WWE Sues International Television Partner For Not Paying Rights Fees

WWE has reportedly filed a lawsuit against CTH, their television partner in Thailand and Malaysia, who has apparently stopped paying their rights fees to WWE.

WWE signed a five-year deal for 2014 through 2018, for RAW, SmackDown, Main Event, NXT, Superstars, Bottom Line, Vintage Collection, Afterburn, This Week In WWE and all pay-per-view events. The annual rights fees were to escalate, starting at $2.8 million in 2014, to $3.64 million to 2015, $4.55 million in 2016, $5.69 million in 2017 and $6.83 million in 2018, bringing the total value to $23.5 million.

One thing worth pointing out is that in the contract, and possibly in other international contracts, is that RAW must be three hours through the end of 2018, so WWE will likely have to redo all of their international deals if for some reason that ever changes. However, as of right now, USA Network ratings have been declining overall, so WWE is becoming more valuable to the network right now, not less.