WWE News: Vince McMahon comments on television rights deal, expiration date of NBC Universal's exclusive negotiating window

NBC Universal must accept or reject WWE's final offer for a television rights renewal agreement by February 15, according to a Variety report. If NBC Universal declines, then WWE will accept bids from other potential partners until February 28. WWE is planning to select its media partners by March 4. However, WWE programming will remain with its current television partners until October 2014.

"WWE is a proven ratings juggernaut, making USA Network No. 1 for the past eight years and delivering more average viewers than every sports property, with the exception of the NFL," Vince McMahon stated to Variety. "Given the increasing demand for live, DVR-proof content, we believe the market will value our programming significantly above where we’ve been in the past." Read more at Variety.com.

Powell's POV: I still feel that Raw expanding to three hours makes it less DVR proof than ever, and I'm an example of someone who DVR's Smackdown on a weekly basis. That said, Raw is still must see live content for millions of viewers on Monday night and a live Smackdown show would obviously improve that show's DVR proof standing. The company currently makes $139.5 million in television licensing fees. Vince McMahon stated during a conference call regarding the company's financial report that he would allow a caller to put him in a hammerlock if WWE did not at least double its television rights revenue.