The following was issued by WWE today:
WWE? FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN? MAKES TV HISTORY
March 10, 2009
Stamford, CT – March 10, 2009 ? WWE? Friday Night SmackDown celebrates its 500th episode on Friday, March 20 at 8PM ET/7PM CT on MyNetworkTV with a theme centered around ?SmackDown 500 ? Road to WrestleMania.? By accomplishing this in 10 years, SmackDown becomes the fastest weekly episodic to reach this milestone in United States primetime broadcast television history.
Greg Meidel, President of MyNetworkTV stated: “We are thrilled to celebrate this and future milestones with World Wrestling Entertainment?. As demonstrated by the network’s continued record breaking ‘SmackDown’ viewership, the road to the 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania is clearly traveling right through MyNetworkTV.”
Friday Night SmackDown debuted on August 26, 1999 and has been watched more than 2.6 billion times by viewers in the U.S. Since Friday Night SmackDown joined MyNetworkTV in October 2008, it is the most watched broadcast television program on Friday nights among Males age 50 and younger. SmackDown dominates the 18-49 demographic and has been instrumental in the success of each of the networks that have aired the program.
Friday Night SmackDown can be seen every Friday night at 8PM ET on MyNetworkTV.
Additional information on World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWE) can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com. For information on our global activities, go to http://www.wwe.com/worldwide/
MyNetworkTV is a primetime general entertainment broadcast television network. Reaching over 97% of the country and targeted to adults 18-49, MyNetworkTV provides its affiliates 12 hours of diverse programming Monday through Saturday, including ?WWE Friday Night SmackDown?? and Langley Productions? ?Jail? and ?Street Patrol.? For more information, please visit www.mynetworktv.com.