News Corp. has announced it will sell nine of its Fox owned-and-operated stations in these markets: Cleveland (WJW), Denver (KDVR), St. Louis (KTVI), Kansas City (WDAF), Milwaukee (WITI), Salt Lake City (KSTU), Birmingham (WBRC), Memphis (WHBQ), and Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point (WGHP). This is part of a trend in which major networks are selling their O&Os in smaller markets. CBS and NBC […]
Will Rogers bid on more U.S. shows? That’s the question many media watchers are asking now that Canadian cable giant Rogers Communications has bought the five CityTV stations from CTVglobemedia, thanks to a forced divestiture by the CRTC after CTV bought Chum, Ltd, the former owners of CityTV. Rogers is buying CityTV formatted stations in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, and […]
Nineteen TV stations in Chicago and Milwaukee won vindication from the FCC after the agency rejected another bogus complaint from a media activist group. This time it was the Chicago Media Action and the Milwaukee Public Interest Media Collation, fronts for the Media Access Project, who claims that the stations ignored non-federal races in a month leading up to the […]
With the NBA and Stanley Cup Finals down in the ratings dumps (thanks to the numbing dullness of the events) and Chicago’s two baseball teams struggling, no wonder casual fans are deserting sports programming. If anyone wants to watch someone with absolutely no talent, they head to America’s Got Talent – not the ice, hardwood, or the diamond (well, maybe […]
Sam Zell, who is buying the Tribune Co., met with several Democratic leaders on Tuesday, including Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and expressed his concern that federal regulators are moving too slowly in deciding whether or not Tribune can own the same media in the same market, including Chicago. Tribune needs FCC waivers to keep the properties it has in five […]
(Spoiler Alert) Here’s more on the “death” of Vince McMahon: The story actually made headlines on the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader website. Here’s how it happened: According to the paper, the explosion actually was taped Saturday night/Sunday morning between 11 p.m and 3 a.m. in a sealed-off section near the Wachovia Center in Wilkes-Barre – all coordinated by a pyrotechnics company. […]
(Editor’s Note: Thanks to the anonymous poster who pointed out the incorrect date I wrote regarding the sign-on date on CITY-TV in Toronto. I wrote 1979. D’oh! The correct date was 1972. The post has since been corrected. If anyone spots an incorrect item, let me know by posting in the comments section, and I’ll correct it as soon as […]
Maureen Ryan writes a smart article in today’s Trib telling us that we viewers’ have rights – the right to have shows last more than two episodes (patience is the key…), the right to tell us when a show is being moved or pre-empted, the right to watch a show online and not freeze up (I’m talking to you ABC […]
Mr. McMahon was in a limo in which it exploded, and he is presumed dead. And if you believe this, then: – The Trix rabbit will steal your cereal this morning. – Rush Limbaugh and Barack Obama will become best friends. – NBC’s new fall lineup will vault the network to No.1 – WGN-AM will fall to 30th place in […]
Several media activist groups have petitioned the FCC to stop the sale of the Tribune Co. to billionaire venture capitalist Sam Zell. The groups in question are the United Church of Christ and the Media Alliance, as well as the Media Access Project. They are calling for the FCC to reject the deal because the company would own a newspaper […]
That’s what Sorpranos creator David Chase basically said to its fans last night’s series finale as the screen went to black – in the middle of the final scene. Well, at least no one went to jail (Seinfeld), it wasn’t a figment of someone’s imagination (St. Elsewhere), and nobody woke up next to Suzanne Pleshette (Newhart – still the best […]
TV Week is reporting that Howie Mandel has accepted a deal to host the syndicated version of “Deal or No Deal” that will now premiere in the fall of 2008. The show will be syndicated by NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution. It is expected that the same production team behind the prime-time show will also be behind the daytime syndicated […]
No, we’re not back to our lame “on the clock” anthology before the NFL draft…. but the XM/Sirius merger really is on the clock. The FCC has accepted the application for the merger, and now it has started the unofficial 180-day period of reviewing the deal. Comments and petitions for and against the deal are due July 9 and responses […]
In the Rash Report from Ad Age, Josh Rash of Minneapolis ad agency Campbell Mithun, discusses the stumbling summer season so far – from barely non-existent Stanley Cup ratings to disappointing ratings for Game 1 of the NBA Finals, from lackluster premieres of summer shows to viewers tuning out repeats on the broadcast networks – in favor of fresh fare […]
It looks like the fate of Internet radio is going to hinge on Congress. Four major companies who stream on the web – RealNetworks, Yahoo, Pandora, and Live 365 sent letters to all 535 members of Congress regarding the increase of royalties that will have to be paid effective on July 15, with rates that were retroactive to January 2006 […]
ABC ABC-Owned Stations ABC 7 Chicago American Idol CBS CBS Chicago CBS Media Ventures CBS News And Stations Chicago Bears Chicago Blackhawks Chicago Bulls Chicago Cubs Chicago White Sox ESPN Family Guy FCC Fox Fox 32 Fox Television Stations Los Angeles Milwaukee NBC NBC 5 NBC Owned Television Stations NBCUniversal Syndication Studios New York City Nexstar Media Group Radio Ratings Sinclair Inc. Syndication The Big Bang Theory The CW The Simpsons Tribune Media Warner Bros. WBBM-TV Chicago WCIU Chicago WFLD Chicago WGN-TV Chicago WGN Radio WLS-AM Chicago WLS-TV Chicago WMAQ Chicago WPWR Chicago