About the current rumours of WWE leaving USA for Fox.
 

As has been posted online recently, the braodcast rights for WWE's 2 biggest shows, Raw and SmackDown, seem to point to those shows leaving the NBCUniversal family of channels for Fox.

There's a slight problem with that. While Fox is available in both the U.S. and Canada, if Raw was to air on the Fox main network, it would mean that Fox would have to be blacked out in Canada, as the rights for that show are controlled by Sportsnet, owned by Rogers Communications.

It also means that all the U.S. advertising Fox would run would not be seen here, because the broadcast rules strictly forbid any U.S. ads running during any U.S. TV show, minus the core Super Bowl game telecast.

I'm just wondering how Fox would handle a situation like that for Canada's viewers to their network, and wondering if something like this should instead cause the end of the 'no U.S. ads' TV policy in Canada?

Thoughts?

Fuck Rogers and move it over to TSN like in the old days.

I guess the only solution is to bomb canada.

*gives your head a smack for that stupid answer*

Wanna be nice now, Vicki?

= P

TSN is even worse at demanding the elimination of U.S. ads from U.S. TV shows. They're vengeful as hell against it.

Bell Media and Rogers Media are both as bad as one another.

= P

build a wall

The good ole days where they would preempt RAW for dog shows

Actually, that was the USA Network who pre-empted Raw for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at MSG. However, TSN would air Raw live and push the Dog Show into their overnight airing slot. Such was the case in 1999, where Raw Is War was held at SkyDome in Toronto, in front of over 42,000 people(man, the imagery of that many people watching Raw in a live crowd...little bit of power there), and was aired live on TSN, but on tape delay the Saturday after on the USA Network, as part of 'Raw Saturday Night'.

In terms of TSN's own pre-emptions, that would have mostly been the U.S. College Football National Championship Game or the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian Mens Curling Championship(TSN's parent, Bell Media, gives a FUCKTON of money to Curling Canada to make that a major sports TV event here in this country). But that was when TSN only had 1 single channel. Now, TSN has 5 channels(TSN 1, 3, 4, & 5 are regional feeds, while TSN 2 is a national extra feed), so I think that Raw could air somewhere without a problem in a live slot.

Also, TSN did not allow any male-on-female violence to be aired live on their air, because Canada's TV codes forbid it, fictional or otherwise, and as such, had to air Raw on a slight delay so they could live-edit out those types of segments from the editions we saw here. Though, maybe, WWE should not have ever created those segments to start with, to save TSN the problem of doing that.

In any event, Fox would still be bugged up up here in Canada if Raw aired on it's main channel. The only route I see to fixing that is to retire the 'simultaneous substitution' policy from TV and internet here, even if it means that WWE operates on it's own here, and no Canadian sports TV network ever airs Raw, SmackDown, et al anymore.

=P

I blame Gary Bettman

WWE on fox would be a huge step up.

Very huge.

It would probably be a great move for them, especially if they can get Raw on Fox proper. There are probably some international difficulties, but there would surely be ways around that. Television is becoming less restrictive; not more. And in many places, WWE would air on Fox affiliates, I'm sure. I know it does in Australia.

From today's Wrestling Observer:

It really doesn't matter who the carrier is, we will still get it live in Canada. We thpically don't get American commericals anyways, plus who the fuck watches commercials? I am not sure what you are concerned about.

What does UFC usually generate for ratings since I doubt long term WWE would remain higher or be where they are now for FOX. FOX would benefit from the honeymoon bump but unless WWE strikes gold on the next mega era, its going to trend downwards again.

USA Network had the same expectations when they got WWE back and it only took a few months to a year before the opposite started to happen.

I don't think UFC has big ratings for anything that isn't a ppv.

I think Ruien is correct. UFC ppvs do well to my knowledge -- but nowhere near as well as when Conor Mcgregor, Ronda and Brock were headlining them. UFC is still searching for their next big star.

The thing that excites me most in all of this WWE moving to a different Network possibility is the talk that FOX would want RAW trimmed down to 2 hours. I would love that. I hope that happens.

They'd also lose the valuable over-run since FOX mandates all their shows to end right at 10PM due to local news commitments.

Based on recent rumors, seems most of WWE's increase with FOX's offer is just going to be from the money they'd lose by having RAW go back to 2 hours.

UFC may not deliver in the ratings, but it would do much, much, much better with sponsors, I imagine. WWE would bring in more viewers, but they're probably not worth as much as the viewers the UFC gets.

I'm imagining a maintaining of the status quo, with FOX probably caving to UFC in the end, which means WWE stays with USA, which they have a lot invested in. Maybe they get an NBC special or ask for some of the take-backs from the FOX meetings? But a FOX move would definitely be great for the WWE. Raw going back to two hours on a network is a good move. SmackDown could be on cable and they might be able to find spots for NXT, 205 Live, Main Event and whatever other shows they are doing too.

Wishful thinking but perhaps a move to fox would allow for edgier programming for WWE?

Not quite attitude era but more towards Ruthless Agression Era. Shortening back to two hours would do wonders. Forces more emphasis on the in-ring story-telling.

it can help the wwe network have them end the show on the network

I doubt they change content. They've fashioned those decisions around sponsors and other stakeholders.

No conceivable reason why going from cable to network would bring edgier content

I would enjoy being able to watch Raw again legally. I keep the 1 through 10 channels for football so this would be a huge help for me.

If anything you'd think it would restrict them more.