Insider Claims That Tony Khan Is Unhappy With New AEW TV Rights Offer

Though the current media rights deal between AEW and Warner Bros Discovery is set to expire sometime next year, the two sides are still in the exclusive phase of contract negotiations. However, according to a new report from Puck reporter Matthew Belloni, AEW will be legally allowed to negotiate with other companies beginning in July, and owner Tony Khan is said to be unsatisfied with the current offer on the table from WBD. This is despite the fact that WBD CEO David Zaslav and TNT Sports executive Luis Silberwasser reportedly want to keep the promotion around.

Publicly, Khan is still vocally supportive of the AEW-WBD partnership, talking up the history of the two companies and his appreciation for Zaslav following Sunday's AEW Double or Nothing pay-per-view. The AEW CEO stated that he'd like to keep the promotion on TNT and TBS for as long as possible, but behind the scenes, it seems Khan is willing to hear out other offers.

It's not official yet, but it looks as though WBD is set to lose the rights to air NBA games following the 2024-2025 season, which has long been a significant part of the company's TV portfolio. There has been a great deal of discussion in the wrestling world centered around the effect this may have on AEW's negotiations with the company, and Belloni states that a lack of NBA content would make AEW more valuable to WBD. As of now, however, that doesn't seem to have translated into an offer that Khan is ready to accept.

Khan first signed the deal to air "AEW Dynamite" in 2019 before the two sides agreed to a new TV deal in early 2020. Initially, a third hour of programming was added with "AEW Rampage" before "AEW Collision" was introduced in 2023. That early 2020 contract was reportedly for four years, with a fifth year option that WBD exercised last year.