Extreme action by TNN

WWF sees green, ECW sees red

By JOHN DEMPSEY

NEW YORK -- Cable wrestling will go through the biggest upheaval in its history this September, ignited by the move of the WWF from USA to TNN -- a shift that will force Extreme Championship Wrestling to make an involuntary exit from TNN.

The WWF is ankling from USA because Viacom's TNN engineered a better offer. Last week, a Delaware court certified the Viacom contract. The court threw out USA's contention that, through right of first refusal, it could compel the WWF to renew an existing four-year deal.

But Viacom could end up back in court because the ECW is hopping mad at TNN, which notified it two days after the Delaware judge's decision that the weekly primetime ECW slamfests would be evicted from the network as of September 22, 2000, even though there are two years left to go on the contract.

A spokesman for TNN says the network is within its legal right because ECW has failed to meet the 2.0 Nielsen rating in cable homes specified in a performance clause in the contract. Instead of a 2.0, the Friday-at-9-p.m. "ECW Wrestling" hour has averaged a 1.0 rating in cable homes since it premiered on TNN in August 1999.

Countering that opinion, Steve Stern, of Hoffinger & Friedland, the attorney for the ECW, says TNN has violated the contract by not supplying "the promotion, publicity and exposure" to the weekly ECW series, as detailed in specific clauses, that would've helped the show to reach the Nielsen guarantees.

Stern says the clear implication of TNN's reneging on its promotional commitments is that it didn't want to steer more viewers to the ECW series because it had already begun negotiating with the WWF and knew it might have to break the ECW contract.

The WWF primetime series is as much as six times as popular as the ECW program. Even Stern acknowledges that the WWF is "the elephant of the industry," whose Monday-night two-hour "Raw Is War" series chalks up higher ratings year-round than any other series in basic cable. Sunday-night NFL games on ESPN rack up higher average ratings, but they run only during the 14 weeks of the pro-football season.

Stern says the next step is for the ECW to meet with TNN and try to work out an amicable settlement that will keep both parties from slugging it out in the courtroom. The ECW, bowing to reality, has already begun negotiating with other cable networks, he says, to find a new home for its weekly series beginning in September.