Tony Khan said he spent nearly a year negotiating AEW’s first television deal, calling securing the broadcast agreement the company’s biggest early challenge. His efforts to place AEW on TV were a pivotal business step that enabled broader audience reach and commercial growth for the promotion.
Wrestling Tony Khan Says He Spent ‘Nearly A Year’ Working On AEW’s First TV Deal, Says It Was ‘The Biggest Hurdle’ Tony Khan says he spent 'nearly a year' working on AEW's first TV deal upon the companies creation. Corey Brennan June 2, 2026, 8:14 am Tony Khan says he spent ‘nearly a year’ working on AEW’s first TV deal upon the companies creation. Upon the companies inception in 2019, AEW would secure a television deal for AEW Dynamite with the promotion finding a home on TNT, with the company continuing to have a home on TNT and TBS to this day. While speaking to the Wide World Of Sports in a new interview, Tony Khan spoke about the ‘biggest hurdle’ of securing a TV deal for AEW, spending nearly a year working on the deal and noting that he had gotten into April of 2019 and still didn’t have a deal. “The biggest hurdle was to make the TV deal – I reached a point in early-2019 where I had signed the wrestlers, but didn’t have a deal, I had been working on the TV portion of it for nearly a year, but I had got into April and still didn’t have a deal. Reaching a point where it became a reality was very challenging. It’s hard to launch … but things have grown so quickly.” Elsewhere in the same interview, Tony spoke about Jon Moxley being present at most of the events in AEW history. You can read more about that here. Tags AEW tbs TNT Tony Khan Wrestling Corey Brennan June 2, 2026, 8:14 am
Curated by Taleb Kabbara · Source: www.fightful.com
AEW, Fightful
AEW: All Elite Wrestling, a professional wrestling promotion that secured its first television deal after nearly a year of negotiations led by Tony Khan.
Fightful: A wrestling-focused media outlet that published the piece quoting Tony Khan about AEW's TV deal and negotiation timeline.
This article is part of Prism's real-time sports business intelligence radar, which tracks sponsorships, partnerships, media rights, stadium deals, and investments across global sports. View the full intelligence profile for each company to access active analysis modules, deal timelines, and connected company networks.