The end of the line for WGN Sports

WGN sports vanishes after a 71 year run Saturday night marked an end of an era as WGN-TV aired its final sports telecast featuring a game between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox. Many memorable moments were carried by WGN from Sammy Sosa hitting his 62nd home run to Mark McGuire’s 70th; from Ernie Banks’ 500th home run to […]

Dish sacks Fox-owned channels

Here comes another retrans dispute as impasse knocks Fox 32, My 50, FS1 off Dish  In a move that surprised and stunned a lot of observers – not to mention Dish subscribers, Fox Corp. announced Thursday it has pulled their signals off Dish. This means Fox-owned local channels WFLD-TV and My Network TV affiliate WPWR-TV are off Dish and their […]

Chicago Wolves, My50 hook up for games

With the Blackhawks exiting over-the-air television, Wolves step up in a big way Looking for some local sports on broadcast television this season? Don’t worry, the Chicago Wolves got you covered. The AHL team announced Monday a partnership with Fox-owned WPWR (My50) to televise 40 regular-season games for the 2019-20 season, the most games ever carried by the station. In […]

Networks drop E-Cig advertising as anti-vaping fever heats up

Local TV stations already shunning ads; Juul halts all advertising  (Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on September 22 and has been updated.) With complaints from viewers increasing on social media and users being hospitalized (including a few in the Chicago area), three major media companies announced they were no longer accepting advertising for vaping products and e-cigarettes. WarnerMedia, […]

Bears blow out competition – on the field and off

Bears, Truibsky cream Redskins, Dancing, and that Bob show  The 2019-20 television season is officially underway, but Chicagoans weren’t ready for the new shows….they were ready for Mitch Trubisky. The Chicago Bears thrashed the Washington Redskins on Monday night Football 31-15, with the Bears offense – struggling as of late – put up 28 points in the first half and […]

The 2019 Emmy Awards flops… hard

Awful presentation leads to lowest-rated Emmy show of all time  When Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane had a disastrous stint hosting the Academy Awards in 2013, I noted: “There’s nothing like seeing Hollywood in smarmy, self-congratulatory mode while the public is abandoning broadcast prime-time network television and terrestrial radio for alternatives with movie attendance declining thanks to media consolidation, which […]

Proud as a Peacock: NBC Universal launches streaming service

NBCUniversal launches new streaming service with reboots and reruns The bird is the word: joining in the streaming wars, NBCUniversal announced Tuesday the launch of its long-awaited streaming service called Peacock, referring to the bird that represents the iconic NBC logo. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, NBC used Peacock in its slogan Proud As A Peacock, though […]

NBC Sports Chicago may vanish from Dish, DirecTV

Chicago to become next battleground in retrans battle between RSNs, satellite providers If you are going to gloat when Marquee launches with a lack of distribution while NBC Sports Chicago is in your Dish and DirecTV channel lineup, you might be in for a rude awaking come October 1. That’s because with the Cubs dropping out of the NBC Sports […]

FCC approves Tribune, Nexstar deal

Move ends 95 years of local control  I guess this is another way for the Trump administration and Republicans to stick it to Chicago. In another… all together now – partisan divided vote, the FCC approved the transaction of Nexstar Broadcasting, swallowing up Chicago-based Tribune Media for $6.4 billion. This gives Nexstar over 100 stations in 114 markets with a […]

ABC 7 to bump Cubs game to CW 26 (Updated)

Bachelor in Paradise finale reason for the move (Editor’s Note: This story is updated as of September 17.) In a move panned by some – and praised by others (particularly reality TV fans), the Cubs and ABC-owned WLS-TV – ABC 7 – announced Thursday the station was pushing a previously-scheduled Tuesday 7:05 p.m. game between the team and the Cincinnati […]

Disney, DirecTV the latest to battle over retransmission consent

Companies upping ante in retrans dispute; ABC 7 could be off DirecTV by Saturday  The latest entity to go toe-to-toe with a satellite and cable provider is the biggest name in cable: ESPN. And it could take Chicago’s most-watched TV station down with it. In a carefully orchestrated move, ESPN on its bottom score ticker alerted viewers about the potential […]

Bears bomb on field, but NFL Kickoff is a ratings success

Ratings up 14 percent despite downer of a game The NFL’s 100th season kicked off Thursday with the oldest, most storied rivalry in the league: The Green Bay Packers playing the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. But the results on the field were anything but grand as the Bears lost to the Packers 10-3 in a lackluster game panned on […]