Sky shutting down Bravo in the UK - bad news for TNA

[Bobby B]

Source: Digitalspy.co.uk

Sky is reportedly shutting down Bravo and Channel One as part of a major shakeup of the Living TV Group.

According to media reports, Sky has decided to focus all of its attention on the Living TV channel portfolio and gameshow network Challenge.

The satellite broadcaster yesterday completed its £160m acquisition of the Living TV Group, previously Virgin Media Television, after the Office Of Fair Trading cleared the deal.

Sky is understood to have opted to scrap long-running cable channel Bravo because it serves a similar demographic to Sky1, but without the same audience reach or prestige.

This really isn't good news for TNA. According to the numbers, they do very well here in the UK compared to WWE, but I think that's impart due to the fact they're on Bravo (for those who don't know it's a channel on Sky, but also available on cable too).

There's no timeframe listed in the rest of the article. So I don't know when the channel will shut down. But I guess in the meantime TNA could move to Extreme Sports (which carries both PPV's and Xplosion) for a short while. But as far as I'm aware that's only available to Sky Sports customers (who get WWE aswell).

This could be a good thing (I know this doesn't effect most people), but I think TNA could benefit from moving channels if one became available. But this is definitely a kick in the teeth because Bravo did TNA very good service (Saturday at 9pm is as good a timeslot I think you could get in the UK). I'm not sure the numbers are good enough on Bravo to allow TNA being able to move to a channel even as good as Bravo, let alone one better.

 

[Doctor_What]

TNA suffers in the UK already largely because its so hard to get the PPV's this will not help if it is true.

 

[Bobby B]

Thats a bit odd because Virgin Media and not Sky own Bravo- but I will say no more about that as it will appear I am advertising

TNA suffers in the UK already largely because its so hard to get the PPV's this will not help if it is true.

That's the story - Sky now owns Bravo. And they're opting to shut it down. That and the fact that PWTorch.com are reporting that WWE and Sky Sports have an exclusivity agreement, it's not clear where the show could go.

As for TNA PPV's they're shown 5 days after they initially air on the Extreme Sports Channel.

 

[16mikeytot]

Well that's bad news for TNA I don't live in The UK so I can't really comment on that but from what I read TNA does extremely well in The UK so im assuming it's a big blow to their UK fan-base. You always see Dixie Carter tweeting about how TNA does better than WWE Raw and Smackdown well not anymore Dixie.

 

[Doctor_What]

That's the story - Sky now owns Bravo. And they're opting to shut it down. That and the fact that PWTorch.com are reporting that WWE and Sky Sports have an exclusivity agreement, it's not clear where the show could go.

As for TNA PPV's they're shown 5 days after they initially air on the Extreme Sports Channel.

Yes apologies re-read your post and just saw the news so edited my response.

Its not good news if you are a big uk tna fan

 

[The Raven's Epitaph]

You're right, that is bad for TNA. That sucks. I was just thinking to myself.. "Y'know..maybe I should give TNA more credit. Maybe I should try watch a full episode of iMPACT." - and the show's main UK broadcaster is bought out? Something's telling me that I shouldn't watch iMPACT...oh well, there's always YouPorn....Tube.

..

We're going to forget that I just said that, alright? I wasn't on YouPorn or anything. I was simply admiring the women on there. What they do is just simpl...okay, this post is going downhill fast.

This isn't good news for the TNA fans. Normally I'd laugh at you and your bad luck, but that's not nice. Sorry to hear about this for all you TNA fans out there. What mainstream UK channel do you think they're gunna move to?

 

[Deexter Jorgan]

TNA will find another home for Impact.

Bravo at it's best was a male dominated channel at one point, it showed re-runs of classic television show's and softcore porn at nights.

The channel was barely anything more, butt it did one thing that most channels where afraid to do, it had male dominated blocks which included MMA, Wrestling and extreme sports.

Bravo promoted WCW prior and then braught over TNA in order to encapture a new breed of wrestling fan, the channel also showed PPV's for free which is something that the WWE refused to do nowdays, it will be missed but i assure you this will not be the last we see of TNA in any form in the uk.

And for those who need a fix, there's always streams.

 

[Lithium66]

TNA will find another home for Impact.

Bravo at it's best was a male dominated channel at one point, it showed re-runs of classic television show's and softcore porn at nights.

The channel was barely anything more, butt it did one thing that most channels where afraid to do, it had male dominated blocks which included MMA, Wrestling and extreme sports.

Bravo promoted WCW prior and then braught over TNA in order to encapture a new breed of wrestling fan, the channel also showed PPV's for free which is something that the WWE refused to do nowdays, it will be missed but i assure you this will not be the last we see of TNA in any form in the uk.

And for those who need a fix, there's always streams.

Bravo has stop showing softcore porn for a few years now. used to enjoy that 70's 1 valley of the vixen as a kid.


Back to the point I'm don't think it will effect me too much as I'm with sky. Have been reading this for the past day now. Been alot of nonsense talk of trying to go with channel 4 as it the only channel what got free space. Itv don't want anything to with wrestling. Before people say channel 5 its well known sky owes shares of the network.

Extreme sports is the only channel that cares so far but its on sky so unless you not got sky or internet then no more wrestling unless you buy dvds.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Source:
There's no timeframe listed in the rest of the article. So I don't know when the channel will shut down. But I guess in the meantime TNA could move to Extreme Sports (which carries both PPV's and Xplosion) for a short while. But as far as I'm aware that's only available to Sky Sports customers (who get WWE aswell).

Extreme Sports is a supplemental channel to Sky Sports, as in you need to pay an extra fee to receive the channel.

This is quite a crap way to round off my night in all honesty, but there are YouTube channels that can upload the Impact's, which clears the way for fully immersive Match Of The Day sessions.

Actually, does anyone know the Internet numbers for TNA and WWE and how this affects their ratings? I heard TNA does well here in the UK on tv but how many people taking internet viewings into account?

 

[vampirek]

I'm really surprised people haven't mentioned the easier option and thats ESPN. Unlike in America, this is not a big channel always looking for a new sport to fill their content and can be accessed by a big audience. Ok it charges extra but it'll be a nice home for them. Whilst ESPN does have UFC, Sky is showing Ultimate Fighter so I don't think there will be any issues there.

...and of course Internet viewing isn't taken into account because it is not a legal method. It'll be like counting illegal downloads for the music chart.

 

[Rayne]

This isn't as bad for TNA as you might think.

The UK is a huge market for TNA. (London Brawling, the British Invasion- there's been a reason for these gimmicks.) They'll find another station to air on, that's a given. The trick- and I know next to nothing about British television, except Red Dwarf was awesome- is that the station they find has a reach to that 18-35 male demographic equivalent or better to the reach Bravo had.

It's opportunity for TNA in the form of a crisis.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

It would be great if we still had The Wrestling Channel over here in the UK, which ran for about 2 years a few years ago, and showed the early TNA days at the Asylum, Xplosion, ROH, CZW and CMLL. That was awesome, but ended up getting watered down with awful MMA and then cut totally.

TNA would have ended up back there if it still existed, but I do think it will get a channel in the UK. There are so many poor shows shown on SKY, that surely hardly anyone watches, so I cannot see no channel wanting to snap up TNA for the viewing figures it brings in. Hopefully, we wont be without it for long

 

[Fan_of_Wrestling]

TNA needs to get them on Free-View TV in the uk, and not the obscure Extreme Sports Channel where they show Xplosion and PPVs.

If they could get on a Free-View channel it would soon that will mean that anyone in the UK that has a working TV would receive TNA without any extra cost. If they had that they could pretty much guarantee they would always get higher numbers that WWE, simply because it would be broadcast-ed to a much wider audience.

With channel Five recently losing UFCs Ultimate Fighter to SkySports, TNA could find a home there.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The main issue here is what'll happen to Street Crime UK.

Living really should concentrate on their better shows. Dating In The Dark, for example, is considerably better than TNA. The women also aren't as ropey. I thought TNA was doing great numbers in the UK, something must've changed in the six months since I read that.

Another channel will pick it up, probably Five. I heard they were interested in it. It'll then be even harder to find or you'll have to stay up until 3am to watch it. Well I won't, but some people might.

 

[Bobby B]

I'm really surprised people haven't mentioned the easier option and thats ESPN. Unlike in America, this is not a big channel always looking for a new sport to fill their content and can be accessed by a big audience. Ok it charges extra but it'll be a nice home for them. Whilst ESPN does have UFC, Sky is showing Ultimate Fighter so I don't think there will be any issues there.

ESPN is an option, certainly. But I don't think that would be a good move for TNA at all. It would limit their audience so much. You might get a bit of crossover from the UFC audience which ESPN also carries, but it would be a big miss on the whole.

It's certainly possible that this could be a blessing in disguise for TNA. Both Channel 4 and 5 could both pick up the program (even if they shifted it to one of their sister channels like E4 or Fiver), both are available on Freeview - and it would be great exposure for TNA.

It's a weird situation. In one sense they've lost a channel that has served them well for years, and they may not find one in as good a position as that (like ESPN or Extreme Sports). And yet at the same time there are bigger channels that may be looking to revamp their programming.

As for the official TNA statement - their deal with The Living TV Group won't mean anything now it's under Sky brackets.

 

[The Main Event]

NA Responds To UK Sky TV Acquisition

TNA WRESTLING’S RESPONSE TO SKY TV’S ACQUISITION OF VIRGIN MEDIA TV CHANNELS

In response to reports of Sky TV’s move to eliminate the Bravo cable network, TNA’s home for “iMPACT!” in the United Kingdom, TNA officials issued the following statement on Wednesday:

“Following the acquisition of Virgin Media TV channels (now rebranded as The Living TV Group) by Sky, there has always been the possibility of fundamental changes to those channels, including Bravo. However, we remain confident in TNA’s position due to the outstanding ratings enjoyed in 2010, and our long term contract with the Living TV Group,” TNA Executive Vice President Andy Barton said.

 

[boywithatoy]

I'm actually amazed that any UK wrestling fan with access to the internet (which is all of us) still watches the shows on the tv. I honestly can't remember the last time I watched wwe or tna on tv as I download all the shows ('warez-bb' is your friend!). This means you can watch it when you want (in the case of SD, NXT and TNA that means before it's broadcast in the UK) and without the adverts. When you download, you just get 90 minutes of what you actually want to watch.

That's also not to mention that Sky always move WWE shows around. Sometimes they move the channel but a lot of the time they move the time. I remember a few months ago, for about 4 weeks in a row, Smackdown would start late - usually about 1am instead of the normal 10pm. In the end I got so pissed off with Sky treating wrestling like the ginger step-child that I decided to just download.

To be fair to Bravo, they've done a good job with TNA. The time slot never moves, if you miss the 9pm slot they show it again at 10pm on the +1 channel and it's on their on demand service too so you can catch up. That is of course when the on demand service actaully works (anyone who has virgin media knows how unreliable their on demand service is!).

There's another reason why downloading is better than watching on tv in the UK. I don't know if you UK viewers know this but both Bravo and Sky cut a lot of stuff out. Ok, so the stuff they cut out is usually backstage stuff but it's still important to the storyline. I have friends who watch wwe and tna on the tv over here and i'd say things like "oh, did you that section with so and so.." and they'd be like "er, I never saw that" and that's because Sky/Bravo cut it out!

Some people might say that me downloading the shows is wrong but I don't see it like that. I have a full tv package - I've paid for sky sports, bravo etc so I've paid for it already, I just want to watch it when it's convenient to me. And considering I pay £75 a month for my internet and tv package, I think i've paid more than enough to not feel guilty about downloading!

I can see all tv programs going this way in the future though. TV will be dead (as in, TV schedules will be dead) and I can see more and more people just downloading and watching what they want, when they want it. Imagine if WWE or TNA said that an hour after the show is broadcast, you could download the show for $1? Obviously they have to do something with the file so that after a while you couldn't play it or it deleted itself but i'm sure loads of people would do go for it.

As to where TNA will go - who knows? I think there only chance is to get on ITV (or one of their sister channels). Channel 4 wont take them, channel 5 are part owned by Sky so they wont take them cos of wwe's deal. Sky now own Virgin, bravo, living and challenge - all the channels you might expect to show TNA. There really isn't any other channel on freeview that could do it - all you've got is Dave (only really shows uk programs, mainly comedy) and then loads of specialist channels like History, Yesterday, etc. which obviously wont show wrestling. TNA only have 3 realistic options - ITV, ESPN or Extreme Sports whatever it's called. I personally think they are going to end up there, which will be a huge blow to their ratings.

Of course with bravo shutting down it does mean we wont get to see anymore documentaries about Alex Reid - that will be a shame!

 

[Dum Dum Dudley]

I'm really surprised people haven't mentioned the easier option and thats ESPN. Unlike in America, this is not a big channel always looking for a new sport to fill their content and can be accessed by a big audience. Ok it charges extra but it'll be a nice home for them. Whilst ESPN does have UFC, Sky is showing Ultimate Fighter so I don't think there will be any issues there.

...and of course Internet viewing isn't taken into account because it is not a legal method. It'll be like counting illegal downloads for the music chart.

Y'see, while ESPN would probably be a logically home for TNA programming, the problem with ESPN is that it isn't included on basic packages like you stated. Bravo, Living, Virgin (or channel one as it is ridiculous now titled) are all classed under entertainment channels and so are more likely to be purchased in a household as nearly everyone purchases those packages. It makes me laugh that WWE presents it's product as 'Sports Entertainment' and tries to get all these mainstream names involved but it is shown on the sports channels in the U.K but TNA prides itself as being traditional brawling and wrestling and it shares it's U.K home with Alex Reid, Dog the Bounty Hunter and other various Z-list reality stars.

I think the best bet would be for one of the 'FIVE' channels to purchase the rights. With that Desmond fellow recently buying 'FIVE' and the rumours of him wanting to buy Big Brother, it appears he has money to spend so could easily put a bid in. A slot on 'Fiver' would be the best bet as the UFC programming is shown on there and it certainly fits into the 'American' genre of the channel.

Slightly off topic, you mentioned illegal downloads, i commented on a thread about how hard it is to get hold of WWE programming in the U.K and someone mentioned YouTube. I scoffed, naturally. How could a site renowned for clamping down on illegal WWE videos allow full episodes of RAW to be streamed the next day. Sure enough, i have already watched this weeks RAW well before its repeat airing tonight and i'm amazed at how YouTube hasn't clamped down on it.

 

[The Pizzaman]

i know its a long shot but my brains been in overdrive ever since i heard that Bravo is closing and TNA has little chance of being taken up by another company. I doubt im right but as a very long shot ive been wondering whether Vince Mchahon had anything to do with BSkybs decision to drop Bravo. I mean WWE has excusitivity with Sky and TNA has been going up the ratings recently. Maybe Vince poured some of his billions into the company who airs his shows and ppvs in the uk to try and lower the chances of the uk fans being able to boost TNAs ratings. Yes its a long shot and im more than likley wrong but wondered i im the only one who has thought this?

 

[Perfected123]

Yes i agree if it does air on one of the five channels, Fiver would be the most suitable and the time slots would be better. This would of been crushing news to me a year ago but WWE gets my vote nowadays. Thank You Hogan.