The Ringsider – Jim LeMond
Rgw Smackdown Situation – What’s Next?
Our ring-wise analyst lays out the potential consequences of the CW Network-Smackdown divorce!.
In what could potentially end up being the biggest story of the year, the CW Network announced this week that it had terminated negotiations with WWE and would be canceling Smackdown as of September 12.
After hearing CW was announcing the news to many of its affiliates, WWE put out a press release claiming that both sides mutually agreed to go separate ways. Most saw it for what it really was, however, and the reality is that CW walked away after key points of negotiations fell through. It is believe WWE was looking for an increase in rights fees, while CW was looking for WWE to take a cut.
Unfortunately, WWE has shown over the last several years that it constantly feels the need to shoot itself in the foot in TV negotiations. In early 2005, while on Spike TV, Vince McMahon had an opportunity to deny UFC getting on the network with its Ultimate Fighter program, as WWE had a no-compete clause on the network and Spike saw UFC as WWE’s competition. McMahon arrogantly claimed the two products had nothing to do with each other and allowed the move. Months later, WWE played hardball with Spike during Raw negotiations, demanding an increase from $28 million annually to $42 million, despite the fact that they were drawing ratings in the low 5s and had dropped to the high 3s during the contract. Spike dumped Raw, built its station around UFC, and UFC has now surpassed WWE in terms of PPV popularity.
In December, WWE was looking for a long-term (four or five years) extension with the USA Network with an increase in rights fees for both Raw and ECW. They walked away with a two-year deal for Raw and a one-year deal with ECW at exactly the same money. USA (which owns the Sci-Fi Network ECW appears on) officials are said to be counting the days until they can dump ECW. Raw allows USA to have the bragging rights as the highest-rated cable network, so it is very unlikely they move; however, unless ratings take a huge jump, it is unlikely rights fees will increase.
There are some in the TV industry who predict this could spell doom to the CW Network. The network, formed a little over two years ago by combining UPN and WB, is consistently in last place by a wide margin in the networks ratings. In reality, Smackdown and Everybody Hates Chris are the only first-run programs that draw any type of rating for the network.
WWE has already announced they are shopping the show around. One would think a guaranteed four-to-five million viewers would be a strong selling point, but in WWE lingo, “shopping around” means “no one has showed interest.” WWE’s television contract dictates they could end up on USA or Sci-Fi cable networks, or any network. My gut says USA and Sci-Fi are out. The name tossed around right now is MyNetworkTV, which is available in close to 100 million homes. However, after WWE spent roughly $20 million on the switch to HD, MyNetworkTV does not currently broadcast in HD. Bravo is also a slim possibility.
What if no one picks up Smackdown? It would adversely affect the product. It’s entirely possible that on January 1, 2009, WWE will be down to two hours of first-run programming per week. This would require about 30 guys on the main roster, so a great deal of the smaller and younger guys could find themselves out of work. I don’t expect this t
– Jim LeMond.com
(2/16/08)
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