Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that before it was announced last Friday that Impact Wrestling would be moving to Wednesday nights beginning June 3, 2015, Destination America officials made the decision to cancel the show and all other TNA programming.
It was noted by Meltzer that all TNA programming will cease to air on Destination America at the end of the third quarter, which is around the last week of September.
There was two major reasons for the cancellation. Destination America officials considered the ratings for Impact Wrestling to be good, but not good enough to justify the cost of the programming. The other problem was that a number of the cable network’s advertisers specifically did not want to advertise during Impact Wrestling.
The decision from Destination America to cancel TNA programming was meant to be kept secret. A public acknowledgement is expected to be made when the station reveals its 2015-16 television prime-time lineup.
Following the March 13, 2015 episode of Impact Wrestling, which saw viewership sink to a new low, Destination America officials made the decision to cancel Saturday morning programming under the belief that eliminating the replay would help the Friday numbers – the only numbers they cared about. Although there was a slight increase, all first-run programming with the exception of Impact Wrestling airing multiple times of Friday nights was axed due to the cable network’s difficulty in selling advertisement time. For the May 8, 2015 live episode of Impact Wrestling, Destination America purchased an advertisement in the USA Today newspaper to promote the show, believing that additional advertising and it being almost live would lead to an increased rating. Instead, Impact Wrestling did its second lowest number on Destination America, and the replay, which is primarily watched by viewers on the West Coast, drew a record low. Days later, Destination America executives made the decision to cancel all TNA Wrestling programming.
TNA President Dixie Carter was made aware of Destination America’s decision early last week although it doesn’t appear that most of the talent knew anything since word of this had not gotten around. Her knowledge of the cancellation may have played a role in Impact Wrestling moving to Wednesday nights, but that is uncertain. Carter didn’t respond to any questions on the subject from Meltzer.
Meltzer noted in his report that Destination America’s decision has not been finalized. Employees at the station, however, not been told anything new since a memo was issued to them, informing them of the cancellation. Meltzer noted that “this story is very much ongoing.”
Meltzer noted that because the cancellation was announced before the move to Wednesdays, the cancellation isn’t definite, although he noted that it wasn’t a good sign that people at the station haven’t been told anything new since being informed of the cancellation.
Source: WrestlingINC.com