Late Thursday, it was announced that
WWE Friday Night Smackdown! will no longer be aired on The CW after the 2007-08 television season. The WWE said late Thursday that the network's “exclusive negotiation period” reached an end on January 31.
“We have been contacted and have been in negotiations with other networks,” the WWE added in a statement, although it didn't specify which networks. "We are grateful to [CBS chief] Les Moonves, [The CW chief] Dawn Ostroff and their entire organization for bringing
WWE Smackdown to millions of viewers for so many years.”
Friday Night Smackdown first premiered on primetime television in 1999 on UPN, The CW's predecessor. It helped to maintain viewership for the network and continued to earn good ratings when the CBS-owned channel merged with Warner Bros.' The WB to create The CW. However, the show stood apart from The CW's more female-oriented programs like
Gossip Girl and
America's Next Top Model.
The wrestling federation and The CW did not divulge any reasons for the pull-out. However, while the WWE has not named any of the networks they are negotiation with, reports are rolling in that the most likely candidates are NBC Universal, whose cable channel USA Network already airs
WWE Raw, MyNetworkTV, whose number of affiliated aired Smackdown when they were UPN stations.
At present,
Friday Night Smackdown ranks as the second-most watched series on the CW. It has earned around 4.8 million viewers this season, coming in second to the
Tyra Banks-hosted
America's Next Top Model.
The WWE's profile, however, was no doubt shaken last June by the murder-suicide case of ex-champion wrestler Chris Benoit. The 40-year-old wrestler, his wife and their young son were all found dead in his Georgia home last summer. Authorities reported that Benoit had strangled his wife, Nancy, and then suffocated their seven-year-old son, Daniel. After killing his family, he reportedly went to his weight room and hanged himself.
-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: E! Online
(Image Courtesy of The CW)