The CW shifts to WPWR from WGN this week

Affiliation move takes low-key approach Chicago’s first affiliation change in over 20 years takes place this week as CW moves from Tribune-owned WGN-TV to Fox-owned WPWR-TV. The change marks WGN’s return to independent status for the first time since 1995, when the station joined the then-new WB network (which merged with UPN in 2006 to form The CW.) Meanwhile, WPWR becomes […]

Chicago stations to expand afternoon newscasts

    Early fringe newscasts at WMAQ, WFLD on tap Like it or not Chicagoans, get ready for more newscasts in the afternoon. As first reported by Robert Feder Monday, NBC-owned WMAQ is expected to launch a 4 p.m. newscast later this summer. WMAQ would compete with WLS-TV and WGN-TV in the time slot, with each station having a newscast […]

Syndication 2016: Yawn.

Outside of Harry Connick Jr., there’s practically nothing on the market Looking for something new for the fall of 2016 in syndication? Good luck. That’s the consensus as the 2016 market has come to a crawl. Outside of NBCUniversal, who is marketing Harry Connick Jr.’s show this fall and Entertainment Studios pushing a new one-hour panel talk show, syndicators are […]

Boston’s WHDH loses NBC affiliation

In market’s fourth affiliation change, NBCUniversal to move affiliation to WNEU-TV WHDH owner Ed Ansin promises fight Politicians question move In a bold move, Comcast Corp. announced Thursday it is launching a new NBC-owned and-operated station in Boston, the nation’s eighth-largest market approximately a year from now. NBC plans to move its affiliation to Telemundo affiliate WNEU-TV (Channel 60), a […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: WMAQ may add more news

Formerly known as T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag, T Dog’s Grab Bag and The Grab Bag and maybe 100 other ridiculous names – Is WMAQ looking to add a 4 p.m. newscast? A report on FTVLive.com Monday suggests several NBC-owned stations may be looking to add another hour of news at 4 p.m. in 2016 in order to take advantage […]

“American Idol” bleeds African-American viewers

But the series is renewed for a 14th season A year ago, T Dog Media examined American Idol’s ratings among African-American viewers. So let’s check in to see how the show is doing in black households this year. For the week ending April 20, the Wednesday night edition of Idol finished in seventeenth place with a 4.4 rating, down considerably from the 10.3 […]

Local ratings box: WLS-TV returns to dominance at 10

– WLS-TV returns to the top of the late news heap – American Idol continues to slide With the Olympics over and done with, normal viewing patterns have resumed – good news for ABC-owned WLS-TV, which saw its 10 p.m. news dominance temporarily usurped by NBC-owned WMAQ. In March, WLS returned to the top spot at 10 with a 9.0 […]

Fox, FX gobble up two days of Winter Press Tour

Fox and its cable sibling FX Networks took the Monday and Tuesday sessions of The Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour. Fox began its Monday at TCA with network president Kevin Reilly addressing the troops. He defended moving Bones to Fridays and said the cast is in discussions for a tenth and likely final season. Reilly also went to bat […]

2014: A look ahead

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 […]

TCA: NBCUniversal unveils many big projects

The Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour kicked off last week from Pasadena, Calif. and up first among the Big Media companies were the networks of Comcast/NBCUniversal, which includes Bravo, E!, and NBC itself. This portion covers two days (Friday and Saturday), and what’s listed here is not listed chronologically, but by order of network: NBC – The fourth-place network’s […]