DA Cancels TNA Officially (Effective January 2016)

[Chrome]

After months of denials, it’s official, albeit with a twist: TNA Impact Wrestling has been cancelled by Destination America effective the end of the year. While the original report from Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter said that Destination America’s opt-out clause allowed them to cancel Impact after the end of this month, TNA President Dixie Carter told Sports Illustrated that they’re done at the end of the year.

In the Sports Illustrated article, Justin Barrasso wrote that “[Spike TV] cut ties with TNA last December, leaving TNA without a television network in the United States. History repeated itself a year later, as TNA’s current home for TV–Destination America–will no longer air Impact in 2016.” Dixie Carter added that “The biggest challenge for us is building a brand in the U.S. That’s where we need to grow. We’re contracted to Destination America through the end of the year, and we are in discussions going on for 2016.”

Per Meltzer, the original memo issued within Discovery (Destination America’s parent company) read as follows:

Destination America is not renewing TNA Wrestling next year. While the ratings were strong, the audience was not large enough to justify the program investment. We plan to honor the current contract and continue to air original episodes of TNA Wrestling on Friday nights through the end of the third quarter 2015. When the up-front rate card is released, the Friday night anthology title will now be called ‘American Tales,’ which will be a combination of Paranormal and Americana programming. I hope this is good news given all of the advertisers that included TNA on their DNA list.

The DNA in “DNA list” means “do not advertise.” It refers to shows that a sponsor opts out of buying time on when they buy ads across a whole network. In this case, due to pro wrestling being perceived as downmarket or having low income viewers, advertisers who bought ads to air on most or all Destination America shows didn’t want to put their ads on Impact.

www.sescoops.com/tna-impact-wrestling-cancelled-destination-america-official/

--

Think she'll get another TV deal soon?

 

[Con T.]

I didn't come here to gloat, because that'd be a dick move.

I'm not going to point out how Meltzer was on point with his reporting, in spite of many trying to spin him as incompetent.

I won't even say this is the death of TNA, because I think they could find another network.

I just came to say this;

Smark Madden, what's good?

 

[It's Damn Real!]

The silver lining is that they do have a little bit more time than SpikeTV gave them to negotiate a possible move to another network, but being cancelled now twice in back-to-back years is, to say the very least, not a good sign.

I'm reluctantly hopeful they find a partner, but completely understand it's both possible and even plausible that they won't.

 

[Starkist]

They do not air on Fridays so does any of this make any sense? To me no but I am just being one of those "it aint over until it is over" people.

Still though, they do not air on Friday no more.

 

[Reflection]

I didn't come here to gloat, because that'd be a dick move.

Now why would anyone get that idea?

I'm not going to point out how Meltzer was on point with his reporting, in spite of many trying to spin him as incompetent.

Actually, he was not on point at all. He claimed that TNA programming would be cancelled by the end of September. It wasn't. If the guy that commented next to me was right, Meltzer also claimed (after evidence surfaced that TNA isn't going off DA post September) that TNA could simply take a lower money deal and stay on the network. Well, turns out he is wrong again.
As for incompetence, Meltzer isn't incompetent by any means. His main aims are to make fans believe his (mostly false) reports, and to make money... he has been successful in both.

I won't even say this is the death of TNA, because I think they could find another network.

Not so soon! At least wait for Meltzer's next update.

I just came to say this;

Smark Madden, what's good?

Everything, Sexual Objectification Panda. TNA's been in this position before. They'll find a way. And so will Meltzer. A report on TNA's backstage morale gets posted in 3, 2, 1...

 

[Mudlup50]

Poor TNA, like really. When will they get their show together :/ I wish they were better just so those months where Raw becomes unbearable for me I could watch TNA...but I've never really gotten the appeal. I hope they get a new deal and really create a compelling product.

 

[Really?]

Weeellllll, kids, all the gloating and 'look, look, what we said is true' stuff, is in fact, untrue. When both organizations state that they have a contract that ends at a certain date, nothing has been cancelled. If an athlete has a contract, that contract ends, and either the team or the athlete decide not to renew, said athlete has not been cut nor has he abandoned his team. Both have lived up to a legal obligation.

I get that the popular thing on this site is to bash TNA, and support all things Madden and Russo, but to blatantly ignore what is said in the name of supporting what WZ 'exclusively reports/takes from other sites' is plain brutal.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Weeellllll, kids, all the gloating and 'look, look, what we said is true' stuff, is in fact, untrue. When both organizations state that they have a contract that ends at a certain date, nothing has been cancelled. If an athlete has a contract, that contract ends, and either the team or the athlete decide not to renew, said athlete has not been cut nor has he abandoned his team. Both have lived up to a legal obligation.

I get that the popular thing on this site is to bash TNA, and support all things Madden and Russo, but to blatantly ignore what is said in the name of supporting what WZ 'exclusively reports/takes from other sites' is plain brutal.

Not exactly. TNA signed a two-year deal with Destination America that had an opt-out clause after the first year, which DA has chosen to exercise. So it's more like when a player in the NFL signs a two-year deal and is cut after the first year so the team doesn't have to carry him and pay him for the second.

 

[Savior of Silence]

Poor TNA, like really. When will they get their show together

They definitely will one of these days. They'll get their shit together...put it in a box and sell it to Vince McMahon for pennies on the dollar.

I've given TNA so many chances over the years. Fuck, I've given them more chances than WWE's given to Scott Hall. It was just never able to keep my attention for longer than anywhere from a week to a month. And it's a shame too because there's some really great talent there that's being completely wasted.

Honestly, IMO, Dixie Carter was the worst thing that ever happened to that company. Even worse than Vince Russo.

I wish they'd figure it the fuck out already but, sadly, they will inevitably fold.

 

[Azane]

Hopefully they can either work out a new contract, or find someone else to carry them.

All the fanboyism aside, it's always better to have alternative competition.

I don't think TNA will be able to support anywhere near it's current talent pool without some form of television deal, Internet or Live shows just wouldn't keep them afloat long, and they'll have no way of drawing any new stars without television exposure.

Meltzer throws out a ton of things, gets a couple right and a couple close to right, he's not much more reliable a source than a random on this forum would be. A broken clock is right twice a day etc...

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

It's always better to have alternative competition.

TNA wasn't even close to being competition to WWE.

I wanted TNA to succeed. However, TNA was always a terrible show. I can't remember enjoying it for more than 10 minutes. Therefore, it deserved to be cancelled.

 

[Really?]

Not exactly. TNA signed a two-year deal with Destination America that had an opt-out clause after the first year, which DA has chosen to exercise. So it's more like when a player in the NFL signs a two-year deal and is cut after the first year so the team doesn't have to carry him and pay him for the second.

Problem with that is that neither is a traded company, so we may actually never know what was in the actual contract. The same people that 'report' about the opt-out rumors, are the people that said they cancelled TNA before the summer, and yet it was still on, and then said it was cancelled as of the end of September. The official word that I have seen online from either company has been that the contract is coming to and end.

 

[whoopin' ass]

Yes, Meltzer was right on the money - in one week TNA is gone and closing up shop. This 2016 stuff is all just a work on the fans.

Meltzer knew nothing. Most shows sign a one year deal and then there are extensions if things go well. DA is fulfilling their contract, they are not cancelling Impact early. He isn't stating fact, he states his opinion and promotes it as fact. I used to like his stuff but so much of it now is just speculation on his part and not even good speculation - "well, they might do this but there is no guarantee they will". Sounds like a weatherman - you might want to take a coat to work tomorrow because it might rain, maybe.

It is good they will have a tv deal for a while yet but unless someone really thinks they are a diamond in the rough, I don't know what happens after that. They may need to look at the netflix route because I don't see a decent network picking them up and another specialty channel like DA isn't going to be any better. They need to be on basic cable in the states to get the people watching

 

[Lowdown]

Truly sad, no doubt about it. At some point I think it got took a point where they just stopped caring, and it showed on TV. It was bad when talent started leaving. Yeah, I still want them to succeed, but the writing appears to be on the wall.

 

[K Web V3]

Maybe they'll explore Netflix? I had read somewhere before that LU n GFW had talks about goin to Netflix, but never heard anything else.

With. Netflix doing original shows, n now movies, TNA could work possibly.

Probably only way I'd watch TNA nowadays

 

[joeg]

Smark Madden, I wonder if you're aware who that was that found out about Destination America offering a deal to TNA & SAVING them in the first place.

Aside from that though, Dixie is trying to deceive people when she said her TV deal only lasts a year. Discovery said it was a "multi-year deal", which was why Meltzer used the term "cancelled".

https://corporate.discovery.com/dis...tna-impact-wrestling-for-destination-america/

"Discovery Communications announced today that it has signed a multi-year deal with TNA (Total Nonstop Action) IMPACT WRESTLING"

Still pretty doubtful on TNA staying on DA much longer, no matter what Dixie says.

http://www.cagesideseats.com/2015/7...eted-this?_ga=1.10543217.476251663.1441924144

After the soured relationship between Dixie & President Marc Etkind, I don't see why Destination America would want to help TNA from here on out. Why should they continue to spend time & money on this show when they soon have the option to no longer do so? How does that benefit Discovery? They already pulled the Spanish versions, don't forget.

As for Netflix, it's very unlikely. Why you ask? It will be far too expensive for a program that's only seen online. Wrestling is very expensive to produce. Many original programs Netflix owns have very limited budgets and run in seasons, opposed to TNA which has very high talent and production costs that has to air _every single week_. Spike officials even said that TNA was far too expensive to keep in their portfolio because they hardly ever drew a profit from it.

 

[FromGlasgow]

Like everything Meltzer says is the 100% truth, I certainly don't believe anything Meltzer says according to him TNA has been constantly on the verge of going out of business for nearly 10 years now.
A lot of the IWC seem to be happy to see TNA gone so all we have left is WWE with no competition or no alternative which I can't understand as one of the best times we have had in wrestling was when the WWE had competition such as the rivalry between WWE, WCW and ECW during the late 90s.

 

[Reflection]

Smark Madden, I wonder if you're aware who that was that found out about Destination America offering a deal to TNA & SAVING them in the first place.

Joeg, I never implied that Meltzer is always wrong. He wouldn't be the most popular pro wrestling journalist if he were so. Having said that, he has also been wrong many times in the last year or two, most notably the frequent false rumors of CM Punk's return and Sting's contract signing.

Still pretty doubtful on TNA staying on DA much longer, no matter what Dixie says.

Believe what you want.
As for next year, things may change between now and then. TNA might not find another network, Destination America might change their mind... Wasn't Spike supposed to cancel TNA long before they actually did? We'll find out as time goes on. But paying any heed to bullshit reports like this one here, won't be a smart thing to do.

Spoiler

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/598391-report-the-very-latest-on-tna-wrestling-potentially-leaving-destination-america-in-september

http://www.cagesideseats.com/2015/7...eted-this?_ga=1.10543217.476251663.1441924144

No doubt, it was silly of Dixie to reply with a smiley to a message like that, but it doesn't prove anything in regard to TNA's contract status or relationship with Destination America. Any inference drawn from this tweet alone (other than that Dixie is stupid), is an assumption at best.

After the soured relationship between Dixie & President Marc Etkind...

I'd like to see the source of that information. Hopefully, it's not just a bunch of wrestling sites referencing each other. If it's someone close to Dixie (not named Russo) or someone from DA itself that made the revelation, then it has merit.

Spike officials even said that TNA was far too expensive to keep in their portfolio because they hardly ever drew a profit from it.

Did they actually say that, or was this reported by Meltzer too, counting on common knowledge about pro wrestling's high production costs?

 

[The Dragon Saga]

More proof that if you didn't know already, Dave Meltzer knows what he's talking about and has connections in far out places, or at least in the TV industry.

What this means for me too is that unless DA want to keep ROH around as a favor to Sinclair who they're supposedly friendly with, ROH will end in December once their 26 show deal ends. Otherwise if ROH are lucky they may negotiate a new one where they get more advertising and a better time slot, like an hour in the two hour slot TNA currently holds.

I'm not downhearted by that though as in this weeks Observer, Dave states once again the fact about ROH - it is the only growing wrestling promotion in the US and could be with its high attendance rates for this year and gradual growth the only promotion that is making any kind of money. They could find a new home on cable TV. I still think the DA deal is a stepping stone to better things.

 

[MrHashasheen]

More proof that if you didn't know already, Dave Meltzer knows what he's talking about and has connections in far out places, or at least in the TV industry.

What this means for me too is that unless DA want to keep ROH around as a favor to Sinclair who they're supposedly friendly with, ROH will end in December once their 26 show deal ends. Otherwise if ROH are lucky they may negotiate a new one where they get more advertising and a better time slot, like an hour in the two hour slot TNA currently holds.

I'm not downhearted by that though as in this weeks Observer, Dave states once again the fact about ROH - it is the only growing wrestling promotion in the US and could be with its high attendance rates for this year and gradual growth the only promotion that is making any kind of money. They could find a new home on cable TV. I still think the DA deal is a stepping stone to better things.

http://forums.wrestlezone.com/showthread.php?p=5293381#post5293381

TDS, you're posting in the wrong thread again for your ROH tribute post of the day.

 

[Fabulous Freebirds]

www.sescoops.com/tna-impact-wrestling-cancelled-destination-america-official/

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Think she'll get another TV deal soon?

I don't know where you got that information from. But from Wrestlezone yesterday:

"According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Destination America may end up giving TNA more time to find a new network, much like Spike did for TNA last year. It was noted that the same SI article mentioned TNA not having a home “as of February 2016″; TNA may have a few months extra on air, but that remains unconfirmed."

- Bill Pritchard, WZ September 16th.

So, they will still be on DA even in January.

Also, a quote from Dixie in that SI article:

“The biggest challenge for us is building a brand in the U.S. That’s where we need to grow. We’re contracted to Destination America through the end of the year, and we are in discussions going on for 2016.”


They are staying for the rest of the year. And they are discussing staying for 2016.

Nothing has been canceled.

Heck, they were suppose to be canceled THIS MONTH.

Still airing.

So, you might be jumping the shark just a bit.

 

[stingray11214]

Let us be very real about this: TNA has become a glorified Indy company. They do not have Panda's full backing to really become a "Major" company. Even if they did, Dixie does not have the people skills needed to make headway with the easily butthurt people that dominate the TV and Entertainment industries. The odds of TNA getting another TV company to pay for it are about the same as MVP hosting a testimonial for the Klan.

However, all is not dead. Dixie needs to run TNA AS an Indy. Tell DA they want the same deal as ROH. In other words, that TNA will pay for the airtime. This does several things:

1) TNA would control the content: So, if they want Jeff Hardy vs EC III in a barbed wire match, they can do it without objection. If they want Gail Kim to take on Maya Yim in a bra and panties in a burning ring, they could do it. If they want to make Rockstar Spud the TNA Champ, DA could say squat.

2) TNA could sell the ads: So, if Dixie lands a deal with Lone Star Beer, or Jack Daniels, or even Chico's Bail Bonds, with Bram doing the commercials ("When I beat me woman senseless, and I got thrown in the can, I thought I had nowhere to turn. Then, I got the number for Chico's Bail Bonds. They helped bail me out on the spot. If you are in a jam, and need to get out of the can, for fast and efficient service, Chico is the MAN!"), there is very little that DA could do. Dixie does the work, TNA makes the money.

3) TNA could control the advertising: They can place street ads, newspaper ads, even ads on other networks. Again, if they buy the airtime, like ROH does, they can do almost anything they want.

Now, they can also follow the PWS model and buy hour slots on a weekly basis with many of the smaller TV stations across the US and Canada. They could then pick out the best matches every week to show off. That would really help TNA long term.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Yeah this isn't ending well for TNA, even if they do get a new network deal I can't imagine it lasting too long.

I haven't seen much TNA lately but what I have seen gives me the impression they simply don't give a fuck about their product, or at the very least they have no idea how to turn it around. Either way they're screwed so it doesn't really matter if they care or not. It's not like WWE where their TV product doesn't necessarily dictate their companies success but that took years of having a product people wanted to watch to get that company to the point it's currently at and TNA simply can't afford to put on a shit product and expect to make money off of it, they just can't. TNA lives and dies on their viewership, they don't have the live attendance numbers, they don't have the merchandise numbers or the PPV numbers so at this point the best they can do is put on a good TV product, get more viewers and make money from sponsors, that's really their only real shot at having any long term success but at this point it's probably too late.

Over the last year TNA has seemingly fell off a cliff, after they lost their Spike TV deal everything has been in a downward spiral for them and they haven't really done anything to turn it around. Spike was their bread and butter, DA doesn't end up in nearly as many homes so that alone was a huge hit for their product, a hit they probably couldn't afford to take at the time. On top of that Dixie has just made a lot of boneheaded moves she shouldn't have made which is much more frightening then the loss of Spike TV.

I'm not trying to shit on the company but at this point the only way to describe their situation is with the words they're fucked.

 

[BringThePain834]

No surprise that DA cancelled TNA. Dixie can't even run a fucking Wendy's let alone a wrestling promotion. Jeff wins this. He made millions, got to plug GFW, and got out before the company starts to go under. GFW on the other hand, would be great for DA, that way, people would actually be able to see their shows

 

[It's Damn Real!]

TNA wasn't even close to being competition to WWE.

I wanted TNA to succeed. However, TNA was always a terrible show. I can't remember enjoying it for more than 10 minutes. Therefore, it deserved to be cancelled.

Competition? No, but alternative, yes. For years it was the only televised U.S. promotion not named WWE until ROH got their television contract.

Your logic is hilarious, though. You can't remember watching it for more than ten minutes, therefor it deserved to be cancelled. I can't remember sitting through more than four minutes of any WWE programming in the last like six years without rolling my fucking eyes into the back of my head in boredom. Therefor it deserves to go out of business.

See how stupid that line of thinking is?

Problem with that is that neither is a traded company, so we may actually never know what was in the actual contract. The same people that 'report' about the opt-out rumors, are the people that said they cancelled TNA before the summer, and yet it was still on, and then said it was cancelled as of the end of September. The official word that I have seen online from either company has been that the contract is coming to and end.

I believe Carter herself confirmed that they signed a two-year deal. Could be wrong, but I remember that being the case.

But I don't much care for debunking who said what and how credible they are. All I'm concerned with is whether they are on the air or not.