By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

TNA's website published the first batch of TNA president Dixie Carter's responses to fan questions covering subjects including TV ratings, criticism of the TNA product, changing TV timeslots on Monday nights, and the PWTorch Livecast (which will be airing shortly at 5:30 p.m. EST!).

-- Carter gave a lengthy response on the TV ratings "battle" with WWE Raw and trying to stay in the game for the long haul to potentially compete with WWE.

"I want to be very clear on this, we NEVER expected to have competitive ratings with Raw at the beginning. I have been very specific in saying that our goal was to grow our brand and our ratings and we felt like we could do that faster on Mondays," Carter said. "Sometimes you have to take a step back to take a big step forward. We expected to have to rebuild part of our audience when moving our programming day and timeslot."

Caldwell's Analysis: So, in Carter's eyes, it's the timeslot changes, not the product that's the problem. Last week, Hulk Hogan put the blame on the fans for not understanding the product, not the product itself. At some point, it just comes down to the product.

Carter continued: "It is going to take some time to build both audiences (on Mondays and Thursdays). We have no ego in saying Impact has to draw a big rating in one night. With the encore, we have grown our overall viewing audience significantly from 2009 averages. ... So short term, we have settled in to a new programming schedule and need to give both some time to grow, but are happy with our increased viewership. Long term we want to see the overall ratings for Impact increase significantly, no matter how many airings we have."

-- Carter said TNA and Spike TV have settled on the 8:00 p.m. EST timeslot for Impact after they discussed both a 9:00 and 8:00 p.m. EST timeslot initially.

"It would be a failure to stay in a timeslot when you think another one might offer a greater chance for growth," Carter said. "Instead of moving back to 9 pm the following week (after the NCAA Title game week), we decided to leave the start time at 8:00 p.m. EST and build that timeslot."

-- Carter said there are no current plans to develop a second TNA brand show (like Smackdown), but they are developing two new shows. "Look for updates in the near future," she said.

-- Carter was asked about criticism of the TNA product and how she "sifts through" complaints from valid feedback.

Carter responded: "You learn to have thick skin. I read fan input daily. There is a difference in someone who is passionate about TNA and wants to see something different versus someone who just hates the product (and won’t give it a chance) and they want to complain. Hearing what fans like is the best feedback for me because we can strive to do more of it."

Caldwell's Analysis: Apparently you can't be passionate about the product and hate the product. This seems to be Carter's way of trying to define down what she considers invalid criticism of the product.

-- Carter was asked, "Do you listen to wrestling podcasts on iTunes like Wrestling Observer w/Brian Alvarez & the daily PWTorch Livecast w/Wade Keller?"

Carter responded: "No, I don’t. I would rather get my input directly from fans like I do from my Facebook, Twitter, or in person (always the most fun), and not from sources who are giving their opinions to the viewers."

Caldwell's Analysis: Again, another "let me define it down" response from Carter. We're not simply "giving an opinion" of the TNA product, but analyzing the product from a position of evaluating its weaknesses, its failures, its strengths, etc. with a perspective on what has historically worked and failed in the wrestling industry.

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