TKO executive: 'Insatiable demand' exists for 'underpriced' WWE PLE rights

Even though they have closed the book on WWE Raw's next TV home, TKO leadership is already gearing up for their next big payday: the domestic rights package for WWE's monthly premium live events.

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology Media & Telecom Conference, TKO COO Mark Shapiro said that the current five-year deal with NBCUniversal to air the PLEs on Peacock is "underpriced."

He didn't blame either WWE or NBCU, saying that "the market catches up" but that the monthly events are "massively performing" for NBCU and higher than the expectations NBCU leadership had when they signed the deal.

Shapiro stated there is "insatiable demand" for the rights when they come up in 2026 and that they will look to renew with NBCU who has been a great partner who knows how to market WWE. 

However, it will be a "hotly-contested property."

In April 2023, WWE CEO Nick Khan said the timing of the rights coming up was "interesting" to them.

In January 2021, WWE announced that WWE Network would be heading to the Peacock streaming service in the U.S., later revealed as a five-year deal in the ballpark of $1 billion total.

When asked about whether Netflix would be interested in bringing on the domestic rights given they will have the international rights starting in January 2025, Shapiro said that with Netflix, Apple and other providers, the conversations always started with the question of when the PLE deal was up.

He said they want to walk before they run with Netflix, get out of the gate strong with Raw, and see how things go before talking about the domestic PLE rights if NBCUniversal doesn't renew.

That wasn't the only newsworthy comment Shapiro made at the conference, answering questions about Vince McMahon's recent stock sale in addition to the interesting fact that Netflix was originally interested in NXT.