Carlos Silva Says AMC Was In The Mix For TNA Rights From The Very Beginning
Carlos Silva says AMC was always in the mix for TNA’s media rights.
On Tuesday, December 2, TNA Wrestling and AMC came together to announce a multi-year media rights deal that will air weekly episodes of TNA iMPACT! on the popular cable network.
Speaking with Jon Alba of Sports Illustrated for a new interview, TNA President Carlos Silva revealed that AMC was in the mix from the very beginning.
“What’s funny about it is, AMC was involved all along from the very beginning. And what was so interesting is there was so much chatter about all the networks that were interested in working with us, and AMC was always not in the mix until [Jon Alba] started asking about it. A few people knew about it, maybe, over the last sort of 30, 60 days. AMC was in the mix the whole way. There was a number of networks in the mix throughout the process. But AMC was there with us the whole way, which was great.”
Silva continued on and said that the story-driven nature of wrestling aligned with AMC’s programming, which will often focus on character work.
“From the very first call, they were very progressive and thinking about sort of where AMC goes next. And I think being in the live sports entertainment category was putting their big toe into it and doing it. Maybe wrestling aligns a little bit more with the AMC character development storyline series than just pure live sports.”
To finish off the topic, Silva said that TNA and AMC had a good feeling with each other from their very first call.
“So I tell you from the very first call, we had a good feeling with each other, and that it was just taking that time and sort of marching through each of the weeks and months to work through what was important to everybody to try and get to a deal. But I think for them, it’s a way to begin that weekly, sports entertainment live piece that is so important in the cable landscape and certainly the media landscape, I think, to protect your assets.”
The teams were recently announced for the Team TNA vs. Team NXT steel cage match that will take place on the December 18 episode of TNA iMPACT. Fans can check out those teams by clicking here.
Special thanks to Jon Alba and Sports Illustrated for the quote(s) in this article.
