Ten Sports, WWE extend partnership in India

As the TV distribution agreement gets extended for five more years, WWE's weekly flagship programming will now include localised content, more languages and live events.

WWE and Ten Sports have extended their television distribution agreement for five more years through 2019. They have also extended their partnership beyond WWE's weekly flagship programming to now include localised content, more languages and live events.

In addition to the continued broadcasts of WWE's flagship programmes Raw, SmackDown, NXT and monthly pay-per-view specials starting January 1, 2015, Ten Sports will introduce a new one-hour fully-customised version of Raw, tailored specifically for the Indian audience and add the WWE Main Event to its programming lineup.

Ten Sports will also air WWE content in multiple Indian languages for the first time and bring WWE live events back to India in 2015. Says Rajesh Sethi, CEO, Ten Sports, "We are excited about extending our long-standing, successful partnership with WWE. Being rights holders since 2002, we have seen WWE grow over the years to dominate the sports entertainment space, and with this new deal through 2019, we are confident of taking our partnership to the next level, delivering audiences more breakthrough programming and engagement opportunities in the years to come."

Gerrit Meier, EVP (international), WWE adds, "As the value of the WWE brand and our content continues to increase around the world, the scale and scope of this new agreement illustrates our ability to drive a passionate and engaged audience as well as the potential we have for future growth."

WWE, a publicly-traded company, is an integrated media organisation and one of the leaders 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. It claims that its programming is broadcast in more than 150 countries and 30 languages and reaches more than 650 million homes worldwide. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, Munich and Tokyo.