Nick Khan: Great. On the Raw ratings, keep in mind, you mentioned fourth quarter with the proliferation of gambling with what we see as an increased enhanced Disney, Monday night football schedule with also simulcast of that game. I think seven or eight of them on ABC in addition to the primary ESPN broadcast in addition to the Manningcast, which we think has been wildly successful. We’re up against different competition once NFL season starts on Mondays. We think that has something to do with it. If you look at the rating surge in Raw, Paul and the creative team has put in as many efforts to make sure that the quality of the Raw product is on par with the quality of the SmackDown product. It’s not to suggest that it wasn’t before, but when you’re going up against an 18-week regular season of the NFL and the Monday night football playoff game, which, as you recall, was the Dallas Cowboys at Tom Brady.
It’s something that we’ve put an enhanced focus on to make sure that the roster is sufficient there while not depleting SmackDown. So even when Frank said, hey, with the costs associated with production included some talent costs, we went and signed more talent. And we think all of that is paying off and will pay off. On NXT
Steven Cahall: Great, thank you
Nick Khan: Yes. You forgot about the last question.
Steven Cahall: Yes, NXT. Yes, NXT.
Nick Khan: NXT, yes.
Steven Cahall: Yes, thank you.
Nick Khan: Normally, I would have let that go, but I wanted to make sure you got your questions at it. NXT, we’re seeing ratings growth there as well. USA is thrilled with it. NBCU is thrilled with it. Keep in mind, as much of its own brand as NXT is, it’s still our farm team. It’s our feeder system to get folks called up to the main roster. So the expectation there is not the expectation that we and others have for Raw and SmackDown, but certainly the expectation, but the outside world is the same as our world inside, which is growth, which is, I think, what you’re seeing.
Steven Cahall: Great, thank you. Thank you, Nick.
Nick Khan: Thanks, Steve.
Operator: And moving on to Ben Swinburne with Morgan Stanley.
Ben Swinburne: Thanks. Good afternoon. You guys gave some good color on some of your international strategies, particularly some of the trends in the UK. I was wondering, I don’t know if Paul or Nick or both could talk a little bit about the India market, which is another market that, at least back in the last cycle, there was a lot of enthusiasm around and maybe didn’t translate to as much upside as hoped, but that’s in the market with a massive WWE audience. So I would love to hear what you’re doing there and the trends in the business. And then maybe just following up a bit on Steven’s question around the rights renewal and strategic review time line. Nick, I think you were on Bill Simmons, well, I know you were on Bill Simmons podcast.
I know he asked you about €“ trying to conclude this process before getting into the exclusive windows with your incumbents. Should we think about this as NBC and FOX sort of having any kind of rights if this €“ if your business were to be acquired by somebody else, it’s just an interesting dynamic having these two different processes at the same time I’m trying to think about the time line you have coming up real quick here. Hopefully, that made some sense.
Nick Khan: It does, Ben. In reverse order on this one, if that’s okay.
Ben Swinburne: Sure.
Nick Khan: Number one, any transaction, any suitor, any potential successor in terms of ownership would 100% respect the rights that NBCU and FOX negotiated with us and we would make sure that those rights are respected. So there is no work around on that. We’re not interested in the work around on that. We’re interested in having good productive conversations with each of those partners, which we’re excited about, which again should start right after WrestleMania, which is conveniently located in Los Angeles at SoFi Stadium, where certainly FOX Sports, as you know, is based and a lot of the NBCU group is. So we’re excited about that, and those will always be respected. In terms of India, allow me to tell you from our perspective, what’s going on there and what will go on there.
We’re waiting for the Zee, Sony India merger to be approved by the regulatory authorities there. The hope is in April. Keep in mind, which you already know, COVID stunted our growth opportunity in India in a number of places. But in India specifically, where I would say it was almost impossible to travel in and out of, we couldn’t do local events there. So as soon as we have a sense of when the regulatory approval goes €“ happens on Zee and Sony India, look for a big live event in India. The best way to grow viewership and I think we’re seeing it proven out with our UK shows with the upcoming Montreal show and in other markets is to have live events there. It’s a much easier sale for our partners with their ad partners. It’s a much easier sale for us with potential partners when they’ve been to the show and they see the power of it, it’s just a smoother path.
So as soon as that transaction is approved, look for us to be there in short order and to start continuing to build that Empire in India.
Ben Swinburne: Thank you so much.
Nick Khan: Thanks, Ben.
Operator: And we have a question from Peter Supino with Wolfe Research.
Peter Supino: Hi, thank you. This question is a bit of a softball, but I think it’s an important one. Can you just talk about the way that media landscape is changing in favor of you and the upcoming rights renegotiations? We hear an array of views from clients and frequently that do you have any real interest in the rights will be from the incumbent NBC and Fox. So again, if you just talk about your take on how the media landscape has evolved since 2018 and what that means for the rent negotiations, I think it would be helpful.
Nick Khan: Absolutely. Look, in the last negotiation, there were other bidders. So forget other suiters, other bidders, third-party bidders conglomerates that all of you know who made significant offers on each of the two programs. We think the marketplace has expanded since then. So keep in mind, we’re always going to respect and adhere to the right of first conversations, but I’m not sure that any third-party who’s not in business with us would be saying to you or anyone similarly situated, we must have that product because it shifts the leverage across the table. Once we’re out there in the marketplace, unless there’s a deal done early with the incumbents, once we’re out there in the marketplace, we’ll know it past is prologue. We saw it a few years ago. We expect to see the same thing today, especially with more buyers. So we’re quite bullish on it. Operator, please.
Operator: I’m sorry. Go ahead.
Nick Khan: No. Go ahead, Justin. Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. Our next question will come from Jason Bazinet with Citi.
Jason Bazinet: I just have two quick questions. And maybe this is a little strange, but if I just look at your €“ the cash flow that this business has generated over, I don’t know, the last 15 years when I look at your capital structure, which has always been very lean. It seems like whether you sell the company to someone that has more cash flow or you end up not selling the company and we go through this rights renewal. You’re just going to have a lot more firepower at your disposal. And I’d just love you to spend a second and talk about what that incremental cash flow could be used for to drive faster sort of top line growth? That’s the first question. My second question is, and this is maybe a little bit too detailed, but I was just looking at the trending schedule from the third quarter versus the fourth, and it looks like there was a small re-class within media from the core rights to digital.
I was just wondering if you could elaborate on that, that would be helpful.
