Update: Added the "Fictional?" to the post title. If it is indeed fiction, then just enjoy.
via press release:
TRUMP BUYS RAW
First Show Commercial Free
STAMFORD, CONN., June 16, 2009 World Wrestling Entertainment® announced the sale of its ratings juggernaut, Monday Night RAW ®, on USA Network to Donald Trump. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Commenting on the deal WWE® Chairman Vince McMahon stated, "This was an offer I couldn't refuse."
"The Monday Night RAW franchise has been one of the top cable franchises since its launch 17 years ago," said Donald Trump. "I'm going to do things on the show that have never been done or seen before. As my first act as owner, I am doing something unprecedented. I am giving back to the people who have been loyal all these years. For the first time in more than 838 episodes of RAW, next week's show will be live and commercial free."
Mr. Trump will be making his first live appearance as the new owner of the RAW franchise this Monday. The episode will run commercial-free on USA Network at 9:00 PM ET/8:00 PM CT.
"Donald Trump is one of the most entertaining personalities with one of the sharpest business minds of our time. He's always had the midas touch, which will only add to the level of excitement for the loyal fans of WWE Monday Night Raw," said Chris McCumber EVP Marketing, Digital and Brand Strategy for USA Network.
Log on to wwe.com for the latest news on the Trump purchase.
Well it looks like USA might loose it’s place as the number one cable netowrk.
Andrew, this announcement would presumably have no effect on ratings, the show will still be on USA, it will just be owned by Trump instead of WWE.
So no more cross-overs with SmackDown! or ECW?
TomSD, that’s not clear from this announcement. I wouldn’t be surprised if they continued.
You know guys this is all a work? Right? He’s not really buying anything.
I’m sorry, is this being reported as legit news? Give me a break.
And why no late night ratings for last Friday?
This is part of the fictional soap opera storyline.
I miss when TVBytheNumbers stuck with TV ratings news/press releases. Non-ratings press releases are at thefutoncritic already, not need to post them too.
I’m confused at what being the owner of RAW entails? Presumably Vince McMahon still controls his roster of wrestlers, and produces the shows, and USA collects the ad revenue. So what does Trump do, and what does he get out of it? This says he owns raw so he won’t collect PPV revenue, or DVD revenue. My guess is merely acts as a middleman(albeit one with some editorial control) between USA and WWE, collecting whatever fees USA pays the WWE and he in turns relays much of that money back to the WWE to produce the show.
wow i feel stupid, trump didn’t actually make any purchase, did he? He’s really more of guest star then owner.
To quote the Doctor: “riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight”
Folks, after reading through the comments, I admit to not knowing the details. It could indeed simply be theatre.
Don, feel free to not click on items you don’t want to read. Press releases like this are not included in our RSS or Twitter feeds.
Spungo, I can’t comment on the press release, but as for the late night ratings for last friday. The early numbers reported for late night shows are all from preliminary local metered market numbers. Due to the digital transition, there are no local metered numbers available for a while (I think a few weeks). So unfortunately I don’t think we’ll see any overnight info for the late night shows for a while.
The final numbers for the late night shows for the week are usually released the following Thursday. Unfortunately, while we do see some weekly info via network press releases, none of it is by day.
Robert… that’s horrible. Just when the Late Night wars were getting interesting. Oh well.
Guys this is a storyline. It is NOT real life.
Bill, yeah but I think Donald would screw it up some how.
since WWE is a public company, there would be more of a hub-bub about spinning off a major part to Trump along with a purchase amount to be approved by the shareholders.
Corey3rd, while the press release content may be fictional, shareholders to not have to approve asset sales, public company or not.
Surely the more interesting story here (at least from this sites perspective) is that USA are going to offer 2-hours of completely commercial free television next week during what is their top rated show – how on earth are they paying for that? Because presumably they are paying for it somehow, a sponsorship deal seems likely. And what effect, if any does this gimmick have on the ratings?
I was under the impression that cable or satellite providers are entitled to a couple of commercial breaks per hour on the “commercial” cable networks? I remember TNT does their coverage of the summer Daytona race with box in box style commercials, but they still have to throw it back to the cable/sat people to get their breaks in.