What TNA's New National Cable Clearance Means To

[BoboBrazil 0]

When Jerry and Jeff Jarrett first launched NWA-TNA, the idea was to buck the system and promote wrestling with an entirely new business plan, one with PPV but without a national TV clearance. It didn't take long for reality to sink in. The PPV industry wasn't supportive enough of the product, the internet fan base wasn't as large or supportive as they had figured, and fans in general weren't ready to pay $9.95 per week to watch a two hour live wrestling show.

 

Now, having survived two years when critics thought they wouldn't last two months, they have made a major shift in their business plan. The new deal to air a weekly one-hour show on Fox Sports Net gives them their biggest vehicle yet to promote their stars and their weekly PPV events.

 

On the bright side, the Fox Sports Network clearance gives TNA credibility it didn't have before due to an affiliation with a major sports network. TNA will brand its product as often as possible with the Fox Sports logo, which could open doors to other deals with marketing and advertising deals. There will be beneficial cross-promotion with Fox Sports, beginning with Jeff Jarrett's interview on May 13 on FSN's "Best Damn Sports Show, Period."

 

On the down side, the TV timeslot is about as bad as it could possibly be. Fridays at 3 p.m. ET means most wrestling fans will never know they even exist as the vast majority of their target demographic will be at work or college classes when the show is on. The unemployed who are home then aren't likely to have $40 a month for weekly PPV purchases. Those who are home during the day to see the show likely work at night and thus aren't around to order the live Wednesday night PPVs. Kids who are getting home from school on the East Coast can catch the show, but how many kids can talk their parents into ordering a wrestling PPV each week? Plus, Friday is five days from the next PPV, with a weekend and three weekdays in between for people to forget about the show the show is plugging.

 

On the bright side, the afternoon clearance means there will be few if any preemptions most weeks for regional sports coverage. FSN is different from most cable networks such as Spike TV, USA, TBS, and TNT in that it has over 20 different regional feeds, all of which air a mix of national and local sports programming. An evening timeslot would have been bad for TNA because it would be preempted so often for local sports. A weekend slot would be better, and it was talked about, but it also would have been more expensive for TNA. This deal already threatens to break the bank if it doesn't result in at least a doubling of PPV purchases quickly.

 

TNA is clearly looking at this as a way to get their foot in the door. The 52-week deal, with what sources say includes an out clause for both sides after 26 weeks, may lead to a better timeslot on FSN down the line. Or better yet, it could lead to TNA gaining enough credibility to negotiate with a regular cable channel such as FX or TBS which would feel better about picking up a weekly evening prime time slot after TNA proves itself with FSN first.

 

TNA plans to try to take advantage of its national clearance by upping the star power on its shows, potentially including Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Sting, not to mention Johnny Fairplay in a prominent role, capitalizing on his recent appearance on a Survivor reunion show on CBS where he won an award as Survivor's best all-time villain.

 

TNA is shifting its business plan in other ways. Jerry Jarrett originally spelled out a vision for TNA to be a source for talent on indy shows. TNA has plugged regional NWA indy events across the country on its PPV telecasts. Now TNA is looking into signing wrestlers to guaranteed salaries, but with the rights to send them to indy shows as part of that guaranteed salary. That would put TNA in the position of being an aggressive booking agent keeping wrestlers busy across the country. It would further lock up their top names and prevent them from being free agents and booking their own dates in the U.S. or elsewhere.

 

TNA officials had considered cutting out the weekly Wednesday night format and moving to a more traditional and familiar monthly Sunday night three-hour PPV format, using the weekly FSN clearance to promote it. A number of factors led to that change not being made at this time, but it is still a consideration down the line, especially if the buyrates of the Wednesday events (believed to be in the 8,000-10,000 range each week) don't pick up with the new national cable clearance.

 

This isn't TNA's first foray into a weekly TV show. They began syndicating a weekly show called TNA Explosion last year. The timeslots and stations for the syndicated network are weak and haven't led to a noticeable jump in buys, although it may be responsible for a certain percentage of weekly customers at this point.

 

TNA has also attempted to improve its internet marketing with email updates throughout the week to its email list, informing fans of what each week's line-up is. But with weekly losses adding up for the ownership group Panda Energy, small grassroots efforts weren't enough to boost buyrates to a profitable level.

 

Panda Energy, though, sees the incredible money WWE makes during its strong fiscal quarters. Jerry Jarrett knows as well as anyone how much potential there is for two thriving wrestling companies to coexist in the U.S. While the new FSN timeslot is hardly the revival of the Monday Night War with Raw and Nitro, it does present WWE with its most significant competition since it purchased WCW's scraps from Time-Warner three years ago. The goal of the Jarretts and Panda Energy is to become a true competitor for top names which means drastically increasing its revenues on PPV and eventually other areas such as TV ad revenue, house shows, merchandising, and other product tie-ins. TNA officials continue to talk about the possibility of running house shows regularly.

 

TNA plans to set itself apart from WWE by presenting its Impact TV show matches in a six-sided ring, something TNA viewers got a glimpse of on a PPV earlier this year when footage was shown from use of a six-sided ring in Puerto Rico. The six-sided ring gives TNA an immediate "fresh and different" appearance that could stop some channel flippers who otherwise might breeze past it.

 

The biggest fault of TNA during its two year run has been the inability to convince enough fans that their product is consistently good enough to be worth $9.95. In an informal poll on the TORCH VIP message boards, the number one reason cited by readers visiting the "TNA Discussion" area for not ordering TNA more often is the inconsistent quality of the shows and the push of Jeff Jarrett.

 

When TNA premiers on FSN, everyone in TNA expects a revamped approach to booking. A.J. Styles, currently the NWA World Hvt. Champion, is slated to hold the title for a while with the promotion being built around him. He is their most dazzling wrestler who also is a well-rounded wrestler. TNA can stand out from WWE not necessarily in overall in-ring quality or star power given what Raw has offered lately, but it can offer a more dazzling style with its X Division since WWE continues to drop the ball on its Cruiserweight Division. For TNA to succeed in the long run, the product has to be more impressive and consistent than it has been so far.

[Jericho2000Mark 0]

TNA's biggest problem IS inconsistency. It seems one week they are catering to Sports Entertainment fans, the next week to Workrate fans and the week after that, to Southern "Wrasslin" fans. That's why it's been hard for them to develop a strong and loyal fanbase.

[BoboBrazil 0]

They've had the same direction for like 3 months now without it changing. I'm pretty sure they are sticking with this one.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Which direction is that, exactly?

 

Seriously...I haven't caught the PPVs, but I've read the results of those Cruiserweight International Cup competitions, and the other 'big" happenings seems to be like AMW, Jarrett, Raven, Styles, Truth and Abyss feuding for the Little Gold Belt.

 

For the most part it sounds like the competitions are pretty shitty, due to some crappy workers from England, Canada and Mexico. (Save for Juventud, who left, right?)

 

Anyway...what would you say is the "direction" they've taken lately.

[BoboBrazil 0]

They've taken a family friendly direction, with a mix of wrestling and promos. Match times have all increased and average matches go much longer than they did a year ago. They are focusing more on in ring now. The America's X cups have all been good except the UK one. This next one is shaping up to be awesome with Canada, Japan, USA, and Mexico all competing. Someone who saw the matches that were pretaped before this past ppv for it said they were awesome.

[BoboBrazil 0]

double post