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WWE India to move from SPNI to Netflix in April 2025: Reports

The transition, slated for April 2025 in India, aligns with the expiration of WWE's current agreement with SPNI.

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WWE, a sports entertainment brand, is set to shift its media rights in India from Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) to Netflix India. This move is part of a global 10-year, $5 billion deal signed earlier this year by WWE's parent company, TKO Group Holdings, with the streaming giant. The transition, slated for 2025, aligns with the expiration of WWE's current agreement with SPNI. In 2020, SPNI had renewed the WWE media rights for an estimated $180-$210 million over five years.    

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WWE posted on Instagram about its collaboration with the streaming platform.

The partnership marks Netflix India's debut in sports entertainment. While Netflix has been expanding its live sports portfolio globally, including collaborations with the National Football League, its Indian operations have largely avoided sports, including cricket, the nation's most-watched sport across TV and digital platforms.

As mentioned in media reports, starting January 2025, Netflix will exclusively stream WWE's flagship shows—Raw, SmackDown, and NXT—in key markets such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and South America. By April 2025, the partnership will expand to India, a vital market for WWE's global growth strategy.

WWE programming has been a mainstay on Ten Sports in India since 2002. SPNI acquired Ten Sports from Zee Entertainment in 2016 for $385 million, rebranding it as Sony Ten. WWE's collaboration with Ten Sports and Sony Sports has spanned over two decades. 

Experts caution that moving WWE's loyal fanbase from linear television to a subscription-based streaming platform may present significant challenges, especially in India, where television remains the dominant medium with 900 million viewers, far surpassing the 547 million streaming users.   

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