Nick Khan Talks Media Rights Negotiations, Feels WWE Has 'Overdelivered On USA'

WWE's media rights agreements with Fox and the USA will expire in the near future. Now, the company is looking to secure partnerships that will benefit the product moving forward. While speaking at JP Morgan's TMT Conference earlier this week, WWE CEO Nick Khan claimed that the promotion is a hot commodity, and they are looking for the best deals possible.

"We're just out of the exclusive [negotiating] window with Fox, we're still in the window with NBCU. Conversations with both have gone phenomenally well. What we're trying to balance here is getting the maximum value for what we consider these media rights to be."

"We think our product has overdelivered on USA," he added, noting that WWE programming faces stiff competition from the NFL, the College Football National Championship, College Basketball National Championship, and other popular enterprises, yet continues to perform on a consistent basis. Furthermore, he believes that WWE has contributed to USA's success when it comes to subscription fees.

Khan added that WWE is also a good fit for Fox. "If you look at their pivot, post the Disney transaction, into live and into sports, we think that we fit in quite well there. And we'll see if there's more to build with these two entities. At the same time, we're always in touch with all of the buyers in the marketplace about what they're looking for."

The WWE CEO cited the NBA's rights media model as one that the company admires. The media rights to the NBA are split between various parties, and Khan thinks that's good for everyone. During the conference, Khan also teased "WWE Raw" becoming more adult content-wise down the line.