TNA On FSN Starts June 4th At 3PM

[BoboBrazil]

--Alex Marvez reports that a Fox Sports Net source informed him the TNA deal has been signed and starts 6/4 in the Friday at 3 p.m. time slot.

 

wrestlingobserver.com

[JoeDirt]

Fridays at 3:00, huh?

 

Well, I'll definitely watch when I can...though I don't know how many people will.

 

At least it's going to start during the summer, so kids won't be in school and can maybe catch on now before school starts back up again or something.

[Astro101]

That's eastern time right? And one hour or two I wonder.

[Michrome]

That's 3 EST. They're very, VERY lucky that their trial period is during the summer, when kids are home. I still think it's a death slot, so we'll see.

 

Edit: It's going to be 1 hour by all accounts.

[JoeDirt]

I'm almost positive it's an hour show, not two hours.

[OldSchoolWrestling]

TNA said their main demographic is 40-50 year olds. Is that unemployed 40-50 year olds they're targeting?

[thuganomics]

So, 6 months before TNA finally goes under?

[Guest nikowwf]

what a stupid freaking time slot....ill be able to see it....hmm...NEVER....

 

does fox sports net replay things ad naseum? maybe we can catch a replay at a later time?

 

niko

[JHawk]

So, 6 months before TNA finally goes under?

Depends on how much they're paying for this spot.

 

I usually work during the time slot, so all I can say is "Thank God for VCRs."

[tpww7]

$30,000 a show I think.

[Guest TDinDC1112]

I've read many times that they're paying somewhere between $25,000 and $45,000 for the slot. It's a horrible slot, but I guess they couldn't afford a better one. They shouldn't even bother. Who's home at 3pm on a Friday? Who? I haven't been home at 3PM on a Friday since I was 4 years old.

 

They would be MUCH better off with something even late night, like 1 or 2 in the morning on a Friday or Saturday.

[Placebo Effect]

what a stupid freaking time slot....ill be able to see it....hmm...NEVER....

 

does fox sports net replay things ad naseum? maybe we can catch a replay at a later time?

 

niko

Since TNA is paying for the time, I doubt it.

 

If they get an actual TV deal, then I can imagine FSN will replay it once or twice late at night.

[eirejmcmahon]

I'm a working man and I do enjoy me more than a few beers on a Friday night so I won't be seeing it.

[OldSchoolWrestling]

Being that they plan on keeping the weekly PPVs, is this going to be any different than XPlosion? Because I don't know if that will do much ratings wise if they are showing ppv recaps and a couple jobber matches at 3pm. They'd have to make it a must-see show for it to do anything.

[eirejmcmahon]

It's a tricky one for NWATNA.

 

The WWE provides eight hours of original programming (per brand) leading up to a three hour PPV once a month.

 

I don't think you can run much continuity between a one hour tv slot and a two hour PPV show every week. Especially when your TV show is positioned at such an awful time.

 

I honestly don't know what way they should go. Realistically they have to go all out and get decent ratings so they get a deal where they're not paying for the show.

[Guest Real F'n Show]

I'll probably tape all of the X-Division matches but thats about it.

 

I regret not taping some of WCW's cruiser matches right before they went under...

[Guest OSIcon]

Well, to their credit, they were smart enough not to pay the additional money for the Sunday timeslot (which would only have been slightly better). Though according to Meltzer, the time slots aren't staggered for different timezones, which means that the they will be hurting on the west coast a lot.

 

I regret not taping some of WCW's cruiser matches right before they went under...

 

As a WCW fan, I was so starved for good wrestling after a year+ of Russo, that I started taping the cruiserweight matches beginning with the Shane Helms/Shannon Moore Number One Contender's match on the Nitro after Starrcade. I continued all the way to the last Nitro (including cruiserweight PPV matches). A lot of the matches (especially the Noble ones) really hold up....

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

Where does this leave us Canadians?

[Placebo Effect]

Being that they plan on keeping the weekly PPVs, is this going to be any different than XPlosion? Because I don't know if that will do much ratings wise if they are showing ppv recaps and a couple jobber matches at 3pm. They'd have to make it a must-see show for it to do anything.

Considering that they're hoping to tape matches in Orlando, I can only imagine that they'll start throwing out some worthwhile matches on the show.

 

I assume they'll keep Xplosion around.

[USC Wuz Robbed!]

I doubt the West Coast is TNA's target demographic anyways as they seem to be happy doing shows in the hick towns.

[Guest Coffey]

Well, I'm not a big fan of that timeslot, but I know that I have a VCR, so....

[the max]

Exactly.

 

Christ, I haven't seen a show of theirs in a year now, but I'll tape it a few times to try and get into it again.

 

You don't HAVE to watch it live.

[RedJed]

Seperating the bad from the good with this deal......

 

BAD:

 

-The actual timeslot. Who exactly are they trying to target here? 3pm Eastern, even the east coast kiddies are just getting out of school then, and what is there to say about the rest of the country? Just seems like a time that is never going to amount to substantial ratings. They would have been better going with the Sunday slot (even if it was a little more) since at least more people would be guaranteed to be home then compared to this time. And forget about the 9 to 5ers as far as this goes with this slot. Saturday or Sunday at virtually anytime would have been better than this.

 

-Being on an early timeslot and judging by the standards FOX Sports has told TNA to conform too, the general style might be less blood, extreme violence, etc. Akin to how WCW became in the mid 90s, very family friendly. That could be good or bad considering what style you prefer.

 

-I question how the ppvs are going to be made more special in comparison to the actual shows on FSN. They are having erratic booking issues as is and now having a show that is supposed to attract viewers and then to lead into a weekly ppv every month is a stretch. An initial thought is that Russo maybe writes the TV (more angle based) and Mantell and Jarrett do the actual ppvs (hopefully will be more wrestling based than ever with longer matches than usual).

 

-Not sure how an Orlando crowd is going to react to the promotion. Then again maybe thats the best thing for TNA....get away from the Nashville crowd, which has gotten rather stale.

 

-Xplosion will likely just be recaps and nothing more, or it might be taken completely out and just replaced with the FSN show, which will be rebroadcast in syndication.

 

-1 hour is rough to put together something suitable together. Matches will likely be kept very short.

 

GOOD

 

-Hey its a national TV clearance anyway you look at it.

 

-If they can really make the 1 hour must see, then they would likely eliminate the 2 hour ppvs every week and move to a 3 hour show once a month. They may also possibly be able to move to a better time and maybe an extra hour if it really takes off.

 

-More time means more opportunity for getting angles, characters, and feuds

over.

 

-Possibility of guys like Styles, Killings, etc really taking off on a national level.

 

-Chance to make the ppvs more wrestling and less interviews, angles. I hope the main events on the ppv can be given more time soon.

 

As it seems, there are more bad than good right now on the outset.

[Styles]

Hey, it's a TV deal! Fire up the TiVo!

 

I still am not sure if this will air on Comcast Sportsnet which is the local sports station that airs both in Philly and DC areas. They do play some FSN programming so I'd imagine, they'd pick this up too...I hope!

[swan]

That was the old AWA and World Class timeslot on ESPN. 3 pm central time.

[thecitythesky]

I still am not sure if this will air on Comcast Sportsnet which is the local sports station that airs both in Philly and DC areas. They do play some FSN programming so I'd imagine, they'd pick this up too...I hope!

 

... i'm not sure they will. since NWA-TNA is paying for the time, it seems like the deal is analagous to an infomercial type scenario. so Comcast may be able to elect to pick it up on their stations from their occasional FSN feed. but i wouldn't imagine that they would right out of the box.

 

. i'm not sure what they air during that time slot, as i don't live in the area. but if it's paid programming of some sort; Comcast'd be better off to keep that hour to themselves and make more money than they would off of the advertising from the TNA show.

 

and if Comcast would have to pay for the programming from FSN or TNA for the show in exchange for the advertising dollars (which they most likely would, since the Comcast thing'd be more representitive of a syndication type deal) you can probably forget about it.

................................................................................

.

 

also. as far as the ratings issue goes. i don't think that getting the ratings is necessarily their primary concern. being that they're keeping the Wed. PPV slot, the TV show ought to be used as a platform to get people who wouldn't pay for the product, but would watch it for free to check them out and eventually buy the PPVs.

 

at least at this point in the game that has to be their MO. if their hoping for a non-staggered 3PM timeslot to be their jump off. they should quit now and save Panda some money.

 

*

[Guest OSIcon]

From a quick look at the TV Guide, Comcast Sportsnet (Mid Atlantic) usually runs paid programing at 3:00 on Fridays. Now, that doesn't exactly mean they will play TNA. If the paid programing that airs at that timeis Comcast's own paid programing (in that the money for the informercial comes directly to them), they might be more likely to keep that on rather then play a show that they won't reap as much (if any) financial benefits from. I would imagine it would be something similiar for Philly.

 

also. as far as the ratings issue goes. i don't think that getting the ratings is necessarily their primary concern. being that they're keeping the Wed. PPV slot, the TV show ought to be used as a platform to get people who wouldn't pay for the product, but would watch it for free to check them out and eventually buy the PPVs.

 

As I've said before, TNA is losing a lot of money right now. With the added costs of this television show, they will be losing even MORE money. Meaning that they need a HUGE increase in buyrates to get to the break-even point. Even TNA doesn't seem to be banking on that as according to Meltzer, they are hoping the show gets good enough ratings that they won't have to pay anymore. Meltzer says that kind of thing rarely happens with paid programing. So ratings are a concern to them (not to menition FSN is putting the show on a trial basis and can be canceled after so many episodes if they aren't pleased with it). Even TNA seems to know that paying for the slot indefinitely won't get them anywhere finacially.

[tekcop]

So... what exactly is Fox Sports Net? I was looking for the channel on DirectTV and there's, like, nearly 20 diferent FSN channels. Most of which I don't get.

[TNABaddboi]

-Xplosion will likely just be recaps and nothing more, or it might be taken completely out and just replaced with the FSN show, which will be rebroadcast in syndication.

 

In search for positives, I had this thought too. Just about the only way to make a positive of the horrible, horrible timeslot is to use the clearances they already have to run replays so that people who aren't home at 3 pm, which is almost everybody, can watch. Since they're paying for the slot, FOX isn't gonna care about ratings and I'm not sure TNA will either. I think at this point they're in it more for the exposure, so if they do it that way, people who want to see but don't get Xplosion can record it and people who get both can catch the replay at whatever time. But, I think they'd either have to change the name or stress that its new and improved, because Xplosion has pretty much been branded as a recap/jobber show. They'd have to make sure people watched both, so they'd have to run angles on the TV show and minimize the recaps, or else no one will buy the PPVs.

 

As I've said before, TNA is losing a lot of money right now. With the added costs of this television show, they will be losing even MORE money. Meaning that they need a HUGE increase in buyrates to get to the break-even point. Even TNA doesn't seem to be banking on that as according to Meltzer, they are hoping the show gets good enough ratings that they won't have to pay anymore. Meltzer says that kind of thing rarely happens with paid programing. So ratings are a concern to them (not to menition FSN is putting the show on a trial basis and can be canceled after so many episodes if they aren't pleased with it). Even TNA seems to know that paying for the slot indefinitely won't get them anywhere finacially.

 

I think the only way FSN will cancel them is content related, i.e if its not family-oriented, cuz since they're paying, they can really cancel them for ratings. If TNA can get any kind of decent rating in this horrible slot, they might be able to shop that to other stations in the hopes of getting picked-up. Kind of like saying, if we drew this # in the afternoon, imagine what we could do in a better slot on your network. I think it would have to be with another station though, because I doubt FSN will pick them up on a real deal because they'll want them to keep paying. But they if this is the best deal they can get, they almost have to take it, cuz they desperately need TV to survive. Sure it's a huge gamble, but the biggest success story in the business have been gamble. If the original Wrestlemania would have tanked, WWE probably wouldn't exist today and if WCW didn't take a risk and run against RAW, which everyone thought was crazy at the time, we wouldn't have had the Monday Night War.

[eirejmcmahon]

I hated all the bullshit 'this fed will be dead within x-amount of days' nonsense that went before but looking at where things are now...and...well...dead company walking.