SmackDown! moving to SyFy
 

From PWInsider:

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that World Wrestling Entertainment's Friday Night Smackdown will move from its current home on MyNetworkTV to SyFy.

The report noted that it is believed SyFy will be paying $30 million for the series, up from the $20 million CW was believed to have been paying.

Smackdown will debut on SyFy this October with an official announcement scheduled for later in the week. SyFy already airs WWE NXT on Tuesdays in the timeslot previously held by WWE's now-defunct incarnation of ECW.

The move would take Smackdown to cable for the first time in its lifespan. The series debuted as a pilot special in summer 1999 for the now-defunct UPN Network and was picked up as a regular series that September. The report notes the series will remain in its Friday 8 PM Eastern timeslot.

While WWE has the rights to shop the series anywhere on network TV, they could only move the series to a network owned by NBC-Universal on cable.

Smackdown was the lone remaining "original" program on MyNetworkTV, which had been reduced to a collection of independent stations and had dropped it's network status in February 2009, now referring to itself as a "programming service."

Smackdown's first episode on MyNetworkTV on 10/3/08 was the highest rated programming in the history of the network, scoring a 3.2.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ente...-to-syfy-.html

Update:

From PWInsider:

A source just confirmed that with the planned move to the SyFy Network this Fall, Smackdown will also begin weekly replays on Universal HD, which airs Raw and NXT on Saturday evenings.

The ratings will drop like flies. It's on cable+Friday night= no good.

I'm glad it's moving to a TV channel I get.
I got Direct TV about a year ago, which doesn't carry Smackdown, so I haven't been able to watch it in a while. Funny thing is, I'm going to Smackdown at Mohegan Sun in CT next week and have NO IDEA what's happening on that show.

Horrible decision.

I guess all this means to me is that I'll have to change my DVR settings.

<font color=goldenrod>Personally, I don't care.

But yeah, dumb move.</font>

sweet, i don't get CW either. so now i can watch some wrestling while i pregame before bar hopping. nice

Who else see's the ratings dropping by like 30-50%?

<font color=goldenrod>Like seriously...I just can't wrap my head around this. I know WWE and CW have been at odds for awhile, but moving it to SyFy? Hope the quality of the show doesn't nosedive</font>

Wait a minute!

Smackdown isn't on CW, it's on MyNetwork TV.

Typo.

From PWInsider:

A source just confirmed that with the planned move to the SyFy Network this Fall, Smackdown will also begin weekly replays on Universal HD, which airs Raw and NXT on Saturday evenings.

a 5 hour straight WWE block on Saturday nights.

neato

I dont get MNTV so being able to watch SD in HD on my big 47 inch screen again after 2 years of having to watch blurry, jittery NOT HD video on my laptop is gonna be awesome.

Horrible decision getting $10 million more for the show.

Even worse is the fact they're moving to a channle people get.

I'm willing to bet MyNetwork has more penetration than SyFy.

:naughty:

LOL. Yeah, that's the part that's a bad idea.

According to Wiki, MyNetworkTV has 167 affiliates that can reach 106 million households, which they say is roughly 96% of the country.

I don't have any numbers on Syfy though.

lol

According to the google, Syfy can be seen in approx 95 million households, which around 10 million less than MyNetworkTV.

Well what you know. Guess I just come across those few unlucky people.

Will the Zombie come back?

They should really try to get SmackDown! back to Thursdays.

I think this is a good move. SyFy network fits the WWE brand (however loosely) better than a nationally syndicated broadcast network.

With everything available online, the audience who actually tunes into the SyFy network might actually visit a WWE link every once in a while. The people who watched it on CW or My... would only watch that network if they really wanted to watch wrestling.

Doesn't SyFy channel show their original movies on Friday nights? If so, that's their big thing.

I think Smackdown will be moving back to Thursdays with this movie. It would make sense for a lot of reasons

What was the original reason for the move to Fridays? Ratings?

No they show Stargate Universe and shows like that. Sanctuary and Warehouse 13 have ended though and so has Doctor Who so I only know of Stargate Universe occupying that Friday night time slot.

WWE's "lame duck" status with Viacom on Spike TV may have prompted its moving SmackDown! to the Friday night death slot for the Fall 2005 season. It worked out for both parties involved, however, as the show did better in the ratings than it had on Thursdays,<sup class="Template-Fact" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from March 2009" style="white-space: nowrap;">[citation needed]</sup> while UPN received much better ratings on Fridays than it did before, with its movie night. In addition, UPN had been able to hold on to the ratings from Thursday nights, most notably with comedian Chris Rock's Wonder Years-like sitcom Everybody Hates Chris. In January 2006, prior to the announcement of the CW Network, it was announced that UPN had renewed SmackDown! for two more years.<sup id="cite_ref-Renew-Variety_6-0" class="reference">[7]</sup>

So does this mean Jim Ross returns in September . They did it once before when they moved to My Network TV

syfy < scifi

why THE FUCK was it changed anyway?!?!?!?!?!?!

oh, I also think smackdown may suffer from the change :kiss::kiss:

Well, looks like I'll soon end up watching SmackDown! exclusively online, either through streams or on YouTube on lazy Saturday afternoons, as the current level of cable service we get doesn't include SyFy, and that doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon.

SyFy tends to have lower overall viewership, to boot.

This is why anecdotal evidence on a personal scale is for retards.

Take notes, Jimmy Steele.

Don't they have like, four movies a year or something like that? Are you really worried that's going to interfere?

They changed it to SyFy because they think people will suddenly forget that it's a network for nerds.

Anyone considered they might go live? I know NXT is on Tuesday, but come on. Smackdown vs NXT? This is an acquisition SyFy evidently wanted bad, so...

Maybe they knew SD was going down the crapper to begin with, so sign this deal and get what you can before it fails??

have you seen there movies last one greg brady was the star, but i think they are on sat night anyway. i wonder if syfy can get the wrestlers to star in there movies.

WWE Movies are far and above SyFy movies.

And that's sad.

Santino Marella and Vince McMahon in "Hey boss! I shrunk Batista!"

I'd post that clip of the midget, but I think it stands on its own.