Impact Wrestling’s parent company acquires majority interest in AXS TV

Impact Wrestling’s parent company has finalized a deal that is expected to lead to a new television home for the promotion in the near future.

In a press release that was issued today, it was announced that Anthem Sports & Entertainment (Impact’s parent company) has acquired a majority interest in HDNet LLC, which is the parent of AXS TV and HDNet Movies.

Anthem “will assume operating management of the two popular channels that cater to music, sports, entertainment and lifestyle audiences. The deal also includes AXS TV’s extensive library of owned programming, including wrestling, MMA and entertainment content.”

New Japan Pro Wrestling and Women of Wrestling both air on AXS TV on Saturdays. Season two of WOW premiered on AXS TV this past weekend.

“We are very excited to add these two successful channels to our portfolio,” Anthem Sports & Entertainment CEO Leonard Asper said. “Anthem was founded with a mission to deliver compelling, targeted content and experiences to passionate fans globally on the platform of their choice. The music, sports and entertainment communities served by these channels are a natural extension and perfect complement to our existing properties. The addition of AXS TV and HDNet Movies will allow for increased content ownership, digital expansion and even more compelling programming for consumers and our distribution partners.”

The press release stated that “Mark Cuban and AEG will continue to participate as equity partners, and AEG Global Partnerships, AEG’s advertising and sponsorship sales unit, will continue to support the channels in conjunction with Anthem’s sales team.”

“Anthem’s combination of targeted brands, enthusiastic audiences, operational expertise, international footprint and vision makes them an ideal partner to take AXS TV and HDNet Movies to their next levels,” Cuban said. “Given Anthem’s portfolio of premium content and complementary programming networks, we could not ask for a better home, and we are looking forward to the results we will collectively generate for this new partnership.”

Steve Harvey is joining Anthem as an investor and is entering into an agreement for content development and promotion of Anthem’s portfolio. Harvey’s Steve Harvey Global will have a seat on Anthem’s board of directors.

Dave Meltzer had reported last week that talks of Impact going to AXS TV were said to still be quite active.

Impact currently airs at 10 p.m. Eastern time on both the Pursuit Channel and Twitch. Anthem also has an ownership stake in the Pursuit Channel.