Disney, Charter settle dispute – but at a price

Disney to permanently remove some channels as it agrees to sell apps through Spectrum in a blueprint others will likely follow   After all the countless pieces over how the Charter-Disney feud could wind up killing linear TV and the cable bundle, customers woke up Monday morning to find their Disney channels back – but not all of them returned.  Disney […]

Predators-Blackhawks game could be moved if headed to OT

As first reported by Sports Media Watch, tonight’s Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoff Quarterfinal between the Nashville Predators and the Chicago Blackhawks could be moved to CNBC if the game runs past 10 p.m. due to Saturday Night Live. Tonight is the first time ever Saturday Night Live is going live across the country, including the Mountain and […]

Cubs score one for the record books

Cubs destroy competition off the field, including the once-mighty NFL – setting a cable TV record in the process Despite loss, Cubs clinch NL Central Even with a loss last night against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Cubs continue to roll with a dominant ratings performance on Comcast SportsNet Chicago. According to a press release, the Brewers-Cubs telecast Thursday night on […]

Strong returns for opening night

Everyone’s a winner in the first night of the TV season!  Well, almost… The first night of the 2014-15 got underway Monday night and judging by the numbers, DVRs are going to be working overtime this week. Despite heavy competition, many shows were amply sampled, including heavily-hyped new entries Gotham and Scorpion. Meanwhile, The Big Bang Theory dominated its competition on […]

Emmy Awards score big for CBS

But still beat by Da Bears. Despite going up against a Sunday Night Football game whose teams have one of the most rabid fan bases in the NFL, the Primetime Emmy Awards still managed to snare a 4.9 adult demo rating (18-49) and 17.36 million viewers, the largest total audience in eight years; and the highest-rated adult demo in six […]

Milt Rosenberg dumped by WGN Radio

Yeah, it’s a great time to be in Chicago… Sunday, we complained about the Bears and their inept management after their loss to the hated Green Bay Packers. On Monday, we complained about the latest moves made by the inept management at WGN Radio. And this is one of them: after 39 years, Milt Rosenberg and his late-night Extension 720 […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: “Survivor” tackles race and fails

              Last week’s episode told what a lot of us already know: Hollywood really doesn’t respect people of color On Grey’s Anatomy, they had the Ferry Boat accident. For The Simpsons, it was changing the backstory of the series to create a lame plot on how Homer Simpson “discovered” grunge music. For this show, […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Win or go home

The Bears didn’t win. And they went home.  (Photo: Scott Strazzante/Chicago Tribune.) The Packers went to the Super Bowl and the Bears went home with a quarterback who has an iffy knee who gets blasted on Twitter while Chicago’s long-time rocker thinks you’re not getting enough Steve Miller Band in your listening diet. Yep, this week that was in the […]

Lions-Bears leads Sunday TV fare

  The Lions’ Calvin Johnson catches a pass in Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears (Photo: AP/Charles Rex Arbogast/ESPNChicago.com) But ratings down 25% from year ago season opener The Chicago Bears may have lucked themselves into a victory on Sunday, but at least did the job in the ratings department. According to Crain’s Chicago Business, the Bears season opener at […]

WGN-TV gets Nov. 18 Chicago Bears game

For the first time since being affiliated with the DuMont network way back in the 1950’s, WGN-TV will be airing a regular-season NFL football game. Thanks to a deal made with eight of Tribune’s stations, the NFL network will make those games available to those over-the-air outlets involving their home market’s teams.  For Tribune-owned WGN-TV, the station is airing the […]

Football Championship Sunday draws big

Blackhawks a big draw in Canada over the weekend Even though three of the four teams who participated in last Sunday’s NFL Conference Championship games came from smaller markets, the ratings were certainly big enough. The NFC Championship Game between the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints drew a whopping 58 million viewers, the most for a NFC Championship […]

FavreWatch: WFRV to air Jets games

CBS affiliate WFRV in Green Bay (which was up to a year ago was owned by CBS) has said it will air up to eight New York Jets games on Sunday afternoons featuring former Green Bay Packer Brett Favre at quarterback. The Liberty Media-owned station’s first game airs on September 7 at noon against the Miami Dolphins. Keep in mind […]

FavreWatch lands in the Big Apple

Photo courtesy of Fox Sports.com. The naked city just got one more story to add to its eight million. Television’s most fascinating drama landed in New York City on Thursday with the trade of Green Bay Packer Brett Favre to the New York Jets, ending his sixteen-year run as the Cheeseheads‘ quarterback. Favre originally retired from the game last March, […]