Elon Musk looks to “X” out the block feature

Latest anti-consumer measure being floated, but Google, Apple, and the EU may have final say  The latest nonsense coming from Elon Musk made news Friday, when he announced he was removing the “block” feature from X, or Twitter, or whatever name he is calling the platform this week he foolishly wasted billions to ruin. “Block is going to be deleted […]

What to look for in 2020

What’s on the media agenda in the first year of the new decade The new decade brings us things to look forward to in the world of media. So here’s are the ten things to keep your eye on in Chicago and in general for 2020. We’ll check back in at the end of the year to see how we […]

20th Century Fox: The End.

End of an era arrives as studio is taken over by Disney. On Wednesday, a new day is dawning in Hollywood – for better or worse. Parts of 21st Century Fox – including its film, television studio, thirty percent of Hulu, and other operations are to become the property of The Walt Disney Co. in a $71.3 billion deal first […]

Mancow returns to Chicago radio…again

What’s traditional media’s response to a changing market? Hire the same people over and over again. Currently, broadcast network television is relying on reboots of shows no one wants to see, junk reality competition programming, paint-by-numbers procedurals (mainly on CBS) and long-running programs that never seem to end to sustain their declining ratings. But apparently, broadcast network execs must’ve gotten […]

“Peanuts” gang heads to Apple

Longtime Charles Schulz characters head to new streaming service in 2019 as viewers’ preferences shift Good grief, you’re heading to a streaming service, Chuck. Apple and DHX Media announced Friday an exclusive deal to bring Charles M. Schulz’s iconic characters to the tech company’s new streaming service, scheduled to launch in 2019 in new series and shorts. The Halifax, Nova […]

Think Tank: The Sinclair blunder: Where do they go from here?

Sinclair thought a change in administration would enable to get what they wanted. They thought wrong, but botched deal might not stop more consolidation While Sinclair Broadcasting is in trouble with the FCC on how it misrepresented itself in its proposed merger with Tribune Media, it won’t slow down the merger and acquisition activity expected. That’s because an appeals court […]

Think Tank: HBO wants to get “bigger”

They want to get “bigger and broader” to compete with Netflix – but they use language only a commercial broadcaster would use If you are a fan of HBO or any premium cable service you have to be concerned about what was reported in the New York Times on July 8. Blaring the headline “HBO Must Get Bigger And Broader […]

FCC relaxes media ownership rules, modifies lifeline program

Also approves ATSC 3.0 television transmissions If there is any federal agency that gives the Illinois legislature a run for their money for being the most dysfunctional in the United States, the Federal Communications Commission would win hands down. An example of this came Thursday when the FCC relaxed the media ownership rules and modified the lifeline program in votes […]

21st Century Fox, Disney in talks to merge

The two rivals are discussing, but would not include some Fox properties, including Fox News and Chicago’s WFLD-TV Itchy and Scratchy joining forces with Mickey Mouse? It could happen. As first reported by CNBC Monday, 21st Century Fox is considering selling part of their assets to the Walt Disney Company. The proposed deal would not include Fox Broadcasting, Fox O&Os, […]

Comcast, TimeWarner Cable agree to merge

In what can be described as a historic deal, Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp. – the country’s largest cable operator – is purchasing New York City-based Time Warner Cable – the second-largest cable operator for $45 billion, or $159 a share in an all-stock deal. The combined entity will boasts 30 million subscribers when Comcast plans to divest three million households due […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Reeling radio

Last week was one those in the radio industry would love to forget – in fact, radio has been having these types of weeks for quite some time now. Repeating the same mantra heard over and over again the last few decades, Big Media eliminated positions again with Clear Channel and Cumulus leading the way. CC last week eliminated hundreds […]

Steve Jobs dies

One of the greatest visionaries in the media business and in tech has left us. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died Wednesday afternoon at the age of 56 due to a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer. Jobs stepped down two months ago as CEO and handed the day-to-day reigns over to Tim Cook while retaining the title as Chairman. Jobs of […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen

As you may know – if you’ve been following on Twitter – The T Dog Media Blog is leaving Blogger and is moving to a new home as part of the new website I’m launching officially on September 19, when the sixth season of The T Dog Media Blog begins. Visit https://www.tdogmedia.com to view the progress of the site as […]

Chicago stations in for political ad revenue windfall

With Mayor Richard M. Daley’s decision not to run for a seventh term, it could mean good news for local television and radio outlets in the terms of revenue in the form of increased political advertising. While the rest of us will being running to our nearest electronics store to buy Tivos, the announcement would mean a huge influx of […]