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[Guest El Satanico]

They need to look at Wednesday for the initial primetime slot. American Idol or Freddie isn't likely to pull away the wrestling audience.

 

It's too soon to give them two hours. They don't yet use their hour as well as they could, so let's not take it so fast. Keeping Impact as it is as a "B Show" for guys not featured on the main show, would be a good idea if TNA could manage that.

[TNABaddboi 0]

If they get the 90 minutes on Thursday, that'll be perfect for TNA IMO. When I watched the New Year's special in the replay slot (when they aired the hour show and the 30 min show back-to-back), I thought that was great for them. It'll be a little weird, b/c not many things regularly scheduled run 1 1/2 hours, but TNA can make it work I think. They can slow the show's down a bit (which they've already done tremendously) and still be the 90 minute adrenaliine rush that Spike wants to promote it as. This is a spot I could see TNA flourishing in, though I don't know if it makes to switch the UFC/TNA lead-in roles unless they're going to put the big push behind Impact, because while apparently the audiences have great crossover, UFC's is still bigger at this point.

 

I gotta say that this step coming now is very surprising for me. I thought they'd get more time on the weekends (maybe the old Saturday Night 6-8 slot or the old Heat slot) before they got to weeknight primetime. It's great that TNA has got a network that is really behind them.

[TNABaddboi 0]

Impact as it is as a "B Show" for guys not featured on the main show, would be a good idea if TNA could manage that.

 

I think they've established that they are going to make Impact their A show....they had a chance to debut a new show when they got on Spike, but instead they billed it as Impact moving from FSN to Spike. Which I think is a smart move. They need to build it up to the point where TV viewers know what Impact means. There are now 1 million viewers - give or take - that know when they see Impact on the schedule they're getting wrestling. You don't wanna destroy the branding before they've even finished building it. I could see them eventually lobbying Spike for a weekend slot for Xplosion though, in the role you've stated. I still think it's incredibly stupid that they don't build up the syndicated network for that in the meantime, or show it online like they did with Impact between FSN and Spike.

[Fro 0]

If they get the 90 minutes on Thursday, that'll be perfect for TNA IMO. When I watched the New Year's special in the replay slot (when they aired the hour show and the 30 min show back-to-back), I thought that was great for them. It'll be a little weird, b/c not many things regularly scheduled run 1 1/2 hours, but TNA can make it work I think. They can slow the show's down a bit (which they've already done tremendously) and still be the 90 minute adrenaliine rush that Spike wants to promote it as. This is a spot I could see TNA flourishing in, though I don't know if it makes to switch the UFC/TNA lead-in roles unless they're going to put the big push behind Impact, because while apparently the audiences have great crossover, UFC's is still bigger at this point.

 

I gotta say that this step coming now is very surprising for me. I thought they'd get more time on the weekends (maybe the old Saturday Night 6-8 slot or the old Heat slot) before they got to weeknight primetime. It's great that TNA has got a network that is really behind them.

 

I think 90 minutes is the perfect length program for them at this point in time... the two hour special seemed to drag a bit.

 

Plus, they can still tape 2 shows per taping.

[Guest El Satanico]

Impact as it is as a "B Show" for guys not featured on the main show, would be a good idea if TNA could manage that.

 

I think they've established that they are going to make Impact their A show....they had a chance to debut a new show when they got on Spike, but instead they billed it as Impact moving from FSN to Spike.

I meant keep a b-show in the current "Impact" slot, not a b-show named "Impact".

[TNABaddboi 0]

I meant keep a b-show in the current "Impact" slot, not a b-show named "Impact".

 

Ohhhh...I gotcha. Well yeah, I'd love to see them do that too. They could do the squashes on there, with a marquee (or close to it) main event, and have more time for angles and matches that go longer than 3 minutes on Impact.

[Placebo Effect 0]

That's going to happen no matter what night they are on. There's competition for every primetime slot during the week.

 

But there are also a lot more people watching at 8 than there are at 11. On Saturday.

 

I routinely missed the second hour of the last six months of Nitro because of Boston Public's first season. Had I realized it was so close to the end there's no way I'd have missed them.

 

Once it's on in primetime you'll be able to download it a lot easier.

[NoCalMike 0]

This is definately good news. Now drop Jarrert as Booker.

[TNABaddboi 0]

PWI and WO both say the announcement is coming early next week. Here's what PWI posted:

 

TNA and Spike TV will officially announce Impact's new timeslot this Tuesday morning during a conference call with X-Division champion Samoa Joe.

 

There will be another conference call on Monday with TNA staff and wrestlers so that management break the news to them first and also detail any scheduling changes in terms of taping dates, etc. that will go along with it.

 

Meltz added this:

 

The belief is it will be a Thursday slot, which makes 8 p.m. most likely. 60 minutes is more likely than the 90 minutes the company was pushing for due to the nature of UFC programming scheduled for that night.

[Silence 0]

The belief is it will be a Thursday slot, which makes 8 p.m. most likely. 60 minutes is more likely than the 90 minutes the company was pushing for due to the nature of UFC programming scheduled for that night.

 

Great, jobber squashes on Thursday night, featuring Lex Lovett and Buck Quartermain, of course.

[Guest Nobody in Particular]

At that time slot, they'd be going head to head against Smackdown in Canada. This could get interesting.

[Celtic Guardian 0]

Spike TV exec Kevin Kay confirmed to Multichannel News that the slot will be Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET (not 8) beginning April 13.

[Guest El Satanico]

9? fuck

 

Earl/Office, The OC and Impact...

 

Even with Tivo, there's no way to watch all three.

[Celtic Guardian 0]

9? fuck

 

Earl/Office, The OC and Impact...

 

Even with Tivo, there's no way to watch all three.

 

"The Office" will end its current season at least before "TNA Impact" becomes competition. Can't help with the others, sorry.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Kinda surprised it's at that specific timeslot, but glad it's going to be on Thursdays. I miss having wrestling as an option on Thursdays.

[TNABaddboi 0]

Meltz said the show will be 60 minutes for sure, but PWI says the fate of the 10 o'clock hour has yet to be determined, so maybe there's still hope for an extended timeslot after all. Here's what Mike Johnson posted about it:

 

TNA will inform its wrestlers tomorrow morning that the promotion will be moving on 4/13 to Thursday evenings at 9 PM. An official press release from Spike TV is expected to follow, although that may not come until as late as Tuesday during the scheduled media teleconference with X-Division champion Samoa Joe.

 

With the new season of The Ultimate Fighter reality series (which will feature Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz as coaches) scheduled for 11 PM, there's no word yet as to what Spike has planned for the 10 PM hour

[TNABaddboi 0]

Spike officially announced the move today.....The press release doesn't say whether the show will be 60 or 90 minutes, but it does say that the replay will air in the current slot, so I guess TNA is out of the Monday business althogether now. Here's the release:

 

TNA WRESTLING MOVES TO PRIMETIME ON SPIKE TV

 

Moves To Thursdays at 9 PM Starting April 13

 

New York, NY, February 6, 2006 – Spike TV has announced that Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling will move to a weeknight primetime slot starting this April. Premieres of TNA: iMPACT! Wrestling will move to Thursdays at 9:00 PM, ET/PT, starting April 13, and will encore in its current Saturday night timeslot.

 

“TNA Wrestling has been delivering strong ratings for Spike and is continually growing its audience,” says Kevin Kay, General Manager/Executive Vice-President, Spike TV. “Wrestling fans have been looking for an alternative and have found it in TNA’s brand of high-flying and action-packed entertainment.”

 

Since launching in October 2005, TNA: iMPACT! Saturday telecasts have averaged a .8/724,000 HH rating, with .8/397,000 in Men 18-49 and a .8/202,000 in M 18-34 with an average audience of 957,000. Compared to YAGO, TNA Wrestling is +56% in HH, +103% in M 18-49 and +72% in average audience. On Saturday, January 28 TNA scored some of its highest ratings with a 1.1/970,000 HH rating with a 1.0/518,000 in M 18-49 and 1.0/252,000 in M 18-34 and an average audience of 1.3 million viewers.

 

“The move to prime time on Spike is the most significant event in TNA Wrestling’s short history,” said Dixie Carter, president of TNA Wrestling. “I am very proud of our entire team and all their hard work in achieving this milestone. Spike has been a fantastic partner, and we have accomplished so much together in just four months. We look forward to continuing to work with them to grow the TNA brand during this exciting time.”

 

The new wrestling alternative, “TNA: iMPACT!” delivers a distinct brand of high-risk, athletic entertainment. TNA’s roster includes new, fresh talent like AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, Monty Brown and recognizable stars such as Sting, Christian Cage, Jeff Jarrett, Team 3D, and others. TNA features the innovative six-sided ring and the high-flying “X Division,” as well as concept matches such as “Ultimate X,” “King of the Mountain,” and “Six Sides of Steel.”

 

TNA Entertainment, LLC is a privately held company headquartered in Nashville,TN. The names of all Total Nonstop Action Wrestling televised programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans and all TNA Wrestling logos and trademarks are exclusive property of TNA Entertainment, LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For more information, visit www.tnawrestling.com.

 

Spike TV is available in more than 89 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV Networks, with more than 100 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following television programming services – MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN, VH1 CLASSIC, LOGO, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services, with all of these networks trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust consumer products businesses and its more than 95 interactive properties worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television services and also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.

 

I guess the next question is do they try to load up the primetime debut like they did the first Spike show? The first show will be a few weeks before LockDown, which they're planning a big blowoff show apparently, so they can't hotshot too much. But maybe that's the night Sting returns or this 2nd major star they've been talking too debuts? Thoughts?

[Celtic Guardian 0]

Spike officially announced the move today.....The press release doesn't say whether the show will be 60 or 90 minutes, but it does say that the replay will air in the current slot, so I guess TNA is out of the Monday business althogether now.

 

The encore viewership won't be as large without the Monday spillover but it will obviously be a more meaningful audience for promoting the TNA pay-per-views.

[TNABaddboi 0]

The encore viewership won't be as large without the Monday spillover but it will obviously be a more meaningful audience for promoting the TNA pay-per-views.

 

IMO, that's a good trade-off for TNA because of the nature of their deal with Spike. If they can translate those Saturday viewers into Sunday buyers, that's better for their bottom line than the extra .1 or .2 they'd get because of the Monday spillover. Now if the Monday replay was somehow pimping the PPV the night before, it'd be a different story, but the nature of their taping schedule doesn't allow that. So yeah, it's good for TNA all around. The first run show airs before a significantly high audience and the replay gets the hard sell in before the PPV airs.

[RedJed 0]

I am thrilled to hear of this news, but I still am a little bummed just because I'm still not confident they can really completely make this work without another extra hour of original content a week. I'm fine with one hour on Thursdays, but I wish they would actually have Sat night be a totally different show entirely instead of an encore of Impact from the Thursday show. I still think TNA should also be allowed to have that Monday encore slot as well, in fact having two hours devoted to two different encores of two different shows would be fantastic, hell why not even go head to head with those encores with Raw? I cant imagine what else they are anticipating in the Monday slot otherwise....