More details on SmackDown’s problems; WWE not given advance notice, more Submitted by Richard Gray on Saturday, May 21, 2005 at 10:51 AM EST
We reported yesterday the major conflicts that WWE SmackDown! will encounter with the airing of MLB baseball, causing preemptions in the New York market. This does not appear to be the only problem as in addition to the Yankees, The Boston Red Sox, The Washington Nationals, The Philadelphia Phillies, The Los Angeles Dodgers, The Minnesota Twins, The Seattle Mariners, and The Colorado Rockies all have television deals with their local UPN channel to carry their games on Friday evenings.
More importantly, UPN 9 in the New York market is in its first year of a three year deal with the Yankees to broadcast 20-25 games per year, although Friday is not a stipulation in the contract meaning that it could be changed.
Apparently UPN and the Yankees agreed on Friday so that the games did not interfere with SmackDown, which means that UPN possibly put SmackDown in a position where it can be preempted.
SmackDown does not appear to be as top of a priority as it used to be to UPN executives given Viacom’s Leslie Moonves comments that the program would be cancelled, later clarified that it “could be cancelled.” WWE’s deal with UPN to air SmackDown expires in September 2006. It should also be noted that WWE was not given advance notice by UPN of plans to change the show's timeslot before Thursday's upfront presentation by the network.
