WWE issued the following press released on Monday announcing a new multi-year television agreement for RAW and Smackdown in Germany.
We reported over the weekend regarding a statement by WWE where they were closing to making an announcement to keep WWE TV in the country.
WWE® AND PROSIEBEN MAXX ANNOUNCE MULTI-YEAR AGREEMENT FOR FLAGSHIP PROGRAMS RAW® AND SMACKDOWN®
MUNICH, Germany and STAMFORD, Conn. 26 September, 2016 – WWE (NYSE: WWE) and ProSiebenSat1’s sports business cluster, 7Sports, today announced a new multi-year agreement to televise WWE’s flagship programs Raw® and SmackDown® in German on ProSieben MAXX, beginning in April 2017. This marks the first time both shows have aired on the same free-to-air channel in Germany.
“We are proud that we were able to secure this deal for ProSieben MAXX,” said Zeljko Karajica, CEO, 7Sports. “This gives us the opportunity to extend our WWE coverage and make sports entertainment even more popular in Germany.”
“Sports entertainment programming is in great demand with our viewers, and we are thrilled to announce that as of 2017, ProSieben MAXX will be Germany’s number one TV channel for WWE programs,” said René Carl, Managing Director, ProSieben MAXX.
“ProSieben MAXX shares our vision and passion for engaging and entertaining WWE fans,” said Ed Wells, WWE Executive Vice President, International. “This partnership creates one primary destination in ProSieben MAXX for fans to enjoy our unique blend of action-packed, family entertainment.”
ProSieben MAXX has aired SmackDown since April 2014. WWE’s popularity in Germany continues to grow, with more than half a million viewers on average tuning in to WWE TV programming each week.
ProSieben MAXX will also serve as a marketing partner for WWE Live in Frankfurt on Wednesday, November 2 at Festhalle starting at 7pm; Munich on Thursday, November 3 at Olympiahalle starting at 7pm; Oberhausen on Tuesday, November 8 at the Koenig-Pilsner Arena starting at 7pm; and Berlin on Wednesday, November 9 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena starting at 7pm. Tickets are available at www.eventim.de
About ProSieben MAXX
ProSiebenSat.1 Group’s free-to-air TV channel, ProSieben MAXX, is available to more than 85 percent of German households via cable, satellite, DVB-T and IPTV, as well as in Austria and Switzerland. Airing sports highlights such as NFL live matches, drama series, documentaries, in-house productions and movies, ProSieben MAXX offers first-class television aimed at a target group of male viewers between the ages of 14 and 39.
About 7 Sports
As the sports business cluster of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group, 7Sports bundles the entire group’s innovative and digital sports portfolio. In this manner, 7Sports strives to build digital sport platforms, to expand and exploit the 360° marketing power of exclusive sports productions, to manage young talents and professional athletes, and produce first-class sporting events. 7Sports benefits from the ProSiebenSat.1 Group’s many years of experience with popular sports brands like ran.de and the successful acquisition of new platforms such as Sportdeutschland.TV,90min.com, and EverSport.tv. This complementarity creates ideal synergies across the individual sports segments. Backed by the marketing power of ProSiebenSat.1 in the sports environment, 7Sports is one of the most valuable platforms for sports-oriented advertisers, co-investors, and professional athletes in the German-speaking world.
About WWE
WWE, a publicly traded company (NYSE: WWE), is an integrated media organization and recognized leader in global entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family friendly entertainment on its television programming, pay-per-view, digital media and publishing platforms. WWE programming reaches more than 650 million homes worldwide in 25 languages. WWE Network, the first-ever 24/7 over-the-top premium network that includes all live pay-per-views, scheduled programming and a massive video-on-demand library, is currently available in more than 180 countries. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, Munich and Tokyo. Additional information on WWE (NYSE: WWE) can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com. For information on our global activities, go to http://www.wwe.com/worldwide/