How much will you need to pay to watch WWE PLEs in the US 2026 onwards? ESPN prices compared to Peacock

WWE announced on Wednesday that all of its premium live events will be streamed on ESPN's upcoming platform next year. But how much are fans in the United States going to pay for the new ESPN app compared to Peacock?

According to ESPN, their streaming platform is set to be launched on August 21 and will have a price point of $29.99 per month. It's more expensive compared to Peacock's two pricing tiers, which are Peacock Premium at $10.99 and Peacock Premium Plus at $16.99, as per Deadline.

Peacock Premium has ads, while Premium Plus is ad-free, but both subscription tiers stream all PLEs. RAW will remain on Netflix, SmackDown is on the USA Network, and NXT will be on CW in the United States.

In addition to all the exclusive rights to the premium live events, the ESPN platform will also stream all the preshows and postshows of each PLE. WWE's parent company, TKO Group, already has a partnership with ESPN via the UFC.

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How much and how long is WWE's deal with ESPN?

According to CNBC, WWE signed a five-year deal with ESPN to stream all of its PLEs starting in 2026. The deal is reportedly worth around $325 million per year, which is an increase from what the company is getting from Peacock.

Their current five-year contract with NBC pays about $180 million per year and will end in December. CNBC's report seemingly confirmed that the number of PLEs is going to be limited to just 10 moving forward, though TKO is contemplating making more two-night events.

"In many ways, this is our destiny. If you want to expand the audience, our fan base, the fervor around WWE, and grow on a real significant national scale, you can’t do that as it relates to the sports world without partnering with ESPN," TKO president and COO Mark Shapiro told CNBC.

Before taking a position at TKO, Shapiro previously worked at ESPN in the 1990s before getting promoted to an executive role in the early 2000s.

Edited by Gurjyot Singh Dadial