TNA News: New streaming service brings a new way to watch Impact Wrestling
What’s the story?
Hulu announced this week that they will be jumping into the live television world (similar to Sling TV and Playstation Vue) after an announced agreement with CBS. Included with the CBS family of programming is POP TV; which is the current home for Impact Wrestling.
In case you didn’t know...
At the beginning of 2016, Impact Wrestling moved from Destination America over to POP TV; which was formerly known as the TV Guide Channel. The reach for POP TV in the United States is approximately 75M people or 65% of households with one television.
The heart of the matter...
With the recent change in majority ownership to Anthem Sports, this new deal enables an even bigger reach for Impact Wrestling as they try to get back to the ratings they once had when on Spike TV. At that time, they would get around million viewers for Impact Wrestling, but recently on POP TV, they’re averaging a little over 300k. While there are newer factors such as DVR ratings, the audience is clearly down for the product.
What’s next?
Details are still up in the air for a lot of Hulu’s live television details. The only thing known at this point is their relationship with CBS on the deal. In the months to come, we’ll learn what other channels will be included in the service, the price, and a launch date.
Sportskeeda’s Take
Any time there are more ways to access other wrestling promotions such as Impact Wrestling, it is good for business all around. More competition always brings a better all-around product for all wrestling promotions involved. Though POP TV’s cable reach is pretty massive, there are a lot of people that are getting away from cable and migrating to these types of services. It is definitely great news for a company that has just hit the reset button in terms of management.