There has been a lot of speculation on where we as fans were going to be able to find our wrestling in the latter part of this year. The rumors about Destination America getting out of the wrestling business as soon as they got in appear to be true. That being said have no fear it appears that the number 2 and 3 companies in the United States have both found new television partners. So here are Ring Time we take a look at the new arrangements and offer our thoughts.
On December 2nd Ring of Honor will bring their weekly show to COMET TV. The network will air ROH’s weekly program at midnight on Wednesday nights. Not the most ideal time to air a program but ROH fans are faithful and will seek out show.
What this new situation will offer the company is more distribution as it now be available in over 60% of the homes across the country and will be in 65 million homes. Now with more reach than Destination America which was able to draw 200,000 viewers Ring of Honor should be able to expand their product. A company that still likes to do live shows this will give them more places to go to run their events.
COMET will be a network that will be primarily dedicated to Sci-Fi programming on a 24/7 schedule. Not that it directly relates to wrestling but it’s a channel that will attract young males who are your generally your core wrestling fans. Also the network is a joint venture between MGM and the SinClair Broadcasting group which owns the promotion. Having a broadcast partner that is invested in the company can definitely be a help to growing promotion. They will give them time to grow their audience and try to present them in the best possible light.
With Destination America completely bailing out of the wrestling business the major question was where would TNA land. Without a television distribution deal the company surely would have died out sooner than later. The wrestling company with 9 lives has found its 3rd cable home in 3 years. Pop TV better known as the old TV Guide channel will be the new television partner for Dixie Carter and company.
The good news for TNA is that Pop will give them better exposure because Pop is in 80 million homes across the country. Destination America was not that widely available. With TNA being one the few first run programs on the channel they should get a decent push from the network. Pop is familiar with wrestling had they had the promotion Paragon Pro Wrestling (PPW) running shows on the network until November 21st of this year.
Now the downside to this deal with Pop TV is that Impact Wrestling is not getting paid for their services. The bright side is they are not paying to be on the network. Apparently the two parties will work a deal to split the ad revenue from the wrestling program.
Written By
Keith B. Holt
Follow on Twitter @Kholtjr
Share this:
