Big Update On If WWE SmackDown Will Remain Live, When Fox And WWE Will Announce The New Deal

The Wrap reports that WWE SmackDown will remain live when it goes to Friday nights on Fox in October 2019.

No word yet on if WWE will begin to run non-televised blue brand live events on Tuesday night. This could be a way to make up for revenue losses as Friday nights are a key night for live attendance.

On a related note, it's believed that WWE and Fox will announce the new SmackDown deal as early as next week. As we've noted, Fox's new five-year deal for SmackDown is worth $1.025 billion ($205 million per year) while NBCUniversal's deal for RAW to air on the USA Network is worth a reported $265 million per year. If the deals are finalized at the reported terms, the two deals would be worth a combined $470 million per year, a 261% increase from the reported $130 million per year they are receiving for both shows under the current NBCU deal.