There have been a lot of reports this year about cost-cutting across the various Warner Bros. Discovery networks, which has caused concern about the future of AEW as they approach negotiations for the next television deal. 

The Hollywood Reporter has an interview with Warner Bros. Discovery US Networks Group chair and chief content officer Kathleen Finch. 

In the interview, Finch seemed happy with the ratings that AEW has done. AEW usually ranks number 1 among all programs in the key demos on Wednesday nights, which has been touted in recent press releases sent out by Warner Bros. Discovery. 

Finch noted that they are looking at adding more wrestling content. 

“We really play in the sports space. One of the things that we’re doing around sports is creating shoulder programming to hold onto those fans. AEW [All Elite Wrestling] pulls huge numbers, so we are working with the wrestling team to figure out what new kind of content can we build that’s not in a wrestling ring.”

Source: EWrestlingNews

Warner Bros. Discovery has decided to cut new scripted programming from both TBS and TNT for the time being, according to a report from Variety.

WarnerMedia was recently merged with Discovery, and they are already making changes. AEW was not mentioned in the report, and it is not known if the move will affect AEW, live event programming or reality shows in any way. Last year WarnerMedia was hiring a “Director, Scripted Development & Programming” for AEW and it was noted that four AEW series were in development, which included “Rhodes to the Top.”

It is unclear what is going to be happening with ongoing scripted shows on TBS and TNT, such as Snowpiercer. Warner Bros. However, scripted content on both TBS and TNT had been slowing down anyway in recent years. TBS was only airing four scripted shows prior to this report, while TNT has just two.

When it comes to AEW, the company has a deal that runs through 2023, that was originally signed back in 2020. AEW commentator Tony Schiavone recently spoke about the Discover/Warner Media merger. He told his What Happened When podcast that he does not believe AEW needs to have any immediate concerns. For him, AEW is a viable product for Discovery to consider.

“From the people I’ve talked with, no,” Schiavone responded when asked if AEW should have any concerns. “For me on the surface, yes, because I know what happened before [with WCW]. But I think we have a viable enough product that if Discovery says, ‘We don’t want wrestling,’ we could end up somewhere else.

“The Khans are pretty plugged in. That’s what’s different about this era is that if Time Warner/Discovery doesn’t want us, we still have a business. I think there’s always some concern, but we’ve built up a very good relationship with Warner Media.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.