Following up on an earlier offer, Anthem Sports & Entertainment said it's provided a credit facility to fund the operations of TNA Impact Wrestling and that Anthem, which also owns equity in the wrestling outfit, will manage TNA's operations, including pay-per-view events and Impact Wrestling shows that air on Pop.

The move follows recent legal challenges between TNA (for Total Nonstop Action) parent Impact Ventures and Billy Corgan, who is the frontman of The Smashing Pumpkins and erstwhile backer and president of TNA. "Billy Corgan is no longer with the company," Anthem and Impact said in a release today. Corgan, though, said in a series of tweets that he had not been paid what TNA "swore to in front of a judge" and that he is exploring all legal remedies, including "converting to 36 pct. equity." Fight Network (which Anthem owns) replied on Twitter, in part, that "(t)here is a solid financial plan for @IMPACTWRESTLING & Mr. Corgan's loan will be dealt with appropriately." 

Anthem EVP Ed Nordholm will join the Impact Ventures board of managers, and the board will manage the company, Anthem said. Dixie Carter stays on as company chair and is on the board of managers.

“We have had a successful, long-term partnership with Fight Network as our Canadian broadcaster, and more recently as our global digital partner,” Carter said in a release. “Anthem’s team has extensive media experience, and I am excited to have that available to us as we plan for the future.” Anthem is the parent of Fight Network.

Anthem CEO Leonard Asper said in the release: “We have consistently maintained that investing in content as we grow our distribution is important as a strategic necessity, and working more closely with a strong brand like TNA is in line with that. This financing is an extension of the support we have been providing since the beginning of the year. There are tremendous opportunities to support the company’s growth on all platforms and in all media along side Dixie and the incredible talent and staff at TNA.”

Pop, owned by CBS and Lionsgate, airs Impact Wrestling on Thursday nights year round and has continued to do so through the recent offscreen turmoil involving Carter and Corgan. Pop president Brad Schwartz told Multichannel News in a statement, "Pop remains committed to Impact Wresting and its amazing team and athletes. The show continues to be one of Pop’s most watched original programs with continued quarter over quarter ratings growth. We look forward to what lies ahead.”

While most televised professional and college sports games can be watched online on multiple devices, a good number of major pay-per-view ring-sports events have yet to enter the digital arena.

FITE TV is trying to change that. The mobile app, developed by digital media company Flipps Media, currently offers live boxing events, as well as pro wrestling and mixed martial arts content, streamed to mobile phones. The app is available via iTunes or Google Play and gives users the option of watching on their devices or connecting directly to a smart TV.

Through distribution deals with such event providers as Golden Boy Promotions (boxing), TNA (pro wrestling) and World Series of Fighting (MMA), FITE TV is streaming an average of eight live free and fee-based ring sports events per week.

FITE TV CEO Kosta Jordanov recently spoke to Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about the service, as well as his aspirations to eventually offer fight fans the opportunity to watch the biggest PPV ring-sports events online. An edited excerpt of their conversation follows.

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MCN:Do people actually want to watch a fight on a mobile phone?

Kosta Jordanov: It depends on the content. The trend is that people are shifting to short-form clips, and for those people who watch that content, the size of the screen doesn’t matter that much.

When it comes to sports, however, people want to watch live sports on a large screen. For a three-hour show that you’ve paid $30 to $40 for, the small screen doesn’t work. You want to sit with friends, drink a beer and watch a fight on the large screen. That’s what’s so attractive about FITE TV. The biggest differentiator is our technical ability to connect the stream and bring it to the big screen. We don’t have any hardware for a specific box to be connected to the TV, and there’s no need for a cable subscription.

Basically, we do IP delivery over the big screen using the mobile device as a remote-control interface. The only requirement is that the mobile device and the TV have to be on the same network. The stream goes through a cloud service that we support going to the big screen.

MCN:What are some of the rights deals that you have with ring sports providers?

KJ: We already have deals with 35 event providers on the wrestling, MMA and boxing side. We have a deal with TNA [and] Ring of Honor, on the wrestling side; Legacy [Fighting Championship] and WSOF [World Series of Fighting] on the mixed-martial-arts side, and Golden Boy Promotions and Integrated Sports for boxing. There really isn’t a reason for a content partner not to work for us — it’s all upside for everyone involved.

We’re just one more distributor that they have to work with, but we have a slightly different reach. We’re reaching cord-cutters; people outside the country. We also help our partners with the promotion of the event through Facebook and Twitter ads, sponsored ads. We can also provide content to specific countries.

MCN:Do you see a time when you’ll be able to stream a major PPV boxing event from HBO or Showtime?

KJ: I think it’s doable. I think we would probably start with some distribution outside of the prime window, or it could start with streaming of prelims, weigh-ins and other supporting events leading up to the main-event card. Again, we’re just another Dish or DirecTV; we’re one more provider that can help provide revenue.

MCN:How does a consumer purchase an event to stream?

KJ: Through the FITE TV app, you can purchase the event just like you would through iTunes or Google Play. Once purchased, you get a confirmation from both FITE TV and from iTunes or Google Play.

MCN:The knock on streaming has been the piracy factor — there’s a lot of stealing of the signal when it’s on the Web. How can you assure event providers that you can eliminate piracy?

KJ: We have a very secure content-protection platform that we’ve been working on for the last four years. Through this platform, we’ve streamed content from CBS, Bloomberg [Television] and some of the movie studios that really have high requirements for signal protection. That said, every single signal can be hacked, but we’re actually more safe than traditional systems. It’s harder to steal the content from us than it is from cable.

MCN:Are there any plans to extend your content beyond ring sports?

KJ: We’re very focused on ring sports — we don’t have any plans to go to any areas until we own the space. After that, we may look at other events.

Pop will become the new home for TNA Wrestling as the pro wrestling outfit reached a distribution deal with the former TV Guide Network (now owned by CBS and Lionsgate) for distribution of its weekly series Impact Wrestling.

The series will move from Destination America, which has carried the show since January. Pop will debut TNA’s signature series on Tuesday, Jan. 5, according to the network. The deal provides Impact with more exposure from POP’s 73 million viewers compared to Destination America’s 55 million viewers, according to Nielsen estimates.

“Wrestling has been a fan-fueled staple since the ‘50s, and continues to be some of the most-watched appointment television today. The die-hard fandom and extraordinary passion surrounding Impact Wrestling captures the spirit of Pop as a network that celebrates fan-driven entertainment and excitement,” Pop president Brad Schwartz said in a release. “We’re committed to this new partnership and psyched to bring the show’s loyal fans a dedicated night to watch their favorite show on Pop every week.” 

The deal marks the third distribution home for Impact Wrestling in as many years. Prior to airing on Destination America, Spike TV had carried Impact Wrestling for nine years.

“Pop’s enthusiasm for our partnership and the network’s fan focus is a perfect fit for our company,” said TNA President Dixie Carter in a statement.