Post by George WK Newman on Apr 15, 2010 22:05:31 GMT -5
With Smackdown! reportdedly on its way to SyFy, it surprised many when the WWE show landed this week instead on Liberty TV.
There were 3 big factors in favor of Liberty that helped it land the two year deal.
First of all, money of course. SyFy was rumored to be willing to go as high as $28-$29 million per year, but Liberty easily trumped that with a $33 million per year deal.
Secondly, Liberty made a committment to spend $4 million on advertising in August and September to promote the show on cable TV as well as radio and web ads. For their part WWE agreed to spend $1 million to advertise the move. The $4 million will only be $1 million in cash though, and $3 million in reciprocal ads provided to the cable networks once Liberty hits the air in September.
The third factor that won the show for Liberty is CEO Linda McMahon's desire to see Smackdown! on a broadcast network as opposed to a cable network; proving that broadcast still has come swagger left.
There were 3 big factors in favor of Liberty that helped it land the two year deal.
First of all, money of course. SyFy was rumored to be willing to go as high as $28-$29 million per year, but Liberty easily trumped that with a $33 million per year deal.
Secondly, Liberty made a committment to spend $4 million on advertising in August and September to promote the show on cable TV as well as radio and web ads. For their part WWE agreed to spend $1 million to advertise the move. The $4 million will only be $1 million in cash though, and $3 million in reciprocal ads provided to the cable networks once Liberty hits the air in September.
The third factor that won the show for Liberty is CEO Linda McMahon's desire to see Smackdown! on a broadcast network as opposed to a cable network; proving that broadcast still has come swagger left.