In a surprising update on TNA’s future TV deal, the company could end up staying with Spike TV. Currently, TNA Wrestling is airing taped shows and will then air highlight shows until the end of the year, when their current run with Spike ends. It was said that Spike gave TNA until the end of the year as a courtesy, as their original TV deal ended in October.
Spike and TNA spoke regarding a TV deal months ago, and the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement. This is why we heard the news of Spike TV dropping the wrestling program. The fact that TNA has not been gaining viewers has hurt them severely, according to experts. Ever since the announcement was made, many former and current talents claimed it was a good move at the end of the day because Spike barely promoted them.
While Spike can be responsible for some promotion, TNA has to do some too. WWE for one promotes themselves in various ways. USA Network doesn’t have to do this for them all the time. That being said, Spike is not responsible for constant promotion of TNA . The other critical remark was that Spike seemingly wanted to buy into the company and Dixie Carter wouldn’t allow it, thus the talks stopping with Spike.
Viacom recently bought Bellator MMA, Spike’s newest MMA platform. This was done because Viacom could gain more money by buying in than trying to only see advertising money from it. This led to many believing Viacom wanted to buy into TNA. This is said to be true, which is why many within TNA were good with the move away from the Spike TV network.
Despite this, it appears that TNA Wrestling’s only TV show, Impact Wrestling , could be staying on Spike.
Original talks with Spike were done in hopes for TNA to get similar money that they did in their last deal, but Spike wasn’t willing to give anything close to that. The reason: TNA has lost major names and many TNA favorites. On top of this, ratings have not gotten better since the last deal. In fact, they have lowered.
This lowball deal led to TNA seeing what they could get on the open market. Finding out that no one was willing to offer them the money they wanted, one source notes that TNA may end up going back to Spike TV. It is said that the two sides never stopped talking, but Spike was not willing to budge on it’s offer to TNA. That being said, if TNA stays with Spike, it will be for a significantly lower amount than their last deal. However, with this they will remain on a major network… something they may not get with some other offer that might be on the table.
TNA is still negotiating with other networks, but right now we can assume Spike is where they will end up. To add more fuel to the fire, TNA Executive Vice President John Gaburick was in New York on Wednesday. It was said that he was there to sign a new TV deal. We know that MTV, Spike’s parent company, has an office in New York. Of course, many networks do. So while Guburick could be going anywhere, it is said that TNA has signed a deal with someone, and many believe it’s with Spike.
We are expecting to hear a “big announcement” from TNA President Dixie Carter soon. So we can assume she will tell us of either the Kurt Angle signing or the newest TV deal TNA has sealed up. Regardless of who they end up with, TNA will have to sign for a lot less. So we could still see a lot of people leave… especially seeing as Panda Energy is refusing to go over budget with TNA these days.
[IMG Credits: Fansided.com, TMZ.com]