Destination America’s Memo Canceling TNA iMPACT! Leaks

News
May 28, 2015

Partial Source: The Wrestling Observer

UPDATE x 10: As you know by now, we reported last week that Destination America had made the decision not to renew iMPACT! Wrestling and that the show would cease to air on the network in September. While TNA soon followed up with a vague statement claiming defamation and threatening legal action, no reports of actual legal letters being sent out have been reported. The whole thing was complicated today when it was reported that Destination America had signed a deal to air Ring of Honor before Impact as a lead-in through the end of the year and TNA didn’t address cancellation reports during a conference call with talent today.

Well, here’s where it starts to really get interesting. We now have the memo that the Discovery Network allegedly sent out regarding the decision not to continue with TNA. The memo reads:

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 [Do Not Advertise] list.

A source contacted Dixie Carter immediately after (she didn’t respond) and a week later Destination America made the announcement that iMPACT! was moving to Wednesdays. There was a month of TV already taped which made reference to Fridays.

Discovery was reportedly not planning to announcing TNA’s cancellation publicly, which is a common tactic for cancelled shows. Few networks ever announce the cancellation of shows; instead they make the decisions and reporters dig up the truth or cast members announce it. The only way most shows are announced as cancelled are by their lack of inclusion on the next schedule.

It is worth noting that at this point, the report is directly quoting alleged statements from Destination America figures so if the report is inaccurate than defamation could conceivably apply. Whether TNA or Destination America say or do anything in response will be telling.

UPDATE x 9: Kurt Angle posted the following to Twitter today:

Here is Ring of Honor COO Joe Koff discussing the promotion’s new Destination America deal with Bill Apter of 1Wrestling. Koff said about ROH leading into TNA every week, “Not only is it three hours of wrestling, but it’s two different styles of wrestling. I’m from the TV business, lead in and lead out is really important and I can’t think of a better neighbor for ROH to have.”

UPDATE x 8: As reported earlier today, Ring Of Honor will be airing on Destination America beginning next Wednesday night at 8pm EST., right before iMPACT! Wrestling. The ROH shows that air on Destination America will be repeats of the weekend shows that air on Sinclair Broadcasting.

One of the reasons Destination America made the decision to bring ROH on board was because of their deal with TNA. The main issue with TNA is not a viewership problem, but rather the fact that the cable company is having difficulty selling ads on the show.

Because Destination America pays the amount that they pay for TNA, and because they are not making the money back, they are looking for another company — which ended up being ROH — so that they can keep wrestling on the network, as they do want to have the sport on their channel.

ROH will reportedly make money off of the deal with Destination America, and because they will be paying significantly less for ROH than TNA, they will likely make money as well.

At last word, iMPACT! Wrestling is still renewed after September, but there’s always a chance that things could change, especially if ROH’s show helps iMPACT!.

ROH had previously been in talks with Destination America to air specials on their network, however that deal never came to fruition. ROH, however, is said to be thrilled with this deal because it allows them to expand into markets that Sinclair isn’t in.

There is no working relationship planned between TNA and ROH, so anyone speculating about a possible invasion angle can put that idea to rest. The reason no one in TNA knew about ROH’s deal with the company is because they had nothing to do with it.

As noted earlier, the announcement that ROH is coming to Destination America in June caught numerous people within TNA off guard. As reported earlier, MVP outright said on social media that TNA talents were not informed ahead of time that ROH and Destination America had reached a deal.

There is also a rumor going around that ROH will be airing both immediately before iMPACT! Wrestling and immediately after it each Wednesday night. We are still awaiting confirmation on this story.

Also, with ROH now airing on Destination America, there is already speculation that WWE will put an end to Samoa Joe appearing on their television shows. Joe was scheduled to work the 6/20 ROH TV taping in New York, teaming with AJ Styles to take on the team of Kazarian and Daniels, however that now remains to be seen.

UPDATE x 7: Here is a selection of Tweets from TNA officials and talent welcoming Ring of Honor to Destination America. Do you believe they are really sincere?! The tweets include those from Dixie Carter, Bob Ryder, Billy Corgan, Eric Young, MVP and more:

UPDATE x 6: We now have some additional details on TNA’s conference call that held at 3PM EST this afternoon and went for nearly 90 minutes. TNA President Dixie Carter did not give any explanation about their status with Destination America. It was suggested that neither TNA nor Destination America can publicly comment on the relationship between them due to the nature of their contract.

TNA officials also gave the implication that the company couldn’t discuss the Ring of Honor deal with talent until it was was officially announced, though some at the meeting didn’t buy that. The general belief is that TNA did not know about the ROH deal until it was announced. One source says they were “completely caught off guard by the announcement.” This confirms that there has been little communication between TNA and Destination America which obviously is not a good sign.

Once the call was opened up for wrestlers to speak, things are said to have gotten heated and at one point, Dixie Carter told talent that it was up to them to show the world why they’re the best and that they “controlled their own destiny.” She addressed the pay issues as if they were in the past.

The story of Carter allegedly accidentally emailing a Destination America official expressing displeasure with the network did not come up. It was noted that the company was adamant about not wanting talent to leak stories or speak to outside parties.

There are several opinions from the talent; some feel better now that the situation has been addressed and hope everyone will stop worrying about it, while others called it a “circus call” in how some of the talent even began bringing up personal issues once the call was opened up for them to speak. Another said that the call was basically ninety minutes of nothing, without anything of substance being addressed.

UPDATE x 5: Distressingly for talent, TNA’s future on Destination America was not addressed during the conference call today. During the conference call there was nothing really said except that they could not currently address the company’s future on the cable network. As you’d imagine, this didn’t make talent happy and they were already pissed off to begin with. MVP, Bobby Roode, Drew Galloway and others have gone on Twitter and clearly aren’t happy with everything that has been going down and the extreme lack of communication.

A source notes that no one at Destination America has been told anything different since the decision was made that TNA would cease airing on the network in September. As previously reported, Ring of Honor will serve as a lead-in into iMPACT! Wrestling and there are unconfirmed reports that ROH could also get an 11 PM replay after iMPACT! goes off the air. It’s always possible that, if the lead-in improves TNA’s ratings, Destination America could keep iMPACT! Wrestling on the air past September but at this time there is no indication that any change in the show’s status has been made.

Some fear that Destination America is “using” TNA and will wind up dropping them and airing ROH in the end as it comes at a much cheaper price. ROH also becomes the number two promotion in the United States as far as viewership is concerned as they have the Sinclair and Destination America broadcast deals. They are also running pay-per-views and live events while TNA is not. ROH PPVs have also been moved to Friday nights going forward.

The full details of the meeting still haven’t gotten out and the exact phrasing that Dixie Carter used in regard to the Destination America update isn’t known, but the fact that Carter didn’t address the company’s status with Destination America is concerning, to say the least. Destination America is also not denying the reports which should tell you something.

UPDATE x 4: TNA talent has begun tweeting about Ring of Honor’s deal with Destination America, promoting the fact that ROH will be the lead-in to iMPACT! Wrestling. This is reportedly something that TNA is doing on their own, as opposed to acquiescing to a request from Destination America. TNA and ROH do not have a working relationship; it is possible (though not confirmed) that TNA asked talent to do so during the conference call today.

While specifics around the conference call have not yet come in, it reportedly ran over ninety minutes. Some of the TNA talent on the line were not particularly happy with all the developments over the past week.

While some are questioning how TNA could not have had an exclusivity clause with Destination America, it must be said that UTA — the talent agency the company came on board with last year — negotiated the deal with the network and not TNA. UTA is an overall entertainment talent agency and genre exclusivity is obviously not a commonplace clause in general television contracts.

Samoa Joe’s contract with WWE NXT allows him to work ROH dates, although previous reports said that his deal did not allow him to work nationally-televised dates. It remains to be seen how WWE will react to Samoa Joe now appearing on Destination America with Ring of Honor. That may cause some issues.

UPDATE x 3: According to the ROH press release, the initial deal is for 26 weeks. Here is what their press release said…

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) (the “Company”) announced that it has signed a national broadcast deal with Destination America, part of Discovery Communications, for the Company’s professional wrestling promotion, Ring of Honor (“ROH”). ROH will premiere on Destination America for 26 weeks beginning Wednesday, June 3, 2015 at 8pm EST/7pm CST. The announcement was made by Joe Koff, Chief Operating Officer – Ring of Honor Wresting.

UPDATE x 2: Here are more details on the ROH TV deal …

* Several sources are also reporting that the Ring of Honor-Destination America TV deal caught TNA completely off guard.

* ROH will stay in syndication through Sinclair Broadcasting. The series on Destination America will be the same series that is owned and distributed by Sinclair Broadcasting. Episodes will debut over the weekend on the Sinclair stations and then air on Wednesday nights on Destination American.

* The relationship between Ring of Honor and Destination America relationship is something that has reportedly been built over the last several months and is independent of whatever is going on between the Network and TNA.

* Destination America wants pro wrestling content on their Network and they want to make the cable outlet a “destination” for that but it all depends on how good ratings are in the end.

* ROH will be seen weekly through at least the end of the year, but possibly longer.

UPDATE: Here is the official press release…

Destination America announced today that it has signed a national broadcast deal with professional wrestling league RING OF HONOR, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., bringing one of the most respected wrestling organizations to the only network dedicated to all-American entertainment. Destination America is now the one-two-punch to professional wrestling, adding RING OF HONOR (ROH) to its line-up after launching IMPACT WRESTLING in early 2015. RING OF HONOR has been delivering top wrestling matches for ten years with captivating hard-hitting stars such as Jay & Mark Briscoe, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, The Young Bucks, Maria Kanellis, Adam Cole and Jay Lethal. Destination America will pack on the action beginning Wednesday June 3 with the series premiere of RING OF HONOR at 8/7c leading into brand new premieres of IMPACT WRESTLING at 9/8c.

“With the electric and intense matches that RING OF HONOR provides, Destination America is the network for fans to get an entire evening of jaw-dropping entertainment on Wednesday nights,” said Marc Etkind, general manager of Destination America. “RING OF HONOR showcases tenacity, athleticism and passion and it serves as the place where America’s favorite wrestling stars are born.”

“We are very excited to be partnering with Destination America for the broader distribution of the ROH programming,” commented Joe Koff, Chief Operating Officer – Ring of Honor Wrestling. “ROH will now reach an additional 57 million households including those in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and other large cities where Ring of Honor is not currently airing. ROH has a loyal fan base and is one of the fastest growing major wrestling franchises in the country. With this great partnership with Destination America, we can continue to expand our footprint and reach while producing entertaining, original content and continuing to provide wrestling fans some of the best wrestling content available.”

RING OF HONOR will premiere on Wednesday, June 3 leading into IMPACT WRESTLING, making Destination America the home for wrestling every Wednesday evening. The first match will feature the Briscoe Brothers, Mark and Jay, as they face off with the House of Truth in the main event. Also catch athletes of New Japan Pro Wrestling battle it out with the RING OF HONOR stars and follow former NFL lineman Moose compete against BJ Whitmer.

ORIGINAL: Destination America sent out the following today on Twitter, announcing that “Ring of Honor is coming to Destination America” on June 3rd at 8PM ET. The show would air one hour prior to iMPACT!, which is moving to Wednesdays on that evening. More details as they become available…

EXCLUSIVE AUDIO: The TNA Conference Call From Earlier Today – VIEW QUICKLY BEFORE THEY MAKE US TAKE IT DOWN!!!

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