The revival of the 1992-99 series with Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt is airing on Spectrum Originals – but Chicago, other markets may be out of luck If you’re a fan of Mad About You, you’re probably excited about the return of Paul and Jamie’s return to the small screen. But if you are a Chicago-area viewer – you are […]
Required sale of RSNs paves way for merger In a marked turn from its dealings with AT&T and TimeWarner, the Justice Department announced Wednesday it has approved a $71.3 billion deal between The Walt Disney Corporation and 21st Century Fox for most of the latter’s business. The deal was originally announced in December 2017, with Disney offering $52 billion for […]
FCC reverses 2015 vote; leaves uncertain future for Net Never in the years I’ll followed the media business I’ve seen so much hatred for the FCC – even during the Nipplegate controversy and when former chairman Kevin Martin was running the agency. But what we saw Thursday may have Trumped everything. In yet another bitterly partisan divided vote in an […]
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 […]
The drawing in the Conan O’Brien lottery took place Monday, and it was Turner Broadcasting who turned up the lucky winner. So what does TBS actually win? Young demos. A proven name. An increased profile. And a new car – advertiser or two. But it seems a lot of players in this saga appear to winners – TBS, Conan O’Brien, […]
Let’s reach into the bag today and see what we can scoop out… – New fall syndication updates: WPWR plays the Feud again: Debmar-Mercury’s Family Feud returns to WPWR-TV for the third time beginning on Sept. 8, airing back-to-back episodes at 2 p.m, while Debmar’s new Trivial Pursuit: America’s Plays airs at 3 p.m. Family Feud aired on WPWR from […]
It’s too late for the just-about-to-conclude college basketball season, but Comcast and the Big Ten Network are close to a deal that would put the new college sports net on its extended basic package.Comcast recently dropped a provision in its stance, stating BTN was a “niche” channel, and should be regulated only to a sports tier. Currently, BTN is not […]
A reminder: the new WMEU-CA, branded Me-Too is launching today at 5 a.m.The new channel is a spin-off of Me-TV (WWME-CA), which launched in 2005. WMEU is taking the place of ethnic-programmed WFBT-CA, which is switching to one of WCIU’s sub-channels. WMEU, WFBT, WWME, and WCIU are all owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Me-Too is available on broadcast analogchannel 48 (good […]
In a huge victory for the Big Ten Network, Wide Open West, which serves much of Chicago area (the same territory as Comcast), has signed a deal with the fledging sports net to carry the network on an expanded basic cable package in the eight states where there are Big Ten schools. Later in the day, BTN also struck a […]
First it was Comcast switching to all-digital in Chicago, now its Charter Communications that is dumping the old cable analog boxes in St. Louis. Charter, the dominant cable provider in the St. Louis area, will no longer service analog cable boxes as of July 17th. Unlike what Comcast did last month in Chicago, in which it shut off its analog […]