Anthem Sports & Entertainment, majority owner of Impact Wrestling, announced today in a press release that they’ve acquired AXS TV and HDNet Movies.
In a press release sent out earlier today, Anthem Sports & Entertainment (majority owner of Impact Wrestling) has revealed that they’re partnering with AXS TV founder Mark Cuban, and Anthem has acquired “a majority interest in HDNet LLC, parent of the widely distributed U.S. television networks AXS TV and HDNet Movies.” The release goes on to say they will “assume operating management” of both channels.
Leonard Asper, CEO of Anthem Sports and Entertainment, had this to say about the deal:
"“We are very excited to add these two successful channels to our portfolio. Anthem was founded with a mission to deliver compelling, targeted content and experiences to passionate fans globally on the platform of their choice. The music, sports and entertainment communities served by these channels are a natural extension and perfect complement to our existing properties. The addition of AXS TV and HDNet Movies will allow for increased content ownership, digital expansion and even more compelling programming for consumers and our distribution partners.”"
It’s big news for Anthem, which has continued to grow and thrive since taking over Impact Wrestling in early 2017. Despite some missteps, overall the product quality and talent quality in Impact Wrestling has continued to improve.
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The company seems to be on a long term path to Tessa Blanchard capturing the Impact World Championship, which would make her the first female World Champion for a major professional wrestling company. The news of Anthem’s latest move could only be good for Impact Wrestling.
According to the release, their “deal also includes AXS TV’s extensive library of owned programming, including wrestling, MMA and entertainment content.” AXS TV currently airs New Japan Pro-Wrestling on a weekly basis in the US, as well as Women of Wrestling Superheroes which recently returned for a second season.
It’s not clear how Anthem’s acquisition of those properties would affect the relationship between Impact Wrestling and those promotions, but Tessa Blanchard is also the current WOW World Champion.
However, the most important part of the deal pertains specifically to Impact Wrestling itself. The company has struggled for some years to get a competitive television deal in the United States.
While their current arrangement of airing on Pursuit Channel, also owned by Anthem, simultaneously with Twitch was financially beneficial for the company, Pursuit Channel itself never really helped them draw in new viewers. Were Impact Wrestling to move to AXS TV, something that feels imminent with this new release, they could try to draw fans watching WOW Superheroes of NJPW to their own product.
We still have to wait on official word for whether or not Impact Wrestling’s current television deal will change, or how this would affect their simulcast each week on Twitch, but Anthem’s latest acquisition can only be good for Impact Wrestling.