Do you think Destination America is done with wrestling?

[kelvsyc]

Given the removal of the early ROH airing and TNA circling the drain, do you think Destination America is done with wrestling programming?  Or do you think that Destination America will continue to air ROH in some lame duck timeslot because it costs them nothing to acquire?  Also, what does it say with regards to smaller promotions and their ambitions of a televised presence?  Do you think that there will be a point where non-WWE wrestling has to radically alter their presentation in order to remain appealing to television stations?

Personally, I fear that the time where the costs of creating and running the "ambitious indie" a la ROH or TNA may be too much to bear, and GFW will be evidence of this.  Is it entirely possible that the WWE of today is effectively the NWA of the past, where eventually the only real talent exposure beyond the local level is on the WWE Network?

[Christian Small]

I think Destination America don't know what the hell they're doing. They picked up TNA for the hell of it, probably thinking it would carry over it's million viewers every week. They picked up ROH just because I think, cost them nothing at the end of the day plus if it didn't work out ROH still has Sinclair to broadcast on.
I honestly don't know what Destination America was hoping for with these deals, it's a small network that a good chunk of wrestling fans had never heard before TNA signed for them and that a lot of fans can't actually get.

[deezy]

Fledgling network looking for content, try pick up anything. Buyers remorse just set in early for them. There is a legit notion out there that only WWE can be successful in this genre.

[Deleted]

With TNA, Destination America were hoping to make it the flagship show of the network and have crossover between wrestling fans and Redneck Roadkill BBQ or whatever Bigfoot shows they have while also bolstering the network's visibility and ratings across the board.

Didn't work.

On top of that, like 1/3 of the Spike audience crossed over.

On top of that, selling ad space was very difficult, with Meltzer posting the memo in the Observer about how companies that bought out ad blocks for all of DA programming specifically telling DA they don't want it on TNA.

On top of that, 52 weeks a year of TNA is prob. substantially more expensive for them over a year's worth of Haunted Trailerpark.


With ROH, the reports of it being either a low money or no money deal for DA makes it very easy for them to switch out timeslots if they can get better ad rates for Buffet Masters.


It certainly seems like by the end of the year, DA will wash their hands of pro wrestling. Then again, if they can continue getting ROH syndication for free, they may like the little return enough to have it air at 11pm once a week.

TNA though, seems grim. I'd be shocked if they got into bed with GFW.

[Milky]

I think DA are still toying with the idea of wrestling. It's still their new shiny toy.

Has anyone watched ROH on DA? Do they promote other DA programming at all?

I've only really been watching TNA and they certainly do promote other DA programming, so I think from DA's POV there is at least some value to having TNA around. Whether or not it's cost-effective is another matter.

With ROH I think they were looking at the ratings and saw that they drew basically 50% of their viewing audience for the first airing, and then the other 50% for the second airing three hours later. So it makes sense for them to try and draw all of their viewers to one timeslot rather than split them down the middle. I'm sure something else could draw what ROH was drawing in their timeslot and the wrestling fans will still watch ROH at their new time.

[thelaw]

DA just throws everything against the wall and see if it sticks. DA does not even have a particular show in mind to replace ROH. One dip in the ratings & it's the next one up. Still, it would not be a shock if there was still wrestling on DA. However, I doubt DA would give any promotion much money or put them in a favorable time slot.

[Deleted]

I think SSM is right. Its just a redneck BBQ network I didn't like how I felt when I watched TNA when it was on it. The shit commercials. Maybe if I lived in a different part of the country I'd be into that stuff and make a crossover.

Here's another thing though, there are already enough redneck BBQ beer swilling networks out there to not need another one.

I'll ask this from a business standpoint. How is a TV show with 20 - 32 people on camera every week or two more profitable than a TV show with a cast of 6 - 10?

[RKing85]

I think DA got buyer's remorse really fast after TNA hit the airwaves.