Remembering Lee Phillip Bell

Referred to as “the first lady of Chicago television”, she was a trailblazer for many who followed The Chicago media community is mourning the loss of one of the tremendous pioneers of local television. Lee Phillip Bell passed away Wednesday at the age of 91 in her California home. Bell, along with her husband William, created the soaps The Young And […]

Marquee signs deal with WOW!

  Wow, indeed: deal with chief competitor puts heat on Comcast/Xfinity In a deal that could put pressure on Comcast, Wide Open West – basically known as WOW, reached an agreement Wednesday to carry the Chicago Cubs’ new regional sports network beginning March 13. What makes this deal important is WOW covers much of Chicago’s South Side with Comcast as […]

Marquee network flubs debut

Very few people in the Chicago area weren’t able to see the premiere of the new RSN – even if a deal was struck with their provider It’s time to play Monday night quarterback and assess the launch of Marquee Sports Network, the new joint venture between the Cubs and Sinclair Broadcasting. And of course, it didn’t go very well. […]

Chicago Fire FC strikes deal with WGN, returns to broadcast TV

MLS team brings live sporting events back to WGN. It may not be one of the four major sporting leagues, but it’s good enough for WGN-TV. The Nexstar-owned independent station announced Wednesday it has struck a deal with the Chicago Fire (now re-branded as Chicago Fire Football Club, or Chicago Fire FC)  to air 24 games locally beginning March 7 […]

Marquee to launch talk show with Ryan Dempster

But here’s the rub: it’s only going to air monthly Hulu becomes latest operator to sign deal with Marquee In an odd move, the Cubs’ new Marquee network is planning to launch a new talk show featuring former Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster. Speaking to reporters at Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz. on Saturday, Dempster said his new show would not […]

The Media Notepad: Chicago Journalism: The future and you, Part 2

Also: Two TV-related sites shut down; XFL off to good start With all the threats to our freedom of the press – from hedge fund operators buying financial stakes in newspaper companies to President Trump, now is the right time to discuss what it means to the future of journalism. On February 23, numerous journalists and reporters are gathering at […]

Super Bowl Ratings: Numbers up for exciting game

Different matchup sends viewership up A more competitive game and two new teams whose quarterbacks are fresh faces helped drive ratings growth for Super Bowl LIV, played at Miami Gardens’ Hard Rock Stadium and broadcast on Fox. The Kansas City Chiefs’ 31-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers drew 99.91 million viewers, up from the 98.2 million viewers earned from […]

2020 Super Bowl Commercial Review: Deja Vu

Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day spot is the best of the best ; Halftime Show featuring Jennifer Lopez and Shakira a smash hit Even though several cultural critics thought otherwise, this year’s batch of Super Bowl Commercials were actually better than last year’s. Yes, really. The fourteenth edition of T Dog Media’s Super Bowl Commercial Review features a lot of dancing, […]

Legendary network executive Fred Silverman dies

Career spanned ABC, CBS, NBC plus his own production company Media watchers are mourning the death of Fred Silverman, an executive who re-invented CBS and took ABC to the top, and later formed his own production company. Born in the Queens borough of New York, Silverman began his career right here in Chicago at WGN-TV in the early 1960s where […]