Howard Finkel Reaches WWE Milestone
Howard Finkel noted the following WWE milestone on Twitter:
On this date 40 years ago, I made my ring announcing debut in Madison Square Garden;what a ride it’s been from there! Thank you all! #proud
— Howard Finkel (@howardfinkel) January 17, 2017
Congratulations to @WWE Hall of Famer @HowardFinkel, who made his @TheGarden debut announcing @SammartinoBruno and more 40 YEARS AGO TODAY! pic.twitter.com/53aElNC6SS
— WWE (@WWE) January 17, 2017
ROH Parent Company Launching Action Based Network
The following press release has been issued:
SINCLAIR BROADCAST GROUP AND METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER PARTNER AGAIN TO CREATE “CHARGE!”, A MULTI-SCREEN ACTION BASED NETWORK
Launching Spring 2017
Baltimore, MD & Los Angeles, CA (January 17, 2017) Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) (“Sinclair”), and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (“MGM”), today announced the launch of “CHARGE!” ,a new 24/7 action-based network that will feature more than 2,300 hours of TV series content and more than 2,000 movie titles. This new network will build on and leverage the infrastructure of Sinclair and MGM’s first network partnership, the science fiction multi-channel network COMET. The announcement was made by Chris Ripley, President and CEO of Sinclair and John Bryan, President, Domestic Television Distribution, MGM.
CHARGE! will debut in the first quarter of 2017 and is slated to reach in excess of 50% of the country by the end of the second quarter by way of distribution deals outside of Sinclair’s footprint. CHARGE! will stream the linear network feed via the native and mobile web, with complimentary streaming apps launching later in 2017. The network will feature a broad variety of action and adventure content from MGM’s library, including such popular TV series as “In the Heat of the Night” and “The Magnificent Seven”, and award-winning movies, including “Dances with Wolves” and “Platoon.” In addition, tent pole franchises “Rocky” and “James Bond” will appear on the network.
Sinclair and MGM’s network partnership began with the launch of COMET in October of 2015, and the network now reaches 83% of the country and has built a loyal following of viewers that love classic science fiction programming. COMET is also the only multicast network that streams its linear feed on its website (www.comettv.com).
“MGM owns one of the deepest libraries of premium action-themed content in the world,” said Ripley. “This is another example of the synergies and audience value that can be created when you seamlessly combine content and distribution, and we are excited to broaden our relationship with MGM to another vertical.”
“Action is a genre that viewers never seems to tire of watching, and we intend on bringing our best titles to CHARGE!,” said Bryan. “Sinclair’s been an ideal partner, and the distribution we expect to have at launch is phenomenal.”
Daniel Bryan and Mark Henry on MLK Day
As seen in the photo below, WWE stars Daniel Bryan and Mark Henry spent MLK Day yesterday at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN: