’, RAW will leave linear television for the first time since its creation in 1993 as it moves to the streaming service from January 2025 in a deal worth a reported £3.8billion over 10 years, with the streamer given the option of exiting the deal after five years or extending it for another 10.
The deal to move to Netflix is reported to be worth a sum of £3.8billion over a 10-year period
Netflix will be the exclusive home of the show in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Latin America, and will also play host to the company’s premium live events, with other documentaries and original series also to be made available on the platform.
TNT Sports has been the home of WWE in the UK for the last few years after a number of terms of Sky Sports showing its programming.
