TV network turns down offer to carry Impact Wrestling
As noted a few days ago, the news got worse for TNA as they lost their deal in the UK. Challenge announced that TNA would no longer be airing on their station beginning on 1/1/17. It’s a big blow for TNA because they rely on their UK and India TV deals as their only source of major revenue.
The Challenge deal was worth somewhere between $1 million and $1.5 million per year. So, they are down to the Sony Six deal in India that pays them $5 million per year. They also have a deal with Super Sport in Africa but that deal brings them less money than the Challenge deal. The declining ratings and the person that was the main backer of the Impact Wrestling show left the station so that is why they chose not to renew them. If their ratings did not drop so much in the last couple of years then it’s likely that they would have been renewed in 2017.
TNA apparently had known for months that the Challenge deal was in trouble because they were looking to talk with other networks. They had a meeting a couple of months ago with Premier Sports (a pay channel) but the station looked into their situation and declined their offer to put TNA on their channel. One of the things they saw was how TNA management handled the cancellations from Spike TV and Destination America. The declining UK ratings also played a factor in their decision but the people at Premier Sports were told a while ago by TNA that the show would be available in January and they’d be off Challenge. Things could always change but it doesn’t look like they’ll be on that channel and there’s no word on where they will land, if they get picked up at all.
Their deal on Sony Six in India can be canceled at any time since the terms of the deal call for TNA to tour India at least once a year. They canceled last year’s tour and they have not toured there this year. I’m interested in finding out Pop TV’s reaction to seeing the legal situation between Billy Corgan and TNA. The Pop TV deal is a barter deal so it’s low risk for Pop but the ratings are far below expectations.
credit: THE SpOTLight
