SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
TNA’s third U.S. TV home in three years will be Pop TV, starting in January 2016.
Impact’s timeslot will be Tuesday nights at 9:00 p.m. EST. The first airing is Tuesday, January 5 with a two-hour premiere.
TNA placed a countdown clock on their website after Wednesday night’s Impact episode that expired at 11:00 a.m. EST to announce the news.
“Pop’s enthusiasm for our partnership and the network’s fan focus is a perfect fit for our company,” said TNA President Dixie Carter in a press release. “Wresting has always been at the forefront of pop culture with the most passionate, loyal fan base. We’re thrilled to be in business with Pop and to bring Impact Wrestling to more than 80 million homes.”
Pop was one of the players in the mix with WGN to potentially be a new TV partner once TNA’s deal with Destination America was set to expire.
Pop got into the wrestling business with Paragon Pro earlier this year when PPW delivered a one-hour show early Saturday mornings. On Wednesday night, Paragon tweeted: “Watch here for an exciting announcement tomorrow!” Paragon then announced right after TNA’s announcement that they are leaving Pop to air their weekly show on multiple networks.
As for TNA, the new partnership with Pop brings a new marketing campaign. On Dest. America, it was about presenting “Americana” in the form of wrestling. Now, it’s “celebrating the excitement of being a fan,” playing up the idea of TNA’s loyal fanbase.
TNA’s audience has followed Impact from Spike TV to Dest. America and now to Pop. Included have been timeslots every day of the week except for Sunday. Impact started on Saturday, moved to Thursday, experimented on Monday, went back to Thursday, shifted to Friday, relocated to Wednesday, and now will be on Tuesday.
The new marketing pitch is also part of Pop TV’s re-branding after moving away from the TV Guide Network. According to Deadline.com’s industry report on the announcement, Pop was “re-branded at the beginning of the year as a destination for fans.”
Pop reaches 74.6 million homes, more than 56.4 million homes for Dest. America. However, Pop is not available on some major outlets, such as AT&T U-verse, or is only available in standard definition.
TNA is working through the preliminary stages of the deal, including whether shows will be made available online.
Pop TV (formerly known as TV Guide Network) is in more homes than Destination America, but it’s still a second tier channel that pretty much no one watches. TNA is still struggling
Pop tv is only in sd on dish network and directv so I myself will quit watching impact. If wgn was in the running, they should have went with them. How many wrestling fans (male) can even tell you what channel # poptv is on their system?
More than could tell you what channel Destination America is, most people probably didn’t even know if they had DA. And you can’t call yourself a TNA fan if you will quit watching their show because it’s not gonna be in HD on your TV.
Also, Pop is in 77 million homes versus 72 million for WGN America, so TNA has more potential going with Pop (assuming WGN even had any interest, which from what we’ve heard they didn’t have too much interest in paying much for Impact)
With potentially 20 million more homes, here’s hoping TNA gets a larger audience. The more options available for the talent, the better their income.
Who still watches TV? I watch everything online now. I will continue watching TNA as I have been (and RAW) and always will.
So if you don’t have the channel, but still want to watch Impact, log into the 21st century gramps.
Does anyone even care about TNA anymore. I stopped watching it one Hogan left.