TNA Impact Announces New UK TV Deal With Spike
Good news for Impact's UK fanbase.
TNA's busy week has continued today with news that the company have signed a new UK TV deal with Spike UK.
New owners Anthem Sports & Entertainment have announced that the company's flagship show will be broadcast to viewers in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland on Friday nights from Spring 2017.
The press release states that all weekly IMPACT Wrestling shows and pay-per-views (including One Night Only specials) will be available on Spike UK, with TNA Xplosion exclusive to My5. There's no official start date as of yet, but IMPACT Wrestling president Ed Nordholm had the following to say:-
“Since our acquisition of IMPACT Wrestling, growing the brand in the UK has been one of our most important initiatives. 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 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.”
Challenge TV stopped airing IMPACT in January, and TNA's UK and Irish viewers have been restricted to watching through the company's paid mobile application since then. TNA have previously worked with Spike TV in America, but lost that deal in 2014.
TNA cited the delay between Impact airing in the USA (Thursday) and UK (Sunday under Challenge) as the reason for scrapping their previous deal, which explains the switch to Friday nights. The company are set to hold their next set of IMPACT Wrestling tapings tonight.