Raises questions about teams having stakes in regional sports networks Outside of the Sky’s WNBA Championship, the last nine months have been utter hell for Chicago sports fans, from a sexual abuse scandal to sports team owners chewing out reporters, not to mention a certain Green Bay QB “owning” local fans. Now credibility problems has become the latest headache, with […]
Launch on track for February 2020 After hiring him as a consultant, the Chicago Cubs and Sinclair Broadcast Group announced Tuesday the hiring of Michael McCarthy as the general manager of the new Marquee Sports Network, scheduled to launch next February. “We’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Mike and his proven ability to drive results over the past […]
ESPN scores with MNF, tiebreaker baseball Note: All numbers are adult 18-49, unless noted CBS premiered two new multi-cam sitcoms Monday night with the heavily promoted The Neighborhood and Happy Together as part of their effort to retool their Monday night lineup. The results were positive for Neighborhood with the Cedric The Entertainer vehicle earning a 1.3 rating/6 share, while […]
Changing marketing conditions could be factor; AT&T may be only hope If the Cubs are looking to launch their own TV network in 2020, their options are becoming quite limited. According to a report Monday in Sports Business Journal and Awful Announcing, AT&T is considering looking to add the baseball team to their portfolio of sports rights. AT&T operates a […]
Back a year ago, yours truly did a look ahead into 2017. So how did everything turn out? I have the answers right here! 1. The FCC under a Trump administration. With a 3-2 FCC majority, issues the FCC championed under Tom Wheeler: net neutrality, preserving the cross-ownership rule, and other issues are going to get a hard look at […]
This Bud’s for you – 2017 a carbon city of 2016 2016: The worst year ever. 2017: Hold my beer. Yes, you saw this type of “hold my beer” exchanges this year as 2017 turned out to be lousy as advertised. For one thing, American Idol is coming back thanks to ABC. This and host Ryan Seacrest appearing on TV […]
Fox’s regional sports networks now could be part of sale A deal to sell the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox to The Walt Disney Company is coming close to fruition, according to CNBC.com. But now there is a new twist: Fox’s regional sports networks may become part of the Disney family. Initially, Fox reportedly proposed to keep Fox News, […]
Also: Sinclair passes on O’Reilly; Grim reaper closing in on WYCC; World Series a ratings hit; The Twilight Zone to be rebooted. Again. Given the huge number of items making news this week, it’s time for another edition of The Media Notepad: Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is among those calling for the Sinclair-Tribune deal to be rejected. According to […]
Also: Bears renew local deal with Fox; My Network TV also renews; “MeToo’s” odd connection to Chicago TV Despite defending their World Series title from last year, ratings for prime-time Cubs games declined last year, according to a report in Forbes. The Cubs earned a 4.4 Nielsen household rating, down 9 percent from last year. Forbes did not specify […]
Game against Eagles last Sunday was shoved onto little-watched outlet in Los Angeles. The Chargers’ move to Los Angeles from San Diego couldn’t have been more disastrous. Game three into this experiment, and the Chargers are only drawing around 25,000 fans per game in the 30,000-seat StubHub Center, a soccer stadium in south suburban Carson, Calif., thirteen miles south of […]
Strong start for veteran sitcom – and oh yeah…Chicago’s NFL Lakefront Team was also in action The return of Will & Grace to NBC Thursday night went better than expected. The “season nine” comedy – starring Eric McCormick and Debra Messing premiered with a 3.0 adults 18-49 rating – better than any season eight episode eleven seasons ago (in 2005-06) […]
Media outlets in Chicago, Cleveland expect major windfall – including stations carrying games Batten down the hatches, Chicagoans – the Cubs have did something they haven’t done in 71 years – make the World Series. Beginning tonight, the former lovable losers (now the lovable winners) will play Game 1 against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field in the Fall Classic, […]
But competition came from an unlikely source…The Al Smith dinner? Thursday night television featured a rare matchup between a Bears-Packers game and a Cubs-Dodgers playoff contest. But it was Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton who crashed the party and stole the show. Game 5 of the National League Championship Series between the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers outdrew the […]
Ratings for the NFL are off this year. Why? Over the last few weeks, you have read about why the NFL’s ratings are declining, with answers ranging from noncompetitive matchups to national anthem protests. Well, now it’s my turn to weigh in. So what’s wrong with the NFL? Well, let’s start locally as the Chicago Bears continue to drive away viewers […]
The White Sox may not have the worst record in MLB for 2015, but earned an even-worse honor. According to Sports Business Journal, the South Siders again finished dead last among all 29 U.S. teams, with a 0.8 live-plus-same day household rating on CSN Chicago, down 29 percent from 2014, where they finished 27th out of 27 teams excluding Houston […]