Sky Sports Italy Signs Agreement With AEW After WWE Reportedly Loses Deal Over Costs And Ratings

It was reported back in late June how WWE and Discovery had announced a new multi-year agreement to air WWE programming in Italy. The deal began on July 1.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that WWE lost their deal with Sky Sports Italy after around two decades, reportedly over a combination of the costs of the rights to air the programming, and the decline of interest in viewers.

AEW has now made a deal with Sky in Italy, and will begin airing Dynamite in a Friday night timeslot on July 31.

It was noted that Sky made the decision to drop WWE several months ago due to increasing costs and the drop in ratings. However, WWE offered their classic pay-per-views, like they have done with FOX Sports for FS1 in the United States, and those shows were doing well for Sky. WWE would go on to make the deal with Discovery in Italy.

Sky did have interest in getting back with WWE after turning them down before, but they ended up making the deal with AEW.

The Observer also noted that WWE has lost Sky in Germany/Austria and the UK in the last year, for similar reasons. WWE now works with BT Sport in the UK, and DAZN in Germany/Austria.

The WWE – Sky partnership originally began back in the late 1980s.

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

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