By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

Wednesday's TV announcement shifted TNA Impact from a second-tier channel on Spike TV to a lower-tier channel on Destination America.

Does that also mean TNA will no longer be the #2 promotion in the U.S. in 2015?

There are several unknowns at the present time - when will Impact air on Destination America?, will there be a much-needed re-branding effort?, will internal changes be made to TNA management?, how much of TNA's revised budget will be covered by Panda Energy?, is this the first step in a "big play" Dixie Carter claimed in an interview with Grantland.com two months ago?

If the only move here is surviving by landing on Destination America with no other upgrades, then an argument could be made that Ring of Honor will bypass TNA once the calendar flips to 2015. There's also Lucha Underground backed by AAA in Mexico and spearheaded by big TV names Mark Burnett and Robert Rodriguez. Heck, even New Japan through Global Force Wrestling.

But, if Discovery Communications has big plans for Impact, and TNA can draw an audience on TV and presumably house shows and PPVs again, they might be able to retain the #2 spot.

As far as TV goes, Destination America is #10 in terms of distribution among Discovery's channels. Just in Discovery's portfolio. Channels with more distribution are Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet (Eric Young tie-in), Investigation Discovery, Oprah's network, Discovery Science, Discovery Family, American Heroes, and Velocity.

Then, there is Discovery America, which has distribution of approximately 57 million homes, down from Spike TV's 90 million homes. This is also a channel that has struggled to find an identity - it was a home & garden show in the 1990s and early 2000s, then "Planet Green" until 2012, and now a channel with dark shows about ghosts, monsters, and asylums with a bright red & white & blue logo.

So, what does a typical show on "America" draw? The average of the Top 30 shows over a one-week period averaged 100,000 viewers (0.1 percent of the national audience) and 143,000 viewers in prime time. The channel's top show, "Killing Bigfoot," drew 196,000 viewers (0.2 percent of the national audience).

Among all TV channels during the Fall 2014 season, Spike has ranked #24 in prime time, while Destination America has ranked #75 in prime, sandwiched in-between Cinemax Prime, Galavision, and Nicktoons.

Destination's median age is about 53-years-old, but shows fluctuate between skewing male and female, unlike Spike, whose shows leaned heavily toward males until starting to re-brand the network as more centric in recent years. TNA's issue on Spike was an inability to draw female viewers, so that could pose a problem on a general interest channel like America. But, the older demo is right up Impact's alley.

Perhaps fittingly, it's a chance for both TNA and Destination America to figure out who they are and who they want to be in the television world.

Realistically, TNA is looking at about 300-400,000 viewers, at least out of the gate, depending on their ability to migrate viewers from Spike to America, and how many of their hardcore viewers have access to the channel.

But, independent of America's standing in the marketplace is whether TNA will take this opportunity to re-brand itself, perhaps remove "TNA" once and for all from their marketing, and introduce a completely new look & feel to the product.

Wednesday's announcement was the first chance to make a new impression, but everything looks & feels the same. TNA and Discovery have until January to introduce something new, but the "TNA Impact" brand is associated with too much bad television over the past 10 years.

Plus, the Impact show faded out like a sad song on Wednesday nights on Spike TV, dropping 18 percent in viewership compared to Thursday nights earlier in the year. Recent episodes have not necessarily been bad, just inconsequential.

Looking ahead to 2015, a true re-branding effort with Discovery's input, TNA management focusing on the task at-hand to prove themselves on a new channel, and a strong, consistent Creative effort getting the roster (which is also a big question mark) up and running again will be necessary to make this more than just a survival move.

Otherwise, Ring of Honor's increased distribution through Sinclair's syndication push, Lucha Underground's expansion plans, and New Japan's entry into the U.S. market on January 4 could push TNA out of the #2 spot very quickly.

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