Also: ABC’s stations team up with Nat Geo on another water special; Spectrum says they will drop more under performing channels; Houston’s Space City Home Network launches You heard of The Mod Squad, right? Now meet The Sven Squad. Just in time for Halloween, MeTV’s Svengoolie is adding cast members for the first time. Joining the horror movie host […]
Also: WBD inching closer to exiting RSN business; WGN to air ACC Football through The CW [Editor’s Note: The second item in this post has been updated.] We have another local TV personality announcing his retirement – this time it’s Jim Rose, the longtime ABC 7 (WLS-TV) sports anchor, who announced Monday he was stepping down from the station after […]
Also: B96 hires Canavah’s replacement; Diamond Sports Group skips payments to Guardians and Twins; Extra renewed for season thirty The other shoe has dropped in Warner Bros.’ decision to exit the court genre as Marilyn Milian has signed with Allen Media Group for a new hour-long court show, Justice For The People With Judge Milan, debuting this fall. “We at […]
Impact might not be felt immediately The nation’s biggest regional sports network chain just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but of all the talk and bluster about its implosion, they actually might come out fine. Well, maybe. Bally Sports parent Diamond Sports Group entered those waters last Tuesday with the Southern District of Texas bankruptcy court as the company – […]
Latest twist in on-going saga involving regional sports networks Adding to the latest saga surrounding regional sports networks – and with weeks to go before the start of MLB season, Warner Bros. Discovery have told sports teams they’re shuttering AT&T SportsNet and asking them to reclaim their rights. March 31st is set for the closure, and if WBD can’t reach […]
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 […]
Changing marketing conditions could be factor; AT&T may be only hope If the Cubs are looking to launch their own TV network in 2020, their options are becoming quite limited. According to a report Monday in Sports Business Journal and Awful Announcing, AT&T is considering looking to add the baseball team to their portfolio of sports rights. AT&T operates a […]
This Bud’s for you – 2017 a carbon city of 2016 2016: The worst year ever. 2017: Hold my beer. Yes, you saw this type of “hold my beer” exchanges this year as 2017 turned out to be lousy as advertised. For one thing, American Idol is coming back thanks to ABC. This and host Ryan Seacrest appearing on TV […]
Also: Sinclair passes on O’Reilly; Grim reaper closing in on WYCC; World Series a ratings hit; The Twilight Zone to be rebooted. Again. Given the huge number of items making news this week, it’s time for another edition of The Media Notepad: Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is among those calling for the Sinclair-Tribune deal to be rejected. According to […]
The Cubs’ victory in game five of the World Series is not only good news for fans of the North Side team, but also to Fox, who gets another opportunity to shove new awful action series Lethal Weapon down our throats. Game five of the World Series featuring the Chicago Cubs in a do-or-die situation against the Cleveland Indians destroyed […]
First two games show massive viewership increases as Chicago viewers turn out in droves As expected, the Chicago Cubs’ appearance in the World Series gave a lift to Fox and drew throngs of viewers to Fox-owned WFLD-TV. According to Nielsen, game two of the Cubs-Indians series drew a local 35.4 live-plus-same day household rating, up from the 34.1 drew the […]
The White Sox may not have the worst record in MLB for 2015, but earned an even-worse honor. According to Sports Business Journal, the South Siders again finished dead last among all 29 U.S. teams, with a 0.8 live-plus-same day household rating on CSN Chicago, down 29 percent from 2014, where they finished 27th out of 27 teams excluding Houston […]
Don’t discount Cardinal Nation: The St. Louis Cardinals finished the just-concluded 2014 season with the highest-rated regular season average in Major League Baseball: according to Nielsen, the team drew a 7.76 average on FS Midwest. Despite the playoff-bound team’s success, this year’s rating is down 12 percent from a year ago. Finishing behind the Cardinals are the Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh […]
White Sox now dead last in TV ratings, with Cubs right behind them It’s been a tough summer for local Chicago television. First, Chicago viewers are turning off local news in greater numbers (and as a reward, we’re getting more news!) And now, they’re turning off local baseball – again – as both the Cubs and the White Sox continue […]
Grab Baggin’- * It’s like good prevailing over evil: CBS Television Distribution announced the renewal of The Arsenio Hall Show for a second season Wednesday evening, with former Tonight Show host Jay Leno delivering the news to Arsenio in person (see above.) This comes as Arsenio has the youngest median age of any late night talk show amid a recent ratings […]