New CHSN firms up on-air talent, distribution plans

Strikes deal with WJYS for carriage

The new Chicago Sports Network (CHSN) has been firming up its on-air talent and distribution plans over the last week by announcing a deal with a local TV station for carriage.

CHSN will appear on the digital subchannels of religious independent WJYS-TV 62.2 and 62.3, which are currently occupied by home shopping networks Jewelry TV and QVC, as first reported by the Sun-Times’ Jeff Argest on Twitter/X Sunday. Both are being converted to high-definition from their current 480p standard definition view. WJYS will continue to air religious programming on 62.1, while QVC and Jewelry TV will continue on 62.5 and 62.7 (and WCPX-TV’s 38.7.), respectively. 

Information on CHSN is now posted on the network’s website. 

“Fan-first has been our north star,” CHSN president Jason Coyle said in a press release. “We are making our content available on the platforms that our fans can watch. For those households who, for whatever reason, choose over-the-air as their primary viewing platform, they now have an opportunity to see the games and build even stronger connections with the teams and personalities they love.”

This comes as CHSN is close to a carriage deal with DirecTV. CHSN is scheduled to launch on October 1 airing Bulls, Blackhawks, and White Sox games, taking over from NBC Sports Chicago, which closes on September 30. With the WJYS deal, all three teams return to local broadcast television for the first time since 2019. 

WJYS’ main channel was listed as an affiliate of the new Merit Street Network from Dr. Phil McGraw according to its website, but reportedly backed out at the last minute before launch on April 2 (Chicago viewers can still tune in to Merit on WWTO 35.2 in HD and streaming for free on numerous platforms, including Samsung Plus TV.) WJYS signed on in 1991 as a home shopping channel at launch and acquired some of WGBO’s syndicated programming after Spanish-language broadcaster Univision acquired the station, before converting to religious programming full-time in 2009. Outside of E/I and paid programming, the last non-secular (religious) program to air on WJYS was Seven On Ridge, a locally produced talk show that lasted only a few weeks in 2012.

WJYS subchannel space was once filled with non-secular networks from Sinclair, including Charge, Comet, and Stadium. All were dropped a few years ago except for Heartland. 

Viewers must buy an over-the-air antenna to watch CHSN and rescan their sets. CHSN plans to announce more distribution agreements soon, including additional over-the-air stations or cable providers in its five-state footprint (Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, and Indiana.) Games, of course, are subject to blackout.

CHSN is building new studios inside the United Center for Bulls and Blackhawks games, though plans had to be delayed due to the Democratic National Convention being held in the building last month. A new studio is also being built at Guaranteed Rate Field, where the White Sox play.

Talent for pre and post-game shows was nearly finalized last week. CHSN is bringing over two NBC Sports Chicago alums – Pat Boyle and Caley Chelios, joining Tony Granato for Blackhawks coverage, while K.C. Johnson joins Kendall Gill for Bulls pre and post. CHSN also unveiled a new logo, with four stars (similar to the Chicago flag) embedded in a capital “C”.

This comes as the regional sports network model continues its path toward irrelevance as more teams are adapting streaming and over-the-air options thanks to the bankruptcy of Bally Sports and the closure of AT&T SportsNet. Recent teams making the conversion include the Dallas Stars, Dallas Mavericks, and the Seattle Kraken.

What kind of ratings effect this will have on the three teams remains to be seen, as viewership has declined significantly over the years as all have struggled, and WJYS – which has nine digital subchannels, is far from a ratings force in Chicago. Nielsen numbers obtained by the Chicago Tribune showed the Bulls and Blackhawks earning 1.2 live-plus-same-day household ratings each this past season on NBC Sports Chicago – down tremendously from a decade ago. The White Sox had a 0.7, down 30 percent from last year and a whopping 59 percent from 2022, but on par with other poor seasons where they ranked dead last among MLB teams.

Another challenge is getting Chicago’s two largest cable providers – Comcast and Astound (formerly RCN) – to get on board, as neither carries WJYS’ subchannels. The teams’ poor performances and carriage over WJYS could hinder their availability to get cable coverage. 

And carriage from virtual providers such as YouTubeTV and Hulu + Live TV is unlikely as neither carries Marquee, the Cubs’ RSN. CHSN also has yet to unveil a direct-to-consumer offering, something other teams who ditched their RSNs have already done.

CHSN plans to launch a promotional campaign this week as the Blackhawks are already in training camp, and the network plans to air its first of several preseason games at CHSN.com. Ironically, this website’s Twitter page joked about a possible Channel 62 connection to CHSN in June.

[This post was updated to make a correction regarding non-secular vs. secular programming due to an editing error.]