WWE SmackDown’s ongoing runtime changes appear to be part of a long term structure tied directly to the company’s current media rights agreement.

According to Bryan Alvarez, WWE’s deal with NBCUniversal includes a specific clause that dictates when SmackDown will air as a three hour show and when it will scale back to two hours. Under the current setup, the show is scheduled to run three hours annually from January through the end of June, before switching back to a two hour format from July through December.

Alvarez shared the update with subscribers on X, explaining:

“We have two more months of three hour shows to survive. July through the end of December will be two hours.”

This pattern mirrors what fans saw in 2025. SmackDown first expanded to three hours on January 3, 2025, before returning to two hours on July 4. The same format was reintroduced at the start of 2026, with the January 2 episode once again marking the shift back to a longer broadcast.

Further details were discussed by Dave Meltzer alongside Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Radio, where Meltzer outlined how the agreement is structured moving forward.

“The contract that they have signed now is January till the end of June would be three hours. And then the end of June, in the first of July to the end of December, it would be two hours. So that’s the new, the way the deal is structured right now.”

Meltzer added that this alternating format is not a short term experiment and is expected to remain in place for the foreseeable future.

“For the foreseeable future. Probably for the next four years,” he continued.

The arrangement suggests WWE has found a balance between extended weekly programming and a more traditional two hour format, with fans likely to see this rotation continue throughout the lifespan of the current deal.