1. The Threat Of Losing Their Time Slot
The final nail in the coffin for WCW wasn't that they had reportedly lost $60 million in its final year. Of course that didn't help, but had Ted Turner still been at the helm of the company, he most likely would have kept them on the air anyway. After all, there was only a couple years in its existence that WCW was successful at all, but Billionaire Ted always had their back anyway. Wrestling was a key ratings draw for him when he started his first cable channel, and he always remained loyal. But when AOL merged with Time Warner, Turner was no longer in charge of making all the big decisions. What aired on TNA and TBS was no longer up to him. That decision ultimately belonged to Jamie Kellner, who quickly and decisively axed WCW from the networks it aired on. It was the final blow to WCW, as without TV, no one else was going to take a chance on buying the company. Vince McMahon got it for reportedly just a couple million dollars. Unlike WWE, TNA is almost solely reliable on their relationship with Spike TV. Spike pays them a programming fee for two hours of TV time every week. It's first run content, so it costs a bit more than airing reruns of other shows. However, some of those reruns (like COPS) are drawing just as well as TNA, if not better. When the company first debuted on Spike, they were drawing a .8 rating on a Saturday night, with a one hour show. The March 20th edition of Impact drew a .86 on a Thursday night with a two hour show. Ouch. It's rumored that TNA's deal with Spike comes up in October. As of yet, they haven't signed an extension. It could very well be the death of the company if they don't re-sign. There probably aren't that many potential suitors out there looking to pay a hefty programming fee for a show that will draw a fairly consistent 1.0 rating. TNA now has about six months to try and move the ratings up, or risk not staying a part of the Spike TV family. Unfortunately, The current booking regime has shown no capability of increasing interest in the product. Now might be a good time to make some drastic changes.