CW cancellations fuel speculation of deal forthcoming Five months ago, The CW – the joint venture between Warner Media (now Discovery Warner Bros.) and ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global), created by the merger of UPN and The WB in 2006 was up for sale, with Irving, Tex.-based Nexstar the leading suitor. So where does things stand now? A glimpse of […]
Split in 2005, both companies re-merge in order to compete with other entertainment giants In news that was expected for several months, it is now official: CBS Corporation and Viacom, Inc. are re-merging after nearly fifteen years apart. The company will be known as ViacomCBS. The reunification returns several well-known properties to one roof: CBS, with its top-rated broadcast network, […]
Springer officially canceled Also: Eddie Olczyk joins Kap and Co.; Disney boosts bid for Fox to $71 billion Welcome back to the family: to replace the canceled ABC sitcom Roseanne, ABC has ordered a ten episode straight-to-series spinoff with the working title The Conner Family, though more likely, The Conners. The series is to star everyone involved in Roseanne with […]
Disney and Fox wheeling and dealing with one another? Laughable, even a year ago. Now, its one step away from reality. In 1990, The Walt Disney Company and the Fox Broadcasting Network battled one another over early fringe afternoon time slots over kids animation: The Disney Afternoon (consisting of DuckTales, Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, Tale Spin, etc.) was expanding […]
Ending months of wondering and worrying, the nation’s major broadcasters dodged a major bullet Wednesday when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of them in their case against Aereo (ABC v. Aereo), an Internet startup company which took (or some say stole) broadcasters’ signals and allows subscribers to watch on their laptops, smartphones, and other devices – without Aereo […]
While 2013 is over and done with, its time to focus on what’s going to happen in 2014. Here are the top ten things to look for, in Chicago and beyond: 1. Aereo. The U.S. Supreme Court will decide this month whether or not they would hear the lawsuit brought by the major broadcast networks against the two-year old tech […]
From the station where bad ideas usually flourish: A few months ago, Fox-owned WFLD introduced editorials at the end of their 9 p.m. newscasts on occasion featuring General Manager Mike Renda, who now runs sis station WJBK in Detroit, with former WOFL/WRBW GM Dennis Welsh, as his replacement. Well, Welsh has continued the practice and thus far appeared in two […]
Is this legitimate? Or nothing more than an empty threat? Who’d thought something as small as a dime-sized antenna would cause this much trouble? The industry was a buzz about on Monday at the annual National Association of Broadcasters gathering in Las Vegas after comments made by News Corp. president and COO Chase Carey in the opening session, threatening to remove Fox […]
The resignation of Tribune executive Lee Abrams on Friday was pretty much expected, and came as no surprise. Abrams sent a company-wide e-mail on Monday featuring Not Safe for Work videos and angering employees company-wide, and was suspended Wednesday for doing so. Some of the videos featured stuff you would normally find on a Girls Gone Wild DVD. And all […]