New rights holders TNT, ESPN begin new deals The puck dropped on a new NHL season a few days ago, and it also marked a new era in broadcasting rights in the U.S. ESPN and Turner each began separate seven-year deals with the league last week, with ESPN broadcasting their first game in 17 years last Tuesday night from […]
Bad reviews, viewer feedback sink show as show falls off radar. Also: ESPN 1000’s Mike Thomas exits; ex-B96 jock Roxanne Steele leaves Detroit radio job; Peanuts specials back on PBS Remember a month ago when this space crowed about Chicago Party Aunt, telling her to party on? Well, the party may be soon over as not too many viewers are […]
Low ratings cited as factor; Eric Ferguson off the air until end of month Get ready for changes at two local radio stations in morning drive, and one of them involves Chicago’s highest-paid radio personality. For starters, there are big changes in store for Audacy’s WBBM-FM/B96 in the morning. The incumbent show on the contemporary-hit radio station is expected to […]
Scripps’ digital news service relaunched October 1 as an all-news channel, targeting cord cutters Another all-news channel has launched. But this one – called Newsy, isn’t entirely new. But Scripps is revamping the network to add to their growing stable of digital subchannels, with one joining a space now dominated by CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and others – but targeted […]
Historic deal aims to strengthen journalism For the first time since the Chicago Tribune and WGN-AM had the same owner, a daily newspaper and a local radio station could team up – though the transaction is unusual. But unlike the Tribune and WGN-AM, the transaction discussed here is non-profit. Chicago Public Media’s WBEZ-FM and the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday night […]
In what could become the norm in an increasingly fragmented media landscape, Chicago Public Media’s WBEZ and the Sun-Times are discussing a possible partnership to combine operations. Talks between the two parties are underway according to Robert Feder, who broke the story this morning. “I can confirm that we are currently exploring partnerships and opportunities with the Chicago Sun-Times to […]
Case raises questions about the way Ferguson treats female co-workers WTMX’s main morning personality Eric Ferguson is now embroiled in a lawsuit from one of his former on-air staffers. As first reported by the Chicago Tribune in great detail, Ferguson has been accused by former staffer Cynthia DeNicolo of sexual harassment, including codewords for oral sex and to babysit his […]
Also: Don’t Bet Your Life; Bids made for Tegna; Johnny B to host RHOF ceremony The NFL continues to rack up impressive numbers at a time when viewers are abandoning linear TV in droves. Case in point: The Bears game on Sunday against the Bengals drew a household 22.9 rating and 60 share for Fox-owned WFLD-TV Chicago Sunday, easily making […]
Netflix’s new Chicago Party Aunt is creating a lot of buzz Over the years, we were treated to jokes regarding all the number of Chicago shows Dick Wolf has created for NBC: Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med. What’s next? Chicago Sanitation Department? Chicago Animal Control? Well, how about Chicago Party Aunt? For once, we have a show with […]
Same old Sunday Night Football story for Bears I’m not going to bore you whining about why the Chicago Bears keep getting national prime-time TV appearances; I’ve covered the topic aplenty over the years, most recently here and here. But the decision to keep Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace around for another year is one of those “Chicago Way” type […]
Move adds more programs to Fox’s syndication portfolio In a surprising move reported last month, WarnerMedia parent AT&T is in talks to sell its TMZ franchise to Fox Corp. Today, the deal became official according to Deadline. TMZ consists of the gossip website and the two syndicated television shows they spun off of, TMZ (alternatively titled TMZ on TV) and […]
New shows dot local schedules The new television season outside of prime-time begins Monday and you will see some new faces and new places. For one, Jay Leno is returning to daily TV seven years after he left The Tonight Show for a second time. Now, he’s taking his act to earlier time slots with his new You Bet Your […]
Was part of WGN’s dominant 9 p.m. anchor team in the 1990s Chicago’s journalism community – and viewers like myself – are mourning the loss of former WGN-TV anchor Allison Payne, a nine-time Emmy winner who helped lead the then Tribune-owned station to ratings dominance in the 1990s and 2000s. Payne died on September 1 at the age of 57 […]
New home for Judy Sheindlin, and the same format We now have a drop date for Judy Sheindlin’s new courtroom show on Amazon’s IMDB TV and you can mark your calendars for November 1 – That’s when the woman helming the most successful court show of all time debuts with her new show Judy Justice. Joining Sheindlin in the new […]
Locast goes down for the count; Nexstar on a roll; Let’s Make A Profit? It’s game over for Locast as last week, the non-profit streamer of local TV channels pulled the plug on the service after a federal judge declared it not to be one. In the case brought by four major broadcast networks, they accused Locast of streaming their […]