ktc

Dueling Chair Shots
by Kurt La Mont
column date 09/20/2000

TNN: Thank You or Good Riddance?

Friday will be the last time ECW will air on TNN. And as far as those in ECW are concerned this date has not come soon enough.

Over at least the past 9 months we have seen ECW continually take shots at TNN over what they considered mistreatment. ECW wanted to see more support from TNN in terms of advertisements and promotions and got very little of that, and almost none on other networks.

Also, while ECW was running on TNN they went out and convinced the WWF to bring their programming to their network. If I was in ECW I probably would be offended by this as well.

ECW parlayed this mistreatment into their main angle this year, creating an Us vs. Them, Good Guy vs. Bad Guy, Big Corporate Giant vs. Small Promotion, ECW vs TNN angle. And while I didn't necessarily think this was a great angle, anyone that was considered 'Network' seemed to get great heat from the crowd. ECW was able to really drive the TNN is evil to the fans. This was most noticable to me when I saw how strong the anti-TNN chants at the Hammerstein shows were.

So TNN is evil, right?

As much as ECW has convinced everyone that it is, I do not see this as the case.

While TNN is certainly guilty of many things against ECW the benefits that they brought to ECW far outweigh the negatives in my mind.

TNN was the only network seriously interested in bringing ECW to national televised cable a year ago. Without TNN, ECW would most likely be only running the syndicated show. Back in March of 1999 the syndicated show (which was the ONLY show at the time) was dropped from the Boston channel that I watched the show on. Until the debut on TNN the only chance that I had to follow ECW was to read about it online and watch any old tapes that I could get my hands on. TNN changed that. TNN allowed me an opportunity to watch ECW every week at the exact same time. There were no times where it was pre-empted for a dog show or tennis or the NBA playoffs. I could set my VCR for Friday at 8 PM every week and know that when I rewound the tape that I could watch that week's ECW show.

TNN also allowed wrestling fans to watch their show in new markets that have never seen ECW before. Canada now could watch ECW, people in Idaho could watch ECW, people in Arizona could watch ECW, and people all over the country could watch ECW. The number being thrown around a year ago by ECW is that they would be available in 70 million homes. Before TNN that number was considerably smaller.

As an ECW fan I am concerned about 2 main items: 1. Can I watch the show?; and 2. Are the shows any good? As a fan I could care less about how much ECW is advertised. As a fan, I could care less at how many people watch the show. As a fan, I could care less when the show airs, just give me the opportunity to see the show.

TNN had control over #1 and delivered every Friday at 8 PM. ECW was the one that had the most control over #2, not TNN. Did TNN place restrictions on what ECW could show? Perhaps, but not to the point where the shows would be greatly effected. ECW controlled how good or bad the shows would be.

Also, being on TNN the past year ECW proved that they could hold a consistent audience. While their ratings were far from overwhelming (ratings comparable to the WNBA or MLS) the number never dipped below a 0.8. So any network that is paying attention (hello, USA) realizes that the potential for an existing audience is easily available at a cheap price. Before TNN no other networks were lining up for ECW. A year later the buzz in the television community indicates that there are 3 suitors for ECW (USA, FX, ESPN2). Without TNN this likely would not be the case.

Would additional advertisement have helped ECW? Most likely, but advertisement only does so much. Without much help ECW grew their rating over the first few months to a 1.3 rating. Since then it has gone back down to 0.8 (roughly a 40% drop). This drop cannot be put on TNN's shoulders. If the time slot bounced all over the place then maybe you could justify the drop but ECW appeared at 8 PM every Friday. You can do all the advertising you want but if you don't give a product that people want to see they won't watch (see Rollerjam for a good example). I don't think the people that stopped watching stopped beacues they forgot what time ECW was on.

Would I be bitter at TNN if I was in ECW? Probably. The more support you get from your network the more likely to grow, expand, make more money, etc... ECW clearly didn't get that from TNN.

So while TNN is bashed by ECW from pillar to post, just realize that up to this point in ECW's history TNN has been a very valuable contributor to ECW, whether that is acknowledged or not within ECW. Without TNN, I and millions of others, would not have had the opportunity to watch ECW over the past year.

And for that I say thank you TNN.

More good stuff next week. Send any comments, questions or concerns to me at [email protected].

Past editions of Dueling Chair Shots
10/4
10/16
10/27
11/5
11/10
11/17
11/19
12/03
12/10
12/17
01/03
01/19
01/29
02/04
02/14
02/22
02/29
03/06
03/13
03/20
04/12
04/28
05/08
05/18
05/23
05/30
06/05
06/13
06/21
06/29
07/06
07/11
07/17
07/24
08/01
08/07
08/20
08/30
09/06
09/14