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By ALEX MARVEZ
June 3, 2004

World Wrestling Entertainment is no longer the only U.S.-based
promotion with a national cable television outlet.

Total Nonstop Action is debuting a weekly hour-long show at 3 p.m.
Fridays on Fox Sports Net starting June 4. TNA President Dixie Carter
said she hopes the Impact telecasts help her promotion literally make
one in a marketplace dominated by WWE since its 2001 purchases of
rivals World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship
Wrestling.

"Our whole goal is exposure," said Carter, whose promotion will tape
Impact shows weekly at Universal Studios in Orlando. "We have an
amazing product very few people are aware of. It's all about bringing
our brand of wrestling and a true alternative to our competitors to
the marketplace."

TNA debuted in June 2002 with weekly Wednesday night pay-per-view
shows from Nashville that will remain the focus of hype on Impact
telecasts. Carter hopes the additional exposure of being on Fox Sports
Net will open other revenue streams and allow TNA to begin running
live shows later this year.

Impact will feature familiar faces like Jeff Jarrett and Raven along
with more unsung talents who are ready for a national stage like A.J.
Styles, Christopher Daniels and America's Most Wanted (James Storm and
Chris Harris). Impact matches also will be held in a six-sided ring
previously used by promotions in Japan and Mexico, which will give the
product a different feel (and possibly provide some awkward moments as
wrestlers get accustomed to the new surrounding).

While Impact gives TNA the chance to target a children's audience,
Carter admits a weekday afternoon timeslot is hardly ideal when it
comes to drawing mainstream attention. Skeptical wrestling insiders
contend TNA's business plan is doomed for failure because of the high
costs involved in running a weekly television show, especially with
the group's pay-per-view shows drawing only 6,000 to 8,000 orders each
week, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Because of Fox Sports Network's extensive regional sports programming
agreements, TNA decided to accept the afternoon timeslot rather than
wait for one more attractive to possibly open later this year. Carter,
who was key to Dallas-based Panda Energy International taking over TNA
ownership in late 2002, hopes Impact generates enough interest to
prompt Fox Sports Net to offer prime-time exposure later in their
one-year agreement.

"We're confident in what we can deliver," Carter said. "It's going to
be all about whether we can move the (ratings) needle at all in the
timeslot."

Carter said a major key to success is convincing fans and advertisers
that TNA is producing a family-friendly product - at least by
wrestling standards - without the risqui elements of typical WWE
programming. TNA cleaned up its pay-per-view telecasts in late 2003 by
barring swearing and heavy sexual content, which was previously
commonplace in a promotion whose initials were intentionally chosen as
a double entendre.

"There is a definitive stigma with wrestling that we're facing,"
Carter said. "It's going to be a process for us to try and create a
new image around athletic entertainment. We can be clean and don't
have to go to risqui storylines to draw people."

For more information on TNA, visit www.tnawrestling.com.

(Questions can be sent to Alex Marvez c/o the South Florida
Sun-Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 33301, or
e-mailed to amarvez(at)sun-sentinel.com. Please include your full name
and city of residence. Because of volume, no phone calls will be
accepted and letters will not receive a written reply.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com)


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