A new era of Smackdown kicks off tonight on USA Network as
the show expands from two to three hours for the first time
ever. Smackdown will be a three-hour broadcast moving
forward.

Ever since Smackdown started its weekly episodes in 1999,
the running time has always been that of 120 minutes
including commercials. That also gave Raw the edge during
the Draft episodes, with more Superstars drafted to Raw due
to the one hour extra of programming on the red brand.

But now, Raw and Smackdown will be equal in running time and
WWE will have to produce eight hours of original programming
every week when you take two hours of NXT into equation as
well.

Tonight’s Smackdown will also air on YouTube for one week
only for those countries who have a WWE Netflix deal. Many
WWE TV contracts expired on December 31, 2024 and the
Netflix deal officially kicks off on January 6 with Raw.
Internationally, Smackdown will be on Netflix starting from
next week’s broadcast, as will NXT.