WWF Buys Turner's Struggling WCW
Former Competitors To Co-Exist Under WWF Umbrella
World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc., headed by McMahon and including the World Wrestling Federation and the fledgling XFL football operation, announced the purchase of Turner Broadcasting Systems' rival World Championship Wrestling. The deal includes an extensive video library of wrestling shows from Turner's TBS and TNT cable television networks that dates back to the mid-1980s, according to a press release on the company's corporate Web site.
In a conference call to announce the acquisition, WWFE chief executive officer Linda McMahon said that WCW would continue to be operated as a separate brand. A weekly "Nitro" program, which competes directly with the WWF's "Raw Is War" on Monday nights, would switch from TNT to TNN or another Viacom-controlled cable outlet.
She also suggested the likelihood of cross-promotion, where wrestlers would switch back and forth between the two brands and appear on each one's shows. That promotional gimmick is expected to begin Monday in Panama City Beach, Fla., on WCW's final Turner-televised edition of "Nitro."
The WWFE CEO said that the purchase made "perfect business" sense for television, home video/DVD and online programming purposes, and was not an attempt to deflect attention from the first-year XFL's struggles. Partners have been receiving "make-good" advertising spots on the league's game broadcasts because ratings have fallen below originally projected levels.
The acquisition price was not announced, but will have to be disclosed because WWFE stock is publicly traded.
WCW's estimated 2000 losses of $80 million had prompted Turner to look for a buyer. A deal with Fusient Media Ventures had been announced in January, but fell through this week when programming officials decided to drop wrestling from Turner networks, where it had aired as WCW since 1989 and as the National Wrestling Alliance since the late 1970s.
