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It has been close to a month since WWE announced its new, landmark TV deals which will see Raw remain on USA Network and Smackdown Live move to Friday nights on FOX Sports in October of 2019.

Sports Business Daily has published a new article providing an in-depth look at the new TV deals, and revealing new information regarding the talks leading up to the major announcements.

Of note in the article is WWE’s negotiations with ESPN. The article reports Stephanie McMahon, executive vice president Paul Levesque and co-presidents Michelle Wilson and George Barrios, met with ESPN four times from December 2017 through the spring. The report points out, however, that talks between WWE and ESPN did not work out as, in the end, it came down to scheduling. With WWE running 52 weeks a year, and ESPN not being able to guarantee them that much TV time, WWE needed to seek another network which would allow the company to broadcast its content every week. The report adds ESPN considered WWE for its ESPN+ streaming service, but WWE considers that competition with WWE Network.

Read Also: A Key Aspect Of WWE Smackdown’s Move to FOX Could Foreshadow a Different Show Presentation

With regards to Raw and Smackdown being split across two networks, the article reveals WWE was the one to make that call, as the company had an exclusive negotiating window with NBCUniversal which ran through mid-May 2018. WWE had a clause in its contract which stated it must make NBCUniversal an “all or nothing” offer for its complete TV rights, so WWE asked NBCU for $265 million per year for Raw, and $200 million per year for Smackdown, which would have been an astounding 358% increase total from the previous deal. NBCUniversal President Bonnie Hammer accepted the terms for Raw, but passed on Smackdown, allowing WWE the freedom to negotiate with anyone for the right to the Blue Brand.