After months of denials, it’s official, albeit with a twist: TNA Impact Wrestling has been cancelled by Destination America effective the end of the year. While the original report from Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter said that Destination America’s opt-out clause allowed them to cancel Impact after the end of this month, TNA President Dixie Carter told Sports Illustrated that they’re done at the end of the year.
In the Sports Illustrated article, Justin Barrasso wrote that “[Spike TV] cut ties with TNA last December, leaving TNA without a television network in the United States. History repeated itself a year later, as TNA’s current home for TV–Destination America–will no longer air Impact in 2016.” Dixie Carter added that “The biggest challenge for us is building a brand in the U.S. That’s where we need to grow. We’re contracted to Destination America through the end of the year, and we are in discussions going on for 2016.”
Per Meltzer, the original memo issued within Discovery (Destination America’s parent company) read as follows:
Destination America is not renewing TNA Wrestling next year. While the ratings were strong, the audience was not large enough to justify the program investment. We plan to honor the current contract and continue to air original episodes of TNA Wrestling on Friday nights through the end of the third quarter 2015. When the up-front rate card is released, the Friday night anthology title will now be called ‘American Tales,’ which will be a combination of Paranormal and Americana programming. I hope this is good news given all of the advertisers that included TNA on their DNA list.
The DNA in “DNA list” means “do not advertise.” It refers to shows that a sponsor opts out of buying time on when they buy ads across a whole network. In this case, due to pro wrestling being perceived as downmarket or having low income viewers, advertisers who bought ads to air on most or all Destination America shows didn’t want to put their ads on Impact.
