Spike TV and TNA agree to new TV deal (UPDATE: Details)

[RasslingFanatic]

Partial Source: Prowrestling.net

– The new TNA extension with Spike TV is for two-years. That means TNA will be on the air on Spike TV until 2014 under the extension, as the current deal was set to expire in the fall of 2012.

– TNA President Dixie Carter told the TNA talent about the new Spike TV deal before the press release was sent out today. Carter sent an email, where she told the talent of the deal and that email also included a copy of the press release.

Great news for TNA to secure this deal until 2014.

UPDATE: As I wrote last week in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, the new TNA-SpikeTV deal locks in TNA Impact Wrestling on the air with the network through October 2014. The current deal was set to expire this October, so they've signed a new two year contract. There are a lot of relieved people working for TNA right now that the deal was signed and signed as early as it was.

One of the points discussed during negotiations was that Ultimate Fighter, which left Spike for F/X as part of the big money UFC-FOX TV deal is only doing around 1.2 million viewers while TNA is bringing close to 1.7 million viewers in for Spike weekly, with much of that audience being the coveted Males 18-34, which is a base any cable network would want. The goal among both sides is to get that audience viewing number to two million a week.

The language in the contract is specifically for Impact Wrestling, not additional programming but should the right project come along, whether it be pro wrestling or something else TNA produces (such as their discusses "Soccer Moms" reality show), Spike would be interested in discussing the project. The last contract allowed Spike the right of first refusal for new TV projects. I have not heard whether that clause remained with the new deal, but it's likely.

There was no talk of live TNA specials for the network that I am aware of during the negotiations, but it's a possibility.

The contract language does not include holding more Impacts "on the road" outside of Orlando as part of the official deal but the plan is to do more of them this year, according to sources.

PWI

[Swinny]

Big News: TNA Renews Their Deal With Spike TV
Source: Spike TV and Impact Wrestling

"Dixie Carter and her team at TNA have done a phenomenal job in developing stars for an exciting, high-action brand that resonates with Spike's audience," said Spike TV President Kevin Kay. "We are excited to further our partnership and will continue to build and invigorate the franchise together."

"We are thrilled that Spike TV will be IMPACT Wrestling's home for years to come," said TNA President Dixie Carter. "The dedication that Kevin Kay and the network have shown us in building our brand is what makes this announcement even more meaningful for me. And look for some exciting things to happen on IMPACT in the near future."

WNS

[4 Gold Scorpio]

SpikeTV gets more out of TNA on their network than TNA has ever gotten from SpikeTV...it's "ECW On TNN" all over again.

[Sidney Evans]

Yeah exactly, but what other network can TNA really go to? Not alot of networks don't care for wrestling to be on there network.

[Dr Nash]

Very true but this can be rooted back to when Turner got involved in the worst merger in history with time warner and aol. Turner always cared about wrestling. It meant a lot to him and saved TBS. ESPN still had wrestling from AWA to the last promotion Global Wrestling Federation. It's all about he the negative press wrestling has gotten over the years. Then again the business isn't in a hot spell and there is no real boom period going on. Ring Of Honor has a Sin Clair broadcasting network with many channels to air ROH. All it takes is a good boom period to go on and TV companies are going to want it as they have over used reality TV. They need an alternative. Hopefully TNA can get some serious awareness and do well... but it's going to happen when all TV time devoted to Hogan.

[4 Gold Scorpio]

As I wrote last week in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, the new TNA-SpikeTV deal locks in TNA Impact Wrestling on the air with the network through October 2014. The current deal was set to expire this October, so they've signed a new two year contract. There are a lot of relieved people working for TNA right now that the deal was signed and signed as early as it was.

One of the points discussed during negotiations was that Ultimate Fighter, which left Spike for F/X as part of the big money UFC-FOX TV deal is only doing around 1.2 million viewers while TNA is bringing close to 1.7 million viewers in for Spike weekly, with much of that audience being the coveted Males 18-34, which is a base any cable network would want. The goal among both sides is to get that audience viewing number to two million a week.

The language in the contract is specifically for Impact Wrestling, not additional programming but should the right project come along, whether it be pro wrestling or something else TNA produces (such as their discusses "Soccer Moms" reality show), Spike would be interested in discussing the project. The last contract allowed Spike the right of first refusal for new TV projects. I have not heard whether that clause remained with the new deal, but it's likely.

There was no talk of live TNA specials for the network that I am aware of during the negotiations, but it's a possibility.

The contract language does not include holding more Impacts "on the road" outside of Orlando as part of the official deal but the plan is to do more of them this year, according to sources.

PWI

[RasslingFanatic]

They could have used a 3 hour, live special at least once during the year. I think with the new direction of letting the characters get the stories over rather than having the writer try and get it over could work well put against the WWE for one night.

[Sidney Evans]

Very true but this can be rooted back to when Turner got involved in the worst merger in history with time warner and aol. Turner always cared about wrestling. It meant a lot to him and saved TBS. ESPN still had wrestling from AWA to the last promotion Global Wrestling Federation. It's all about he the negative press wrestling has gotten over the years. Then again the business isn't in a hot spell and there is no real boom period going on. Ring Of Honor has a Sin Clair broadcasting network with many channels to air ROH. All it takes is a good boom period to go on and TV companies are going to want it as they have over used reality TV. They need an alternative. Hopefully TNA can get some serious awareness and do well... but it's going to happen when all TV time devoted to Hogan.

TNA does not have the star power like wCw had to create another big boom. WWE would have to do that, since they are more well known and established as ''the wrestling promotion'' in the world.

[4 Gold Scorpio]

^^^They actually do have the star power, they just don't have support in order to do it. Turner LOVED WCW & knew that it was the programming that was saving his network, not reruns of Andy Griffin & Gilligan's Island so he heavily pushed the product on his network for years. You had around 2-3 different WCW TV shows weekly, you occasionally had prime time specials (Clash Of Champions), you saw the show plugged throughout other shows on the network, and then Nitro came along when they pushed the show into prime time & the same with Thunder. TNA has (as WCW's Chris Jericho would say) NEVER EVER gotten that type of support from SpikeTV. Hence why I said "ECW On TNN" because they have the ability to advertise & cross promote with other channels owned by Viacom as I've seen them do with stuff like "Pros vs. Joes" & that one show with Denise Richards but never saw it with Impact, we see Spike use TNA to cross promote their original programming all the time (didn't we just see the Repo Games & MMA Live show people in the last two months) but when have we seen it on the other end since Hogan appeared on UFC over 2 years ago? They barely show a commercial for the show on their own network, I watch the Law & Order:SVU on USA every Tuesday seeing a commercial or advertisement for RAW every other break yet none of that happens for Impact on Spike. Why is it impossible for TNA to keep a second show as Epics & Reaction didn't last long (air that on the weekends, not right after the two hour show reviewing what we just saw making it overkill) while Xplosion is still international only.

Went off on a rant there but the bottom line is that Spike is getting more out of TNA than TNA is getting out of Spike hence why TNA won't get far, they have no real support from the network. TNA is backed into a corner because no other network is really looking for wrestling programming (that was evidence when SmackDown was available twice in a 5 year span) but they got a bad deal here like they've been having.

[RasslingFanatic]

^^^They actually do have the star power, they just don't have support in order to do it. Turner LOVED WCW & knew that it was the programming that was saving his network, not reruns of Andy Griffin & Gilligan's Island so he heavily pushed the product on his network for years. You had around 2-3 different WCW TV shows weekly, you occasionally had prime time specials (Clash Of Champions), you saw the show plugged throughout other shows on the network, and then Nitro came along when they pushed the show into prime time & the same with Thunder. TNA has (as WCW's Chris Jericho would say) NEVER EVER gotten that type of support from SpikeTV. Hence why I said "ECW On TNN" because they have the ability to advertise & cross promote with other channels owned by Viacom as I've seen them do with stuff like "Pros vs. Joes" & that one show with Denise Richards but never saw it with Impact, we see Spike use TNA to cross promote their original programming all the time (didn't we just see the Repo Games & MMA Live show people in the last two months) but when have we seen it on the other end since Hogan appeared on UFC over 2 years ago? They barely show a commercial for the show on their own network, I watch the Law & Order:SVU on USA every Tuesday seeing a commercial or advertisement for RAW every other break yet none of that happens for Impact on Spike. Why is it impossible for TNA to keep a second show as Epics & Reaction didn't last long (air that on the weekends, not right after the two hour show reviewing what we just saw making it overkill) while Xplosion is still international only.

Went off on a rant there but the bottom line is that Spike is getting more out of TNA than TNA is getting out of Spike hence why TNA won't get far, they have no real support from the network. TNA is backed into a corner because no other network is really looking for wrestling programming (that was evidence when SmackDown was available twice in a 5 year span) but they got a bad deal here like they've been having.

Just look at what happened with UFC on Spike. They lost it because the big suits are content with average numbers.

I still think TNA can grow more without the support, but any view they could become on par to the WWE shouldn't even be a serious consideration until Spike wakes up or they get a better t.v deal later on.

I think they aim should be to get that rating consistently around 1.5 then then by the end of this deal be bringing in a 2.0.

That should be enough of audience to be able to get some decent PPV buys out of. As a fan I don't think it matter how high they climb as long as they are financially viable and produce a product I enjoy, that is all that matter.

[Sidney Evans]

Yeah TNA does not have to be some billion dollar empire like WWE to put on good shows. Jim Crockett Promotions from the NWA was a multi million dollar company and was just as good as WWF was in the 80s. I think TNA at best should try and end up like JCP during there golden years. But for that to happen they still need to get on a better network that will treat them better than spike tv.