|
From late 2000 he was part of a group called Fusient that were interested in purchasing WCW. It looked likely that they would be successful but the AOL/Time Warner Merger having been finalised led to a situation where Ted Turner could no longer save WCW from those who saw wrestling as low brow or not catering to the right demographics. This even if WCW programming was still amongst the highest rated shows on the networks it was shown on. Time Warner executives had tried to remove WCW from programming in the past but were always blocked by Ted Turner. With the merger, Turner lost this power and WCW could be cancelled.
Prior to this the Fusient group which Bischoff was part of had a signed letter of intent to purchase the group. They did have to withdraw their original offer when WWF enquired about purchasing WCW as part of a settlement they had where they would have a right to bid on WCW if the company was ever to be liquidated. WWF had to withdraw when Viacom voiced concerns of WWF programming being shown on competitng networks when they had an exclusive deal with WWF. When WWF withdrew, the Fusient group signed another letter of intent.
They backed out when WCW programming was set to be cancelled. With no TV, WCW was worthless to the company. The TV cancellation also unlocked the door for WWF to move in because there was no competing WCW/WWF TV deal to break the terms of their exclusive deal with Viacom.
Bischoff was close and if he could have completed the takeover, stayed on AOL/Time Warner programming for a short while longer he has mentioned that other networks were interested in WCW programming, it could have continued operating.
|