The buzz of a quote by CBS president Les Moonves has sent a ripple through the IWC. Although Smackdown would probably be picked up by another network if UPN were to cancel the show, the loss of a broadcast network timeslot would hurt.
The Smackdown contract with UPN is set to expire in August 2006. It is extremely unlikely that any decision as to the future of the show has been made so far in advance.
It is more likely that the quote was sent as a message to WWE and the McMahons. UPN and CBS are both Viacom companies, the same company that owns SpikeTV and MTV, other networks WWE has aired programming. By casually mentioning that Smackdown might not be in UPN’s future plans (which seem focused on female-oriented programming), Moonves was likely reminding WWE that Smackdown was up soon as well.
Smackdown, despite getting lower ad rates than other shows for similar ratings, is still profitable for the network, unlike most shows. Since costs are less than for normal shows, the ad rates the show does attract still results in a net profit.
Credit: Dave Meltzer, The Wrestling Observer Newsletter
