Big WWE TV changes in Canada

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

--WWE had a live one hour press conference carried today on The Score to officially announce Raw moving from TSN on 8/7. The big surprise is that Raw will never air live, as it's going from 10 p.m. to 12:05 a.m., on a one hour tape delay. It will also have a replay at 12:35 a.m. However, The Score promised that Raw will never be pre-empted. There were a lot of snide comments made regarding TSN's preemptions of Raw for curling and hockey by the wrestlers there (didn't hear who said what but Edge, Trish Stratus, Ric Flair and Shane McMahon were all there, and Shane praised TSN for the many year relationship, but he was the only one). They also announced, but did not give a date, that Smackdown would be moving from Thursday to Friday, airing at 8 p.m. with a midnight replay. This goes into effect on 8/11. This is the same backward step in the U.S. that has badly hurt the show on UPN. The Score has picked up Thursday NBA programming for this season so the move was not a surprise. The Score is also going to add a one hour WWE weekly analysis show in prime time on Sunday nights, but the time slot was not announced. (thanks to John Pollock)

 

--Shane McMahon privately noted that the announcement of ECW in Canada should be made within the next few days. CanWest, which owns a few different stations, will be the broadcast partner, but we don't know the station it will be on. The only hint we were given is a major station in a very late night time slot.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

The Score is also going to add a one hour WWE weekly analysis show in prime time on Sunday nights, but the time slot was not announced.

 

Is this their own show or merely something like Afterburn, Bottom Line, etc?

[10 Pounds 0]

I just have regular cable, so that means bye bye Raw.

 

Wow...its gonna feel weird not to see any wrestling anymore.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Looks like people in Montreal won't get Wrestling...

[KingPK 0]

So how much is this going to impact the Canadian market? IIRC, it was already becoming stagnant with few house shows and TV tapings so, since I guess The Score isn't a basic channel for a lot of Canadian systems, this will just hurt things more, won't it?

 

If there's one market that TNA and the UFC should jump on, it's this one. Canadian crowds are always fun crowds.

 

And when they talk about "The domestic market" in terms of PPV buys etc., does that include Canadian buys or is it just the States?

[treble 0]

Raw at 10 just means less chance that I'll watch it (although, it won't be on against 24 anymore).

 

I guess ECW will be on Global/CH. Better than the Score, since it won't have the ticker running the whole show.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Raw at 10 just means less chance that I'll watch it (although, it won't be on against 24 anymore).

 

I guess ECW will be on Global/CH. Better than the Score, since it won't have the ticker running the whole show.

Your actually bothered by the ticker???? I don't mind it at all.

[bob_barron 0]

Assuming I still get the Score where I live, I'm very happy about this.

 

I can watch Studio 60 on Mondays, and can now watch SD! every week. This is great news.

 

Score is avaiable on basic cable in Toronto

[CanadianChris 0]

Raw at 10 just means less chance that I'll watch it (although, it won't be on against 24 anymore).

 

I guess ECW will be on Global/CH. Better than the Score, since it won't have the ticker running the whole show.

Your actually bothered by the ticker???? I don't mind it at all.

I'm of two minds. I like the ticker if there's a game I want to follow, but I hate that it takes up way too much of the screen. The channel was never meant to carry actual programming.

 

I also hate their crappy sportscasters, but that's another story.

 

I might decide to watch SmackDown if I like the storylines. I haven't watched it in years since I don't get UPN here, and I started watching other stuff (usually hockey and/or CSI) on Thursdays.

[AntiLeaf33 0]

Not a big fan of Raw being on a 1 hour tape delay every week. Kinda takes the fun out of watching it and reading everyon'e opinons as the show is happening....guess I'll have to avoid the message boards Monday night's so I won't get a 60 minute spoiler for the show.

 

As for Smackdown being on Friday, I don't really care. I seldom watch it at all, and I'll probably watch it even less

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Raw at 10 just means less chance that I'll watch it (although, it won't be on against 24 anymore).

 

I guess ECW will be on Global/CH. Better than the Score, since it won't have the ticker running the whole show.

Your actually bothered by the ticker???? I don't mind it at all.

I'm of two minds. I like the ticker if there's a game I want to follow, but I hate that it takes up way too much of the screen. The channel was never meant to carry actual programming.

 

I also hate their crappy sportscasters, but that's another story.

 

I might decide to watch SmackDown if I like the storylines. I haven't watched it in years since I don't get UPN here, and I started watching other stuff (usually hockey and/or CSI) on Thursdays.

 

Yeah all the sportscasters suck, except for Cabby. He's funny, I've meet him twice, nice guy in person.

[Karnage 0]

In Vancouver, the Score is a third tier channel, a premium that you hafto pay after the package that is after the basic cable channels. I guess it was the only choice since it would be pre-empted almost every Monday for NFL on TSN.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

By the way, movin SD! to Friday's sucks for me because I'm pretty much always out on Friday's. But w/e if it's a good episode, I'll tape it.

[benn 0]

The Score is also going to add a one hour WWE weekly analysis show in prime time on Sunday nights, but the time slot was not announced.

 

Is this their own show or merely something like Afterburn, Bottom Line, etc?

Here in Australia we get a weekly WWE-produced one hour show that recaps Raw/ECW/SD so I'd assume its the same thing. Its called WWE Experience and Todd Grisham usually hosts it.

[dubq 0]

Raw at 10 just means less chance that I'll watch it (although, it won't be on against 24 anymore).

 

I guess ECW will be on Global/CH. Better than the Score, since it won't have the ticker running the whole show.

 

Who owns the Score? For some reason I always thought it was BellGlobeMedia (CTV, etc).

[CanadianChris 0]

Raw at 10 just means less chance that I'll watch it (although, it won't be on against 24 anymore).

 

I guess ECW will be on Global/CH. Better than the Score, since it won't have the ticker running the whole show.

 

Who owns the Score? For some reason I always thought it was BellGlobeMedia (CTV, etc).

No, Bell GlobeMedia owns TSN. The Score is owned by a small company named Score Media.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

In my market, Sportsnet is the premium tier channel, not The Score. Not that it matters much since we're switching to digital anyway. I don't what other companies are like, but Cogeco here basically doesn't care about analogue subscribers and I don't think it's that expensive to subscribe to every channel... but I digress.

 

I approve of the move. It will be weird getting used to the hour delay, but if it's an hour delay EVERY Monday (as opposed to sporadic TSN delays) and I don't have to worry about the curling games pre-empting Raw until Tuesday, it's all good.

[sluggo 0]

bah...I liked watching SD on Thursdays.

[dubq 0]

Raw at 10 just means less chance that I'll watch it (although, it won't be on against 24 anymore).

 

I guess ECW will be on Global/CH. Better than the Score, since it won't have the ticker running the whole show.

 

Who owns the Score? For some reason I always thought it was BellGlobeMedia (CTV, etc).

No, Bell GlobeMedia owns TSN. The Score is owned by a small company named Score Media.

 

Gerweck's newsboard metioned something about CanWest being the company that will be airing ECW. Looks like your Global/CH prediction could be true. I was half expecting it to end up on MTV Canada.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

It wasn't much of a prediction - he made that guess after Meltzer reported it (along with recapping everything else that was publically said at the announcement). I'm guessing ECW will air after ET Canada on Global (whenever the Fear Factor rerun is on).

[treble 0]

I guess they could stick on the channel formerly known as Prime, too.

[Jebus 0]

Looks like people in Montreal won't get Wrestling...

 

That doesn't apply to everybody as I have The Score but yeah, it's not part of most people cable packages.

[dubq 0]

It wasn't much of a prediction - he made that guess after Meltzer reported it (along with recapping everything else that was publically said at the announcement). I'm guessing ECW will air after ET Canada on Global (whenever the Fear Factor rerun is on).

 

Easy, buddy. Reign it in there.

[art_vandelay 0]

Fight Network's coverage of the press conference:

 

click

[art_vandelay 0]

edit: double

[10 Pounds 0]

Bumping the thread.

 

I don't know if it's the same for all Global affiliates across Canada but here in Quebec, they show WWE Raw at midnight. I don't know if Global picked it up when acquiring ECW, but it's odd that there hasn't been any news about this, since Global is a major network.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

It's a Quebec thing due to lack of The Score. That is my understanding on the odd Raw airing situation in Quebec, anyway.

[bob_barron 0]

When does ECW air in Canada?

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

12 am Friday (Saturday morning) on Global and a few other times on the Xtreme channel (which I believe Meltz reported has roughly 300 subscribers).

[dubq 0]

Bumping the thread.

 

I don't know if it's the same for all Global affiliates across Canada but here in Quebec, they show WWE Raw at midnight. I don't know if Global picked it up when acquiring ECW, but it's odd that there hasn't been any news about this, since Global is a major network.

 

Wierd. They call it Raw Zone.