The Media Notepad: WBD strikes back against NBA with lawsuit

Also: The U branding returns to Channel 26; CBS 2 boss takes over sister station in Detroit

[Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on July 30 and updated to provide the latest information on CW 26’s shift back to independent status.]

Making good on their promise, Warner Bros. Discovery filed suit against the NBA Friday after rejecting their matching rights to Amazon’s $1.8 billion offer for a package carved out for the streamer.

In a statement on social media, TNT Sports wrote: “Given the NBA’s unjustified rejection of our matching of a third-party offer, we have taken legal action to enforce our rights. We strongly believe this is not just our contractual right, but also in the best interest of fans who want to keep watching our-industry-leading NBA content with the choice and flexibility we offer them through our widely distributed WBD video-first distribution platforms – including TNT and Max.”

The NBA announced its new media deals Wednesday after rejecting WBD’s Monday counteroffer.

WBD has hired public relations firm Edelman to make its case to the public, stating the Amazon Prime Video deal would be anti-consumer and won’t reach a large segment of basketball fans. According to Joe Flint, Edelman is reaching out to those in the Black community, including organizations such as the NAACP and the Rainbow Coalition, pointing out that the digital divide still is a problem for minority households, an issue this site wrote about in 2022.

NBA games – especially during the playoffs, are among the most-watched programming in Black homes.

WBD’s chances of winning this lawsuit are slim to none, according to legal experts although some basketball fans believe they have a strong case, despite WBD chairman David Zaslav saying in 2022, “We don’t have to have the NBA.”

Also, the NBA’s new contract provides up to 75 games on over-the-air free broadcast television over ABC and NBC – as opposed to the 100 or so games WBD had rights to on basic cable as the NBA is steering away from the platform as more and more consumers are cutting the cord due to cost – Black households included.

Whatever this is, WBD has no case, and pandering to the Black community makes this look even more pathetic. The NBA faced a similar lawsuit in 1973 from ABC after they lost the rights to CBS after team owners demanded the network air games on Saturday afternoons replacing highly-rated college football games. Though ABC didn’t win the lawsuit, then-ABC Sports president Roone Arledge aggressively counterprogrammed the NBA with Wide World Of Sports and top college football matchups, known in Madison Avenue circles as “Roone’s Revenge”. The NBA returned to ABC during the 2003-04 season as part of a deal with Disney’s sister property ESPN.  

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For the first time in recent memory, a Chicago TV exec is simultaneously running a station in another market.

Current WBBM-TV general manager Jennifer Lyons is adding similar duties in Detroit, where she’ll oversee sister stations WWJ-TV and WKBD-TV, the duopoly known as CBS Detroit replacing Brian Watson, who left in May as Lyons has been running the duopoly on an interim basis since then. All three stations are part of the CBS News And Stations group.

“Since stepping in at the station in May, Jennifer has laid a foundation for the future of CBS Detroit,” said Jennifer Mitchell, who is president of CBS Stations’ West-Midwest region, in a memo to staff. “Her vision and efforts to transform our station’s functions internally and externally are clear, and the way you all have leaned in to deliver and trust her leadership makes it clear to me that this is a union and direction that needs to continue. We have made a pledge to serve this community with news excellency and I’m confident and pleased with what I’m seeing from all of you. Let’s continue with this positive momentum and direction of our newsroom.”

CBS Detroit also named two local managers: Kenynan Oliphant as VP of news and station manager and Paul Pytlowany as VP and director of news content and special projects. Both will run the duopoly when Lyons is in Chicago. Oliphant comes over from crosstown rival WXYZ, when he served as senior director of news.

Reviews of CBS News Detroit haven’t been glowing as the station trails its other competitors since returning to the news business in January 2023. WWJ-TV has long struggled in the ratings since CBS bought the formerly Black-owned WGPR-TV in 1994 after losing WJBK to Fox in the New World deal. WWJ is also currently involved in a lawsuit with one of its former anchors.

A former Fox and UPN affiliate, WKBD is returning to The CW this fall in a deal struck Tuesday with CBS, a year after their stake in The CW was reduced from 50 percent to 12.5 percent when Nexstar took majority control. In the past year, CW programming has aired on WADL and WMYD (Miami’s WBFS is also returning to The CW in the same deal.) 

On another note, WBBM recently dropped its longtime “CBS 2” branding and is now known as “CBS Chicago” with its newscasts branded CBS News Chicago as the station unveiled its new street studio earlier this month. Of note, the station added four red stars (adapted from the Chicago flag) to its CBS News Chicago logo, to stand out from what is otherwise a drab and boring look. 

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In preparation for The CW moving its affiliation from WCIU-TV back to WGN-TV, the Weigel Broadcasting station is dropping its CW 26 branding to reflect the upcoming changes.

Starting Thursday, CW 26 is reverting to The U, the current branding used on its sister station, WCUU/WMEU (Chs. 26.2 and 48.1 on over-the-air signals) while WCUU/WMEU is reverting to The U Too, the branding used for the station from October 2010 until September 2019. Both stations will be run as independents.

WCIU also has a newer, modified “The U” logo, unveiled last month on their Pride Parade float, whose pictures were posted on the station’s Facebook page. On Wednesday, WCIU’s website was overhauled with the new logo and color scheme, and all references to The CW were removed. 

As expected when Nexstar took over 75 percent of The CW, the Irving, Tex. station group is moving the network back to its original Chicago home after ten years. WGN became a CW affiliate in 2006 when UPN and The WB (which WGN was an affiliate of) merged. In 2016, The CW moved to Fox’s WPWR, then to WCIU after three years of poor ratings, and became CW 26 on Sept. 1, 2019. WGN has been carrying CW sporting events including the controversial LIV Golf tournament after WCIU turned it down.

This fall, The U is home to newer off-network sitcoms Bob Hearts Abisola (at 8 p.m.) and The Conners (9 p.m.) and continuing with local sporting events, including IHSA high school basketball and football games and Chicago Sky basketball. The U Too’s format of court shows and off-network reality and talk programming are expected to remain the same.

The changeover takes place on Saturday August 31, with WGN airing college football games (which they had rights to anyway) but officially becomes a CW affiliate the next day, with WGN airing its first entertainment show from The CW in primetime.

A decision on the CW 26 tag for the site will be announced on T Dog Media’s Twitter and Threads pages soon, but will not be used for any new posts regarding WCIU after Wednesday. Call letter tags (WCIU, WMEU) remain unchanged. 

[Editor’s Note: In an earlier post, the launch date of the original U Too was incorrect.]