June 27 (UPI) — WWE has announced that its weekly televised program Smackdown Live will be moving from USA Network to Fox on October 4, 2019.
The move will change Smackdown Live from a Tuesday night program to a Friday night program, but it will maintain its two-hour runtime.
The premiere date comes as Fox officially completed its five-year deal to acquire Smackdown Live on Tuesday. The deal is worth $205 million annually and $1.025 billion over the life of the agreement, The Hollywood Reporter noted.
“WWE and Fox are a perfect match,” WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon said in a statement. “Moving Smackdown Live to broadcast TV and having the ability to leverage Fox’s extensive portfolio of world-class sporting events will expand the reach of our flagship programming.”
“At Fox we are thrilled to welcome WWE to the Fox Sports family and bring Smackdown Live to broadcast television,” said Eric Shanks, president, executive producer and COO of Fox Sports. “We are huge fans and know that together Fox Sports will be the leader in live events for the foreseeable future.”
USA Network also announced Tuesday it completed a new five-year deal to keep WWE’s weekly Monday program, Raw. The deal is worth $265 million annually.
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