Report: NJPW Was In Talks With With Vice And ESPN About TV Deal, Deal With Roku Not Exclusive
Reported new details on NJPW’s deal with Roku.
Recently, news broke that New Japan Pro-Wrestling reached a distribution deal with Roku for a new weekly series that will air on The Roku Channel. This is the first American distribution deal the promotion has had since losing AXS TV, the current home of IMPACT Wrestling.
However, Roku was not the only platform the promotion had spoken to regarding a potential television deal.
According to a new report by Dave Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer, the company was also in talks with ESPN, VICE, and CBS Sports among others.
There was interest by CBS Sports Network, according to the report. The problem with CBS was that there would have been no money offered, just a split of advertising availability. As for ESPN and VICE, the lack of any proof of viewership numbers during the promotions time on AXS TV ultimately led to no deal being made.
It is stated that the deal with Roku is not an exclusive one, so should the show be a success and if Roku is able to provide viewership data, that data can potentially be used to secure a second deal for NJPW with different content.
The weekly series will debut on Thursday, February 11. Learn more about the Roku deal at this link.
