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Posts Tagged ‘NBC’

You need a mighty fast laptop to keep up with all the changes in the WWE world these days. The biggest and most significant change will take place next fall, when WWE Smackdown moves from MyNetworkTV to SyFy.

While MyNetworkTV is a bit of a joke as a broadcast network, the headline here is that it means WWE is actually exiting broadcast network TV for the first time since Smackdown first took to the airwaves on UPN in 1999. The move from MyNetworkTV to SyFy will take place on October 1, 2010.

As part of that change, WWE is reportedly shopping its current SyFy offering, WWE NXT, to other cable outlets, in anticipation that SyFy will dump the show once it brings Smackdown into the fold. Currently, SyFy programs its best night of original and import TV shows on Friday night, so no word yet on whether SmackDown will air on a new night when it makes the move next fall. Friday Night SmackDown originally aired as Thursday Night Smackdown for the majority of its broadcast TV run.

Finally, WWE is reportedly in talks with NBC Universal about a partnership that would extend beyond the current arrangement of airing RAW on the NBCU-owned USA Network, as well as occasional NBC Saturday Night Main Event specials; the extension of the partnership would involve NBC helping WWE to launch its own WWE Network cable channel in the foreseeable future… likely not until 2011 or so.

Break out the external hard drive for your DVR, folks! Stone Cold Steve Austin is scheduled to appear on the January 25 episode of Chuck on NBC, according to various news sources. Austin will portray a close-combat expert named Hugo Panzer on the episode.

Chuck is one of the shows NBC is looked toward to rescue the network from a dismal season; Heroes has plunged in the Monday night ratings since moving to 7 PM Central and being paired with the bland medical drama, Trauma, which ran for 10 episodes.

When Chuck returns to NBC’s schedule, it will take over the 7 PM hour and return Heroes to its traditional 8 PM time slot, which the network hopes will result in better overall Monday night ratings, despite the horrid budget-slashing move of putting Jay Leno at 9 PM Central five nights a week, making NBC a bit of a joke as a major network… and a bad Jay Leno joke at that!

Mutilchannel News broke the story that NBC-Universal and the WWE have extended their current TV contract by an additional two years, through 2010; the current deal only ran through 2008.

Although no Cartier watches were exchanged, the new contract does call for a higher payout to WWE for programming, above the current level of $31 million per year.

NBC-Universal airs WWE Monday Night Raw on the USA Network, as well as ECW broadcasts on the SciFi Channel; the agreement also means there will be more WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event specials on NBC periodically throughout the year, when Saturday Night Live would normally be broadcasting reruns.

The agreement keeps the lion’s share of WWE-branded programming on NBC-Universal venues; the exception is WWE Friday Night SmackDown, which airs on the CBS-Warner Brothers-owned CW Network.