Destination America Picks Up Another Wrestling Promotion

[cero2k]

The plot thickens

source: http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/0 ... or/409080/

(Silver Spring, Md.) –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.



Since launching in 2012, Destination America has become one of cable’s top fastest-growing networks, and continues to earn telecast ratings records among key series. In 2015 to date, Destination America has acquired over 50 million unique viewers. With top series that explore unique American cultures and ways of life – including Paranormal Survivor, Hillbilly Blood, Buying the Bayou, and BBQ Pitmasters – Destination America’s programming spans the nation from Alaska, Hawaii and Colorado to Louisiana, West Virginia and communities in between. To find Destination America, go to destinationamerica.com/watchda.



About Destination America

Destination America is the only network to celebrate the people, places, and stories of the United States. The inclusive network targeting Adults 25-54 is available in more than 57 million homes, emblazoning television screens with the grit and tenacity, honesty and work ethic, humor and adventurousness that characterize our nation. Destination America features travel, food, adventure, home, and natural history, with original series like BBQ Pitmasters; A Haunting; Mountain Monsters; Buying Alaska; Buying the Bayou; and Railroad Alaska. For more information, please visit DestinationAmerica.com, facebook.com/DestinationAmerica, or twitter.com/DestAmerica. Destination America is part of Discovery Communications (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), the world’s #1 pay-TV provider reaching nearly 3 billion cumulative subscribers in 220 countries and territories.

[Big Red Machine]

The plot "thickens?" That's the f*cking understatement of the year. This is HUGE news in SOOOO many ways!
How does it effect ROH financially (i.e. are they now getting TV rights fees money?!)
Is this an attempt to set up a replacement for TNA, or an attempt to keep them around by bringing in another promotion to be a lead in?
Where are these matches being taped from?
Is this the usual one-hour show, or are these matches taped separately?

SOOOO MANY QUESTIONS!

[Big Red Machine]

Destination America is now the one-two-punch to professional wrestling,

Okay... someone needs to get these Destination America motherf*ckers a press department that knows how to write because they keep embarrassing themselves.

[cero2k]

The plot "thickens?" That's the f*cking understatement of the year. This is HUGE news in SOOOO many ways!
How does it effect ROH financially (i.e. are they now getting TV rights fees money?!)
Is this an attempt to set up a replacement for TNA, or an attempt to keep them around by bringing in another promotion to be a lead in?
Where are these matches being taped from?
Is this the usual one-hour show, or are these matches taped separately?

SOOOO MANY QUESTIONS!

DA does have an 'get free out of jail' card from the TNA contract, but i'm not sure if there needs to be a grace period before using, so it all points to ROH will lead into TNA at least until september. Now, since ROH hasn't done any special tapings, at least for a while they can only use the normal 1 hour show, which at this point is already days old, so it's not like Sinclair loses viewers.

I think this will be like when the WB network would run Smackdown lead by WCW Thunder, so i'm all for it. It'll at least be 3 hours of good programming. What I think gets crazy is now all 4 major promotions are directly competing with each other on the same day

[Big Red Machine]

The plot "thickens?" That's the f*cking understatement of the year. This is HUGE news in SOOOO many ways!
How does it effect ROH financially (i.e. are they now getting TV rights fees money?!)
Is this an attempt to set up a replacement for TNA, or an attempt to keep them around by bringing in another promotion to be a lead in?
Where are these matches being taped from?
Is this the usual one-hour show, or are these matches taped separately?

SOOOO MANY QUESTIONS!

DA does have an 'get free out of jail' card from the TNA contract, but i'm not sure if there needs to be a grace period before using, so it all points to ROH will lead into TNA at least until september. Now, since ROH hasn't done any special tapings, at least for a while they can only use the normal 1 hour show, which at this point is already days old, so it's not like Sinclair loses viewers.

I think this will be like when the WB network would run Smackdown lead by WCW Thunder, so i'm all for it. It'll at least be 3 hours of good programming. What I think gets crazy is now all 4 major promotions are directly competing with each other on the same day

Well... ROH and TNA aren't competing because they're on the same network.

[Big Red Machine]

Here is the Sinclair/ROH version of the press release:

BALTIMORE, MD (May 27, 2015) - 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.

“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.”

“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.”

About Ring of Honor Wrestling:
Ring of Honor Wrestling is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., the largest and one of the most diversified television broadcasting companies with affiliations across all the major networks. Ring of Honor is a professional wresting company which produces weekly, original 1-hour television wrestling programs and is the only wresting promotion in the United States with a major, multi-market presence on broadcast TV. Ring of Honor is also syndicated on select TV stations and regional Cable Systems. For further information on Ring of Honor visit www.rohwrestling.com.

The 26 weeks bit is interesting, but I hope that if DA gets bored and then boots ROH like they have for TNA, it doesn't reflect badly on ROH for over networks.

[Big Red Machine]

Here are some answers, from Bryan Alvarez:

Basically, ROH's regular show is being aired on Destination America. This is bad for TNA because Destination America is now geting a wrestling show (which they want), but without having to pay all of the production costs like they do for TNA.

[Big Red Machine]

He also noted that the ROH-Spike TV talks are now dead.

[Big Red Machine]

Dude... BRISCOES on Destination America. PERFECT FIT.

[cero2k]

He also noted that the ROH-Spike TV talks are now dead.

not sure how their relations ended, but this could be the opening that Jarrett needed for GFW

[badnewzxl]

This is all very exciting. How many wrestling promotions have gotten new tv deals in the last 8 months?! Seems like a LOT of networks are interested in wrestling

[cero2k]

This is all very exciting. How many wrestling promotions have gotten new tv deals in the last 8 months?! Seems like a LOT of networks are interested in wrestling

ASX just announced that NJPW got renewed for another season too, with the best commentary team today