Why WWE Considered Taking SmackDown Live, One Item That Was Holding Up WWE's New TV Deal

- Variety's report on WWE's new TV deal yesterday noted that WWE expected the new deal to be announced by May but several points in the deal needed to be worked out, including digital distribution.

Variety noted that lawyers had been working out windowing terms of when RAW and SmackDown episodes would be available on mobile platforms such as tablets and smartphones, as well as when the shows could be re-broadcast on the WWE Network. No word yet on whether or not WWE will be able to add RAW and SmackDown to the Network sooner than they can now but one would think that they would have announced that yesterday.

Variety also confirms reports that WWE considered taking SmackDown live but obviously that's not happening. They noted that WWE considered offering SmackDown as a live show to sweeten the deal with potential networks they were negotiating with.