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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Nov 19, 2014 12:42:56 GMT -6
variety.com/2014/tv/news/discoverys-destination-america-sets-rights-deal-with-tna-impact-wrestling-1201360263/Discovery’s Destination America Sets Rights Deal with TNA Impact Wrestling Pro wrestling is coming to Discovery’s Destination America cabler under a new pact with Nashville-based TNA Impact Wrestling. Deal begins in January. There’s no specifics yet about programs or scheduling. “The enduring, cross-generational enthusiasm of pro wrestling is felt by millions of fans around the country, from coast-to-coast and throughout the heartland,” said Discovery exec Henry Schleiff, who oversees the cabler. “We are delighted to bring this beloved American pastime to the one and only network dedicated to celebrating the unique spirit of the U.S., Destination America.”
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Nov 19, 2014 12:53:23 GMT -6
www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/100-tna/39979-tna-news-expected-shortlyTNA/Impact Wrestling announces January 2015 TV deal with Destination America The following is a press release: (Silver Spring, Md.) – Discovery Communications announced today that it has signed a multi-year deal with TNA (Total Nonstop Action) IMPACT WRESTLING to bring the popular league to homes nationwide on Destination America, the only network dedicated to celebrating the people, places and stories of the United States. Destination America officially enters the ring with its first world premiere of IMPACT WRESTLING in January 2015. The series features some of the biggest names in professional wrestling, including Jeff Hardy, Bobby Roode, Kurt Angle, Bobby Lashley and Gail Kim. The partnership includes the U.S. premieres of additional TNA WRESTLING series and specials and provides Discovery Communications with international broadcasting rights in select regions, to be announced at a later date. “Our partnership in this uniquely entertaining franchise with TNA IMPACT WRESTLING provides a significant addition to Destination America’s programming strategy,” said Henry Schleiff, Group President of Destination America, Investigation Discovery, American Heroes Channel, Discovery Fit & Health and Discovery Family Channel. “The enduring, cross-generational enthusiasm of pro wrestling is felt by millions of fans around the country, from coast-to-coast and throughout the heartland. We are delighted to bring this beloved American pastime to the one and only network dedicated to celebrating the unique spirit of the U.S., Destination America.” “Our knockout partnership with TNA IMPACT WRESTLING continues Destination America’s mission of bringing our viewers the best of all-American entertainment, and going center ring with one of the world’s foremost professional wrestling leagues fits perfectly within our DNA,” said Marc Etkind, general manager of Destination America. “Wrestling has created a fiercely loyal, passionate and widespread fan base, and we look forward to being part of the TNA family.” “We are very excited about Destination America being the new network for IMPACT WRESTLING and the partnership with Discovery Communications both domestically and across the globe. Their commitment to promote and grow our brand in innovative and compelling ways was instrumental in knowing we had found the right home,” said TNA President Dixie Carter. “Together we will create an experience that takes our fans on a new journey that will push the envelope of technology, including where we take our cameras, going deeper into our superstars’ lives and showing the reality of what it takes to create a weekly professional wrestling show, all while showcasing the very best male and female athletes in the world.” Since launching in 2012, Destination America has become one of cable’s top five fastest-growing networks*, earning 10 consecutive quarters of year-over-year growth in Prime among P2+. With top series that explore unique American cultures and ways of life – including Mountain Monsters, A Haunting, Hillbilly Blood, Buying the Bayou, Buying Alaska, Ghost Asylum and BBQ Pitmasters – Destination America’s programming spans the nation from Alaska, Hawaii and Colorado to Louisiana, West Virginia and communities in between. To find Destination America, the new home of TNA’s IMPACT WRESTLING, go to www.destinationamerica.com/watchda . TNA is a privately held sports entertainment company based in Nashville, Tenn., specializing in TV properties, events, merchandise, music, and the management and promotion of professional wrestlers. TNA annually delivers more than 500 hours of original content to millions of fans around the world.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Nov 19, 2014 13:00:50 GMT -6
www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/100-tna/39980-tna-officially-announces-deal-with-destination-americaTNA officially announces deal with Destination America TNA announced today at a meeting with talent, and just released the story, that the company has signed a multi-year deal with the Destination America. They announced a "world premiere" on the network in January, and noted that deal will include more than just Impact Wrestling, but television specials and other weekly shows. Discovery Communiations will own international distribution rights to the show in several parts of the world.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Nov 19, 2014 13:08:00 GMT -6
deadline.com/2014/11/discovery-destination-america-total-nonstop-action-impact-tna-wrestling-1201289194/Discovery’s Destination America Network Adds Total Nonstop Action Impact Wrestling To Lineup Discovery Communications announced today that it has signed a multi-year deal with Total Nonstop Action Impact Wrestling for its Destination America network, debuting in January ’15. The series features such names as Jeff Hardy, Bobby Roode, Kurt Angle, Bobby Lashley and Gail Kim. The partnership includes the U.S. premieres of additional TNA WRESTLING series and specials and provides Discovery Communications with international broadcasting rights in select regions, to be announced at a later date. The deal “provides a significant addition to Destination America’s programming strategy,” said Henry Schleiff, Group President of Destination America, Investigation Discovery, American Heroes Channel, Discovery Fit & Health and Discovery Family Channel. “We are very excited about Destination America being the new network for IMPACT WRESTLING and the partnership with Discovery Communications both domestically and across the globe. Their commitment to promote and grow our brand in innovative and compelling ways was instrumental in knowing we had found the right home,” said TNA President Dixie Carter. Destination America, launched from the ashes of Discovery Communications’ Planet Green, launched in ’12, is available in more than 57 million homes. Discovery touts it as a network “emblazoning television screens with the grit and tenacity, honesty and work ethic, humor and adventurousness that characterize our nation”; the lineup includes Mountain Monsters, A Haunting, Hillbilly Blood, Buying the Bayou, Buying Alaska, Ghost Asylum and BBQ Pitmasters. TNA is a privately held sports entertainment company based in Nashville, Tenn., specializing in TV properties, events, merchandise, music, and the management and promotion of professional wrestlers. TNA annually delivers more than 500 hours of original content to millions of fans around the world.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Nov 19, 2014 13:11:07 GMT -6
pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/TNA_News_1/article_81870.shtml#.VGzq8fnF-mwTNA Impact will have a new U.S. home starting January 2015 - Destination America, a channel owned by publicly-traded Discovery Communications. TNA and Discovery announced Wednesday a multi-year deal that will include the U.S. rights to Impact, "series and specials," and international rights in "select regions." No timeslot or official start date was announced. Perhaps even more significant than the TV announcement is the inclusion of Kurt Angle in a list of talent appearing on January 2015. Angle, whose TNA contract expired in September, joins a list that includes Jeff Hardy, Bobby Lashley, Bobby Roode, and Gail Kim. - Impact on Destination America is similar to Smackdown on Syfy - an odd fit in a programming line-up that includes dark shows centered on ghosts, monsters, and asylums. In the announcement, Discovery attempted to soften Destination America's line-up by calling it a network "dedicated to celebrating the people, places, and stories of the United States." TNA president Dixie Carter stressed Discovery's "commitment to promote and grow our brand in innovative and compelling ways." Carter also stressed TNA's brand strategy from a few years vowing to go "behind the scenes" on the Impact roster. "Together we will create an experience that takes our fans on a new journey that will push the envelope of technology, including where we take our cameras, going deeper into our superstars’ lives and showing the reality of what it takes to create a weekly professional wrestling show, all while showcasing the very best male and female athletes in the world," Carter said. Concerning Spike TV, Impact is still on the schedule in December. It remains to be seen if the airings lead up to the not-yet-disclosed start date on Destination America.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Nov 20, 2014 11:09:32 GMT -6
With TNA's new television deal announced to begin in January 2015 with Destination America, Impact Wrestling will not be airing in Canada for the time being according to a report by Mike Johnson. TNA is said to be currently in negotiations to bring Impact Wrestling back on Canadian television networks.
TNA's previously signed television deals internationally are said to be unaffected by the new deal with Destination America. However, Discovery Communications, the parent company of Destination America, now has the rights to distribute Impact Wrestling to other international markets.
As mentioned yesterday by Spike TV President Kevin Kay in a statement, Impact Wrestling will cease airing on Spike TV on December 24. Last night's broadcast of Impact Wrestling was the final first-run programming for TNA on Spike and after a pre-emption next week, "Best of 2014" editions of Impact Wrestling will air on Spike from December 3 to their final airing on December 24.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Nov 20, 2014 11:48:16 GMT -6
Obviously the big news is that TNA has signed a TV deal with Destination America. The company is currently working on finalizing plans for their next TV tapings, which may come as soon as the week of 12/15 in the Mid-West. The company also has holds on The Manhattan Center in New York City the week of 1/6, but if they tape in December, they may let those holds go and instead tape in January during the European tour.
As Dave Scherer and I discussed in detail yesterday in the PWInsider Elite section, one of the reasons TNA signed with Discovery’s Destination America is that the company will be an important cornerstone of the Network. While they are taking a step backward in the amount of potential viewers who receive the Network vs. their former home at SpikeTV, they will be much more at the forefront of the Network’s promotional and marketing ends. Destination America’s social media changed all their graphics to showcase TNA talents as soon as the deal was signed. The Network will also provide TNA with the chance to potentially produce additional programming beyond Impact Wrestling, which considering how badly Dixie Carter has wanted to get into reality TV, may be the proper venue for her. Carter was adamant during TV negotiations that the company not just sign a deal for just another two hours of Impact Wrestling, feeling that if they did that, the company was dead in the water in terms of growing their brand in the future. She wanted a partner they can grow with and they may have found that in Discovery Communications.
Although it’s been portrayed that TNA was in dire straights without SpikeTV, that really wasn’t the case as the company had a number of potential suitors they were negotiating with via their representatives at UTA. It was entirely possible TNA was going to land at WGN America, although that would have meant they were off TV until the second quarter of 2015, which TNA just couldn’t have for obvious reasons. There were also discussions at different points, that we are aware of, with FOX (I am told the ownership of the series was a big sticking point there, as it was when the company met with them in 2010) and with CMT.
Then there was SpikeTV. A SpikeTV source states they were still in discussions with TNA for a “lesser deal” before the two sides agreed they were parting ways just a few weeks ago. Spike had wanted to pay less for the programming as they and TNA were unable to hit the 2 million viewer milestone that was agreed upon as a goal when they signed their last deal in 2010, but there was still interest in maintaining the relationship in the company. After all, SpikeTV Network President Kevin Kay didn’t just happen to show up to one of the NYC TV tapings for no reason, didn’t keep them on the air “to be nice” and didn’t salute TNA on the way out – the two sides were still negotiating. Those negotiations ended, officially, about 2-3 weeks ago, according to Spike sources, who told me that TNA was never going to get additional programming on Spike, especially when there was a major push within the network to put their resources towards more serious dramas. In the months to come, there will be a serious attempt to rebrand the appearance of the network into something grander. Spike wants to be more AMC and less of a “Cops” rerun network.
The reality was that even if TNA had signed a new deal with Spike, they weren’t going to get the type of promotional push that Destination America was going to offer and the chance to do additional programming, something TNA has wanted for years, as recently as wanting to broadcast what are now the One Night Only PPVs as monthly specials, which Spike declined.
TNA officials are extremely happy that the deal, which was agreed upon about a week or two ago and finalized earlier this week, was done, especially in an environment where Jeff Jarrett has been pitching a promotion and there’s a belief that others (Eric Bischoff's name has been bandied about, but I believe he is still under a no compete with TNA) have been as well, but have been unable to get a TV deal done while TNA was able to get something locked in for the next several years.
The feeling internally is that now that the TV deal is done, they can work on locking in some new talent deals, focus on the creative for 2015 and re-work the company from the inside out, something John Gaburick has been working on. The live event touring will likely remain light for the time being as the feeling is it can’t currently support them financially the way that it needs to, so it’s going to be babysteps in that they are going to work on building storylines and securing talent first and hopefully bring in fan interest before trying to take the product back out on the road. They are already working on overhauling the TNA website, with Josh Mathews already on board working on the digital end of the company.
On the talent side of things, Kurt Angle, who WWE offered a one-year, full-time deal to several months back, was at the forefront of the Destination America promotional material and looks to be remaining in a part-time position as he attempts to also bridge into more acting work. Gail Kim, who’s deal was expiring, was also promoted heavily. Bobby Lashley, in the midst of his best career run to date, will split his time between TNA Wrestling and Bellator. Others who’s deals have expired have agreed to work on a per appearance basis. The lone talent question mark that remains currently is Bully Ray, who may have actually ended up too expensive for TNA to re-sign given what his market value is worth, but now that TV is secure, that could change as well. He’s obviously valuable in terms of being able to get heat, have good matches and bring others up to a higher level over the course of working programs with him. In 2014, those are all very desirable qualities.
TNA sources declined to comment on Alberto Del Rio’s statement to fans over the weekend that he was coming into the company.
With the move from SpikeTV, TNA is now off TV in Canada as of January. A top TNA executive stated yesterday that the company is already working on securing a new deal in that country, so for those of you who are North of the Border, TNA hasn’t forgotten about you. The company’s other international TV deals are unaffected by signing with Destination America, although the deal gives Discovery Communications (Destination’s parent company) the rights to distribute TNA Impact Wrestling internationally in certain markets that weren’t named in yesterday’s announcement.
Impact Wrestling will remain a two hour series. What day of the week it will air has not yet been finalized, although Tuesday or Wednesday appear to be the smart bets.
TNA will continue with SpikeTV episodes through 12/24, with next week’s episode billed as the start of a look back at “The Best of 2014” for the promotion. There was actually a hell of a lot of good wrestling towards the second half of the year, so the company will have a lot of good matches to showcase.
Oh and as if there wasn’t enough going on, TNA crowned new champions last night with Taryn Terrell winning the Knockouts title and Low Ki winning the X-Division belt.
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