TNA off DA? DA adds ROH June 3rd. Updates in OP.
May 20, 2015 19:44:25 GMT -5
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Post by Crusty Ruffles on May 20, 2015 19:44:25 GMT -5
CORNFED EDIT: I'll be keeping the OP up to date with new developments.
DA has secretly worked out a deal with ROH to start airing programming.
pwinsider.com/article/94002/ring-of-honor-secures-national-cable-tv-deal-and-you-will-never-guess-where.html?p=1
No TNA staff or talent were aware of the development.
Conference Call Notes
My personal favorite part of all of this:
Original post below:
Edit: More info.
DA has secretly worked out a deal with ROH to start airing programming.
pwinsider.com/article/94002/ring-of-honor-secures-national-cable-tv-deal-and-you-will-never-guess-where.html?p=1
No TNA staff or talent were aware of the development.
Conference Call Notes
{Spoiler}{Spoiler}
TNA CONFERENCE CALL NOTES
by Mike Johnson @ 6:51 PM on 5/27/2015
According to several sources who took part in today's TNA conference call with President Dixie Carter discussing the company today with TNA staff and wrestlers, there were no real explanations given regarding the current situation with Destination America.
I was told that it was intimated that due to the nature of the contract between the two parties, neither TNA nor Destination America can publicly comment on their relationship.
Regarding Ring of Honor being added to the Network, the impression given was that TNA, due to their relationship with DA, could not speak on the show until it was announced. I've heard from a few people who didn't buy that explanation and the general belief among those I've spoken to who were on the call is that TNA didn't know about ROH until it was announced.
At times, once the call was opened up for wrestlers to voice their opinions, the call did get very heated. I was told that at one point, Carter told the wrestlers it was up to them to show the world why they were the best in the world and that they "controlled their own destiny." This led to some of the issues of the past year, including the move from Spike and the pay issues being brought up. I was told Carter responded as if the pay issues were in the past.
I heard differing opinions from talents. One said that he felt better now that had the situation had been addressed as talents were no longer "in the dark" and they hoped everyone would get back to performing and not worrying. The talent referred to the call as a big "family blowout" in that now that everyone said their piece, there was a feeling of communication and now everyone could get back to work.
Another called it a "circus call" in that once the floodgates opened for the talent, some of the talents began bringing up personal issues that would have been better dealt with in a one on one forum.
Still another told me it was over 90 minutes of nothing of substance truly being addressed while noting the company was adamant they wanted things kept private while asking talents not to speak out and leak things.
The Dixie Carter "email" story did not come up during the call, I am told.
As we hear more, we'll have additional updates.
TNA CONFERENCE CALL NOTES
by Mike Johnson @ 6:51 PM on 5/27/2015
According to several sources who took part in today's TNA conference call with President Dixie Carter discussing the company today with TNA staff and wrestlers, there were no real explanations given regarding the current situation with Destination America.
I was told that it was intimated that due to the nature of the contract between the two parties, neither TNA nor Destination America can publicly comment on their relationship.
Regarding Ring of Honor being added to the Network, the impression given was that TNA, due to their relationship with DA, could not speak on the show until it was announced. I've heard from a few people who didn't buy that explanation and the general belief among those I've spoken to who were on the call is that TNA didn't know about ROH until it was announced.
At times, once the call was opened up for wrestlers to voice their opinions, the call did get very heated. I was told that at one point, Carter told the wrestlers it was up to them to show the world why they were the best in the world and that they "controlled their own destiny." This led to some of the issues of the past year, including the move from Spike and the pay issues being brought up. I was told Carter responded as if the pay issues were in the past.
I heard differing opinions from talents. One said that he felt better now that had the situation had been addressed as talents were no longer "in the dark" and they hoped everyone would get back to performing and not worrying. The talent referred to the call as a big "family blowout" in that now that everyone said their piece, there was a feeling of communication and now everyone could get back to work.
Another called it a "circus call" in that once the floodgates opened for the talent, some of the talents began bringing up personal issues that would have been better dealt with in a one on one forum.
Still another told me it was over 90 minutes of nothing of substance truly being addressed while noting the company was adamant they wanted things kept private while asking talents not to speak out and leak things.
The Dixie Carter "email" story did not come up during the call, I am told.
As we hear more, we'll have additional updates.
My personal favorite part of all of this:
{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}
Original post below:
"Just days before the move was announced, Destination America made the decision to cancel TNA Wrestling, with the time frame given at the end of the third quarter (roughly the last week of September, when the current television season ends). Key people at the Discovery Channel network were informed of the decision at that point.
The word internally was that while they considered the ratings good, the ratings were not good enough to justify the cost of the programming. The other problem was that so many regular station advertisers specifically did not want to advertise on the show.
It should be noted that when the word was sent out, it was stated specifically that TNA would remain on Friday nights, with original episodes, until that point, and informing people for the fall season plans for Friday nights. Just days later, they were moved to Wednesday.
The decision was meant to be kept secret, very much like Spike kept secret publicly last year its decision to drop TNA for months after the decision was made and reported. It doesn't serve the station or the promotion any good to publicly cancel the show this far in advance. The public acknowledgment was expected to come around the time the station listed its 2015-16 television season prime time lineup with the launch of up front advertising.
Those who were informed of the cancellation have not been told at this point anything different several days after the change of date was announced. But things obviously have changed, at least to the degree of moving days. So this story is very much ongoing. What is known is that Destination America reacts quickly to ratings. After the 3/13 episode, when the Friday show's numbers dropped to a new low, the decision was made to cancel the Saturday morning programming with the idea that eliminating the replay would help the Friday number, which is the only number they cared about. And Friday numbers did increase somewhat after that point.
Eventually, they've dropped almost all their TNA programming except as far as time fillers, because of the difficulty in selling ads, and canceled all first run programming with the exception of the two hours of Impact airing multiple times on Friday nights. For the 5/8 show, the hope was going almost live would help deliver a big number, and Destination America also purchased an ad in USA Today to promote the show, thinking the added advertising and live would lead to an increased rating. Instead, the first episode did the second lowest number ever, and the replay, which is thought to be for the West Coast viewers in their prime time, did the all-time record low. Granted, that was more due to the NBA playoffs and going against a Cleveland Cavaliers game than anything else, but clearly the live hype meant nothing. Days later, the original decision to cancel was made."
www.f4wonline.com/component/content/article/110-wrestling-observer-newsletter/42649-may-25-2015-wrestling-observer-newsletter-state-of-tna-nsacs-new-doping-penalties-and-more
The word internally was that while they considered the ratings good, the ratings were not good enough to justify the cost of the programming. The other problem was that so many regular station advertisers specifically did not want to advertise on the show.
It should be noted that when the word was sent out, it was stated specifically that TNA would remain on Friday nights, with original episodes, until that point, and informing people for the fall season plans for Friday nights. Just days later, they were moved to Wednesday.
The decision was meant to be kept secret, very much like Spike kept secret publicly last year its decision to drop TNA for months after the decision was made and reported. It doesn't serve the station or the promotion any good to publicly cancel the show this far in advance. The public acknowledgment was expected to come around the time the station listed its 2015-16 television season prime time lineup with the launch of up front advertising.
Those who were informed of the cancellation have not been told at this point anything different several days after the change of date was announced. But things obviously have changed, at least to the degree of moving days. So this story is very much ongoing. What is known is that Destination America reacts quickly to ratings. After the 3/13 episode, when the Friday show's numbers dropped to a new low, the decision was made to cancel the Saturday morning programming with the idea that eliminating the replay would help the Friday number, which is the only number they cared about. And Friday numbers did increase somewhat after that point.
Eventually, they've dropped almost all their TNA programming except as far as time fillers, because of the difficulty in selling ads, and canceled all first run programming with the exception of the two hours of Impact airing multiple times on Friday nights. For the 5/8 show, the hope was going almost live would help deliver a big number, and Destination America also purchased an ad in USA Today to promote the show, thinking the added advertising and live would lead to an increased rating. Instead, the first episode did the second lowest number ever, and the replay, which is thought to be for the West Coast viewers in their prime time, did the all-time record low. Granted, that was more due to the NBA playoffs and going against a Cleveland Cavaliers game than anything else, but clearly the live hype meant nothing. Days later, the original decision to cancel was made."
www.f4wonline.com/component/content/article/110-wrestling-observer-newsletter/42649-may-25-2015-wrestling-observer-newsletter-state-of-tna-nsacs-new-doping-penalties-and-more
Edit: More info.
