TNA Impact!

Infobox Television
show_name =TNA Impact!


genre =Professional wrestling Sports Entertainment
opening Theme ="iMPACT Theme" by TNA
closing theme ="Low" by Bro-Kin
camera =Multiple-camera setup
runtime =2 hours per episode (1 hour 28 minutes plus commercials).
creator =Jeff Jarrett Vince Russo Dutch Mantel
starring =Total Nonstop Action Wrestling roster
country =USA
location =Impact! Zone
network =Fox Sports Net (2004 – 2005) Webcast/Urban America Television (limited markets) (2005) Spike TV (2005 – present)
first_aired =June 4 2004
last_aired =present
num_episodes =222 (as of October 9 2008)
website =http://www.tnawrestling.com/content/view/59/35/
imdb_id =0421463
tv_com_id =27093

"TNA Impact!" (official typeset ""TNA iMPACT!") is a professional wrestling television program produced by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) as its main television program. "TNA Impact" is filmed at the Impact! Zone (Soundstage 21 at the Universal Studios Florida theme park of Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida). [cite web|url=http://www.universalorlando.com/tna.html|title=Universal Studios Florida - Live Shows - TNA Wrestling|accessdate=2007-07-06|publisher=Universal Orlando Resort] Tapings of the show are held biweekly on Mondays and Tuesdays and admission is free. [cite web|url= http://www.tnawrestling.com/content/blogsection/4/40/|title= Total Nonstop Action Wrestling On Spike TV! - LIVE EVENTS|accessdate=2008-03-28|publisher=Total Nonstop Action Wrestling]

It currently airs in the United States and Canada on Spike TV. [cite web|url=http://www.tnawrestling.com/tv/coverage.html|title=TNA Coverage List|accessdate =2007-06-25|publisher=Total Nonstop Action Wrestling] Following Impact's debut in Australia, there has been growing demand to have it broadcast in New Zealand.

History

Fox Sports Net era: May 2004 - May 2005

In May 2004, TNA announced that they had negotiated a television deal with Fox Sports Net (FSN) where they would get a one-hour timeslot on Fridays in most markets, putting TNA on unrestricted cable and satellite for the first time. [cite web| url=http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2004/articles/1084322920.php|title=NWA: TNA’s TV deal officially signed, Latest on Hirohito angle, WWE trademarks|accessdate=2007-03-10|date=2004-05-05|author=Gray, Richard |publisher=Lords of Pain] TNA began taping "TNA Impact" that month and aired the first episode on June 4 2004. "Impact" was also syndicated throughout Canada (on RDS) and Europe (on The Wrestling Channel and, also later, both Eurosport Bravo and Bravo 2). TNA's contract with FSN expired in May 2005 and was not renegotiated, with the last episode airing on May 27 2005. The series as a whole gained little success, averaging a 0.2 household rating.

Webcasts

TNA was left with no television deal and, therefore, had no means of promoting their monthly pay-per-views (although "Impact" did continue to air on certain regional networks in place of "TNA Xplosion"). On July 1, TNA began offering new episodes of "Impact" through their website, first using BitTorrent downloads, then by streaming through RealPlayer. [cite web|url= http://www.johng.co.uk/2005/06/25/tna-officially-via-bit-torrent/|title=TNA Officially via Bit Torrent|accessdate=2007-03-19| date=2005-06-25 ] [cite web |url=http://prowrestlingimpact.blogspot.com/2005/06/tna-reaches-deal-with-real-broadcast.html|title=TNA Reaches Deal With Real Broadcast Network To Stream "iMPACT!" News|accessdate=2007-03-19|date=2005-06-30] To save on production costs, four hours of "Impact" were recorded in a day and made available throughout the subsequent month. [cite web|url=http://www.wrestleview.com/news2005/1121846796.shtml|title=Impact! Taping Results from Orlando, FL for the next four weeks|accessdate=2007-01-09|date=2005-07-20|publisher=WrestleView]

pike TV era

At the same time, TNA began seeking a more profitable television outlet, finally negotiated a Saturday night timeslot with Spike TV and started airing "Impact" on October 1 2005. Two episodes were taped every other Tuesday, airing them on the subsequent Saturday. [cite web|url=http://www.wrestleview.com/news2005/1121972935.shtml|title=More on TNA's new television deal with Spike TV; debut & taping schedule|accessdate=2007-01-09|date=2005-07-21|publisher=WrestleView] TNA's syndication contracts for "Impact" on local TV channels, from after the FSN contract, were converted to contracts for TNA's syndicated show, "TNA Xplosion". They are no longer paying for the timeslot, though Spike TV controls their advertising revenue. [cite web|url=http://www.wrestleview.com/news2005/1123737280.shtml|title=Notes on TNA's debut on Spike TV in October, advertising situation, more|accessdate=2007-01-09|date=2005-08-11|publisher=WrestleView] Because of viewership growth, "Impact" was moved to Thursdays in April 2006, and later to an earlier primetime slot in November. Tapings were moved to Tuesdays. [cite web|url=http://www.tnawrestlingnews.com/headlines/144962855.shtml|title=TNA Changes iMPACT! Taping To Mondays|accessdate=2007-01-01|date=2006-03-21|publisher=TNA Wrestling News]

Starting in June 2006, episodes of "Impact" became available at the iTunes Music Store. [cite web|url =http://www.tnawrestlingnews.com/headlines/153949246.shtml|title=No Surrender Note, iMPACT!/ITunes, & More|accessdate=2007-01-01|date=2006-07-03|publisher=TNA Wrestling News]

Two hour expansion

"Impact" expanded to two hours on October 4, starting at the same time. [cite web|url= http://www.tnawrestling.com/news/fullnews2.php?all=1522|title=TNA Wrestling Goes Two Hours On SpikeTV Starting October 4| accessdate=2007-09-10|date=2007-09-09|publisher=Total Nonstop Action Wrestling] On January 17, Spike TV presented an event entitled "Global iMPACT!", which featured TNA wrestlers in matches against the talent of New Japan Pro Wrestling. [ [http://www.tnawrestling.com/content/view/470/84/ Total Nonstop Action Wrestling On Spike TV! ] ]

On March 27, "Impact!" aired live for the first time in the show's history in its regular timeslot.

Announced in a release on TNAwrestling.com on April 2 2008, TNA came to terms on a deal that had "Impact" airing in Australia starting April 5. Up until then, TNA had only broadcast their monthly pay-per-view events on Main Event. Impact now airs every Saturday at 9:30 p.m and every Tuesday at 3:30 p.m on FOX8.

TNA will air its first Impact! outside of the Impact! Zone in Orlando on October 23. It will hail from Las Vegas, Nevada and air live in HD. This will mark the first time TNA has used the HD format. Following October 23, all Impacts! will air in HD.

Content

Directors of Authority

The Director of Authority was the on-screen authority figure for the company.
*Vince Russo (February 18, 2004 - November 7, 2004)
*Dusty Rhodes (November 7, 2004 - June 17, 2005)

International broadcasters

References

External links

* [http://www.ifilm.com/show/20271 TNA "iMPACT!] at Spike TV
* [http://www.bravo.co.uk/TNA TNA "iMPACT!"] in the UK on Bravo
* [http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=TNAwrestling Official TNA Videos] at YouTube