WWE has announced that Friday Night Smackdown will cease airing on the Fox Network, moving to the USA Network starting in 2024.
The company had been looking for bidders to broadcast their top programs, which include Raw, Smackdown and NXT, following their merger with the UFC earlier this week.
The new company, named TKO, has been looking at bidders for their shows, finding the biggest money deal they can for when their current contract expires in 2024.
Raw and NXT are still currently looking for bidders, but the company has confirmed that Smackdown will return to the USA Network in a deal starting on October 2024.
The USA Network previously broadcast Smackdown from 2016 to 2019, but lost out to Fox when the shows TV rights were up for grabs in 2019.
A statement on the “Sports Business Journal” wrote:
“One big part of the WWE’s media rights package has been decided, as the Friday night “WWE SmackDown” series will leave Fox next year and return to USA. The five-year deal, which officially starts in October 2024, will be announced officially later this morning. Specific financials were not released. As part of the deal, NBC has committed to produce four primetime specials per year that will run on its broadcast network. “WWE Smackdown” had been on USA from 2016 to 2019, when it moved over to Fox.”