Featuring the White Sox and Yankees in Iowa was the highest-rated regular season game since 2005 If you build it, they will come. Well, they came all right – and proved to be a boon for Major League Baseball. The inaugural Field Of Dreams game – set in Dyersville, Iowa (located in the Cedar Rapids-Waterloo-Dubuque market) in a newly-built ballfield […]
Kasper shifts from the North Side to the South Side in a new role In a stunning move first reported by The Athletic late Thursday evening, Cubs play-by-play man Len Kasper signed a deal with the crosstown Chicago White Sox, leaving the North Siders after sixteen seasons. The move was officially announced Friday morning by the White Sox and their […]
Team returns to WMVP in new three-year deal After a turbulent last few weeks after the team announced the return of 76-year old Tony LaRussa as manager, the Chicago White Sox announced another retro signing – a return to WMVP-AM, branded as ESPN 1000. The last time you heard them on ESPN 1000, they became World Series Champs. The next […]
Also: Fox32/My50 goes up Schitt’s Creek; stunning fall from the top for The Mix; ABC closes Grand Hotel As expected, Dish has pulled the plug on NBC Sports Chicago October 1 as the satellite carrier continues to make life miserable for content providers – and subscribers. With the Cubs leaving the partnership effective October 1 for new upstart Marquee, new […]
WGN sports vanishes after a 71 year run Saturday night marked an end of an era as WGN-TV aired its final sports telecast featuring a game between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox. Many memorable moments were carried by WGN from Sammy Sosa hitting his 62nd home run to Mark McGuire’s 70th; from Ernie Banks’ 500th home run to […]
Also: No Blackhawks games on free TV next season; WCIU launches new “CW 26” website and fall schedule; CBS 2 returns to DirecTV. For the first time in its history, The Drive sits on top of the Chicago radio world. The Hubbard-owned station also known as WDRV-FM finished first in the latest Chicago radio PPM rankings spanning from mid-June to […]
ABC expands summer game show slate as game shows regain traction in popular culture Over the last few weeks, Jeopardy was dominating the headlines with James Holzhauer’s amazing winning streak earning over $2 million over his run, helping earn the show’s highest ratings in years. And though Jeopardy never really went away, the game show genre has had its ups […]
Toronto Raptors clinch title, but ratings down as expected south of the 49th parallel T Dog Media nearly hits viewership projection on target The Toronto Raptors clinched their first NBA title last week, but for ABC and ESPN, they weren’t exactly celebrating. But in Canada, Bell and Rogers were popping champagne corks and partying with the Raptors. Nielsen ratings show […]
Also: WLS-AM announces new PD; WBBM reigns supreme; New York’s WPIX sold One of Chicago’s prominent sports radio hosts has a new contract – and a new weekday slot. Longtime WSCR-AM (The Score) veteran Laurence Holmes is getting his own midday slot weekdays from noon to 2 p.m., beginning March 28 – coinciding with the start of the baseball season. […]
News comes as NBA ratings also slide If NBC Sports Chicago hopes to continue getting around $4.40 per subscriber fee once the Cubs depart for their own regional sports network, Chicago’s NBA team might want to improve – and fast. Ratings released at the All-Star break for NBA teams show the Bulls sitting among the lower tier of NBA teams, […]
Controversial broadcaster to run local baseball team’s new network; officially ends relationship with WGN-TV after seven decades Sinclair Broadcasting failed to get Chicago’s WGN-TV, but they were able to snare the next best institution in the Windy City. In a deal speculated since December, the Chicago Cubs announced Wednesday they were launching a new regional sports network named Marquee with […]
Also: Bulls, Blackhawks ratings continue to drop; don’t expect an announcement on a new Cubs network anytime soon. NBC Sports Chicago announced Thursday it has hired Kevin Cross as senior vice president and general manager of the regional sports network (RSN). He take a position once filled by Phil Bedella, who left in May 2017. He’ll report to NBC Sports […]
New entity not interested in reacquiring regional sports networks In a setback for Disney, “New Fox”, the entity formed after the bulk of the original 21st Century Fox was sold to the company, said in a filing Friday it has no plans to re-purchase the 22 regional sports networks, or RSNs put up for sale as part of the deal. […]
Deal calls for exclusive rights for all regular season, non-network games plus multi-platform streaming rights WGN likely loses rights After weeks of speculation, Comcast Corp.’s NBC Sports Chicago announced Wednesday it has struck a multi-year deal to continue carry Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Bulls, and Chicago White Sox games well into the next decade beginning in October. The new pact reportedly […]
Year marked by scandals, futility, and other things 2018 wasn’t exactly a repeat of the last two horrendous years in the media world, but scandals and deceit still ruled the roost. Though not topping 2017’s Disney-Fox deal, 2018 had some mega transactions – though the second-biggest merger of 2017 went bust as Sinclair Broadcasting’s $4 billion deal to buy Tribune […]