“The Good Wife” scores a good deal

For CBS’ The Good Wife, life is good… and about to get better. CBS Television Distribution scored a syndication mega-deal for reruns of The Good Wife, with a multiplatform off-network rollout staggered between today (yes… today! This very day!) and September 2014. Good Wife was not only sold to traditional platforms who are regular customers (cable networks and local stations) […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Chicago Tribune on the sales block

The Tribune Co. Unofficially puts its papers on the block; Oscar viewership is up over a year ago; and more Mancow is headed to your TV: – It looks like the Chicago Tribune is up for sale. As first reported by CNBC on Monday, the 166-year old paper and others in the chain are on the block by creditors who […]

“The Jeff Probst Show” canceled

I’ll bet you’ve heard a lot of this in the last 48 hours: Jeff Probst …the tribe has spoken. CBS Television Distribution voted The Jeff Probst Show off the talk show island after one season, as the program could not find an audience. The Survivor host’s daytime talker had been averaging around a 0.7 Nielsen household live-plus same-day rating this […]

Swearin’ Super Bowl Sunday

  Super Bowl XLVII down from last year, but still pulls in an audience; CBS to be investigated for F-bomb; and so is WMVP for unrelated incident The Super Bowl matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers drew a huge audience on Sunday – but not as high as the two previous Super Bowls. According to Nielsen […]

“Jeremy Kyle” canceled

And other syndication news of note With NATPE looming around the corner, activity in the first-run syndication business for 2013 has certainly picked up. Here’s the latest: -As reported by Broadcasting & Cable Tuesday, Debmar-Mercury pulled the plug on first-run syndicated talker “conflict” talker The Jeremy Kyle Show after two low-rated seasons. Kyle, a British personality who does a similar […]

Confirmed: “Queen Latifah” to CBS 2… and WCIU

As reported here and on other trade sites last week, Queen Latifah’s return to daytime TV snared its first major deal with Sony Pictures Television: CBS’ owned and operated TV stations signed on for the show in sixteen markets. According to an article in Broadcasting & Cable last Monday, Latifah’s show will in fact, be shown on WBBM-TV next fall, […]

Syndication shakeup: Queen Latifah in, Anderson Cooper out

Also: Wheel and Jeopardy! renewed by WLS-TV, other ABC O&Os until 2016 It’s not even the end of October, and already seeing some major shakeups in daytime syndication for next fall: – In news first reported by Deadline, CBS’ owned-and-operated station group has picked up Queen Latifah’s new talk show from Sony Pictures Television for September 2013, clearing sixteen markets, […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Bob Brenly exits Cubs broadcast booth (updated)

Brenly becomes new Arizona Diamondbacks color analyst The latest Grab Bag is here with a possible new classic TV channel on the way, two primetime network series renewed, and more: – Bob Brenly, who has been the color analyst for Chicago Cubs broadcasts alongside Len Kasper over WGN-TV broadcasts and Comcast SportsNet since 2005 announced he’s leaving the team to […]

Marty Wilke jumps to WBBM-TV as GM

As first reported by Robert Feder at Time Out Chicago Friday morning, WGN-TV general manager Marty Wilke is exiting the Chicago CW affiliate and heading to CBS-owned WBBM-TV (CBS 2) in the same capacity. She replaces Bruno Cohen, who is returning to central California to run CBS’ duopoly of KPIX and KBCW in the Bay Area (consisting of San Francisco, […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: CBS, AT&T sign retransmission deal

Reach out and touch someone…. No, not there. Or there. The Grab Bag: – CBS AT&T . CBS Corp. and AT & T have signed a brand new retransmission consent deal, covering all CBS-owned stations (which includes CBS, CW, and independent stations), Showtime, The Smithsonian Channel, and CBS Sports Network. Locally, the deal covers CBS-owned WBBM-TV over all AT&T U-Verse […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: “Closer” finale draws 9.1 million able bodies

We’ve got items on The Closer, NBC’s ratings results for its fall preview shows, and more: – According to Chicagoland Radio & Media, WJYS-TV’s new late night talk show strip Seven On Ridge has now nailed down a temporary location while it searches for a permanent home in the downtown Chicago area – the Genesis Convention Center in Gary, Ind. […]

WCIU, CBS O&Os acquire “Hot in Cleveland”

The CBS-Weigel collation has struck again. CBS Television Distribution cleared TV Land’s off-cable Hot In Cleveland in 65 percent of the country for fall 2014, including WCIU in Chicago and several CBS-owned stations in the nation’s largest markets. This is the same collation that acquired Warner Bros.’ Mike & Molly and 2 Broke Girls for off-network syndication in 2014 and […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: “Live With Kelly” shifts to WLS-TV in 2013

The Jeff Probst Show finally clears Chicago, landing at WBBM-TV Due to a busy schedule covering and analyzing Upfront Week, there were a lot of notable media stories mentioned in the past week: – First mentioned in Robert Feder’s Time Out Chicago blog last week, ABC-owned WLS-TV has acquired Live With Kelly beginning in September 2013, falling in line with […]

Emily Barr exits WLS-TV

Emily Barr, who has led ABC-owned WLS-TV here in Chicago as vice president and general manager, is exiting the station after fifteen years for a post with Post-Newsweek Stations, Inc. Barr is replacing current President and CEO Alan Frank, who is retiring after thirty years with the company. Post-Newsweek (a divison of the Washington Post Co.) is a chain of […]

The Grab Bag: It’s Chicagolicious!

The Grab Bag today includes a revival of a classic game show – with a hip-hop bent; a local time slot change for syndicated reruns of 30 Rock; and Chicago lands another reality TV show: – Oprah and Rosie are long gone from the Windy City, but believe it or not, television production is expanding in Chicago – of the […]