Anthem Sports & Entertainment sent out a press release this week to announce a new cable television deal in the United Kingdom.
TNA’s weekly Impact Wrestling episodes will now be airing exclusively via Spike UK in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Below is the official press release that was sent out regarding the topic this week:
Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp. announced today a new broadcast deal for IMPACT Wrestling to be televised exclusively on Spike UK, making its flagship weekly show available throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
From Spring 2017, IMPACT Wrestling, TNA pay-per-views, including One Night Only specials will be available on Spike UK, and TNA Xplosion exclusive to My5, which is part of the Channel 5 stable available on Sky TV (160), Freeview (31), Freesat (141), Virgin Media (154) and other DTT platforms.
New episodes of IMPACT Wrestling will premiere on Friday nights, quenching the appetite of U.K. fans to view IMPACT Wrestling within hours of the US premiere broadcast.
“Since our acquisition of IMPACT Wrestling, growing the brand in the UK has been one of our most important initiatives,” said Ed Nordholm, president of IMPACT Wrestling. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Spike UK to fill this important spot in their programme schedule and look forward to rebuilding our presence in the UK market. As one of the hottest wrestling scenes in the world right now, we look forward to taking an active role in the market, both on television and with live events.”
Anna-Belen Dunlop and Kris Graham, Acquisitions and Channel Managers of Spike UK, added: “We are excited that Spike will be the new exclusive home of IMPACT Wrestling in the UK With Anthem’s new leadership and founder Jeff Jarrett back, this is a watershed moment for the franchise, which is a perfect fit for our Spike audience.”
For more information, please visit www.impactwrestling.com/ and www.spiketv.co.uk.
Powell’s POV: Nordholm and Jarrett were in the UK recently and it would seem that this deal was high on the priority list unless the deal was struck before then. TNA has been without a television home in the UK since January after Challenge TV moved on. Now if only TNA could get back on Spike TV in the United States.