The Media Notepad: Chicago Wolves return to Fox Chicago Plus for another season
Also: MLB teams desert Bally; “Velma” canceled
With local hockey fans struggling to find Blackhawks games on the TV dial this season, the AHL’s Chicago Wolves are back for another season on WPWR (now branded as Fox Chicago Plus) with 30 games scheduled, mostly on weekends.
“The Wolves are thrilled to be back on WPWR-TV for the upcoming season,” said Jon Sata, Wolves President of Business Operations. “The team at FOX 32 Chicago (sister station WFLD) and FOX Chicago Plus have been tremendous partners and we’re proud to call FOX Chicago Plus the broadcast home for the Wolves. We’re looking forward to getting the season started!”
“We look forward to the puck dropping for another hard-hitting, action-packed Chicago Wolves season,” said Sheila Oliver, SVP and General Manager of Fox’s Chicago duopoly. “Wolves games have been a staple of our winter sports season and we are excited to see the new and improved team take the ice.”
Calling the games are Jason Shaver and Billy Gardner with the first contest this Saturday at 7 p.m. against division rival Milwaukee. The remainder of the Wolves’ schedule is being streamed online at FloHockey.
On September 23, WPWR rebranded from My50 to Fox Chicago Plus, following a move made by other Fox-owned My Network TV stations to drop their My branding. Other recent changes in the local television landscape include The CW moving back to WGN-TV, while former affiliate WCIU rebranded as The U. In addition, the Blackhawks, Bulls, and White Sox have launched the new Chicago Sports Network, leading to the closure of NBC Sports Chicago after 20 years.
After Diamond Bally Sports decided to drop their remaining MLB teams (except for the Atlanta Braves) for next season as they are coming out of bankruptcy, three agreed to have the league produce their telecasts for next season with the Minnesota Twins, Milwaukee Brewers, and Cleveland Guardians taking the route.
The move is structured similarly to the other three teams that let MLB take over production after their RSN deals ended—the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, and San Diego Padres. With MLB allowing viewers to stream games on any device without blackouts, the teams could reach many more viewers. MLB also negotiated cable and satellite deals for each team, ensuring coverage on DirecTV, Comcast, Cox, and other providers.
“With the media landscape continuing to evolve, Major League Baseball is committed to serving our fans by ensuring they can see their favorite Clubs, removing blackouts where we can, and ultimately growing the reach of our games,” said Noah Garden, MLB Deputy Commissioner, Business and Media. “We are proud to bring Guardians, Brewers, and Twins games to their passionate fan bases with the same high-quality production that we have demonstrated in Arizona, Colorado, and San Diego.”
Pricing for the 2025 season should be announced before it starts. The existing plans for the three NL West teams are $19.99 monthly or $99 annually.
Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers are also skipping out on Bally but plan to launch their way of distributing games. It is unclear what would happen with Bally Sports Southwest, which no longer has rights to the Dallas Stars and Dallas Mavericks but retains the San Antonio Spurs for those living in the San Antonio area.
Bally plans to renegotiate its contracts with seven MLB teams during the off-season, including the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals which posted a huge viewership decline this past season. But Bally and parent Diamond are plodding ahead as it plans to exit bankruptcy soon and is looking to rebrand its RSNs. Bally has thirteen NBA and seven NHL teams left in its portfolio, all signed through this season.
In news that shouldn’t surprise anyone, Max has canceled Velma after two seasons due to low viewership and backlash from fans of the Scooby-Doo franchise.
The controversial animated series targeted at adults was adapted from the classic Saturday morning cartoon series, which started on CBS in 1969 and has had various incarnations over the last 50 years. Premiering on January 5 of last year, this version was far different from its predecessors: the Velma character is South Asian and Black and voiced by Mindy Kaling, who was also executive producer. Of course, the show was missing Scooby-Doo.
To say the show was not well-received is the understatement of the year. Velma received negative feedback on social media, Google, and IMDB with a 54 score on Metacritic and a 0.6 user rating. On Rotten Tomatoes, Velma received a 10 percent user rating and a 38 percent approval score from critics.
I wrote about Velma in this space last year given its tepid reception, and how this program is an indictment of David Zaslav’s disastrous reign as Warner Bros. Discovery CEO. In this piece, I explained how other TV shows in the past have infuriated the viewing public such as Jerry Springer and The Morton Downey Jr. Show and infamous flops from You’re In The Picture and Turn-On to a 1961 episode of Bus Stop, whose violent content (for its time) even triggered Congressional hearings.
Despite lasting 21 episodes – 21 more than necessary, Velma joins those infamous flops in the dustbin of television history. Good riddance.