Sports business program already cleared in 85 percent of the country In a first-of-its-kind programming venture, Front Office Sports, a sports business publication owned by Redbird IMI, is launching a nightly, half-hour syndicated strip called Front Office Sports Tonight, already clearing 85 percent of the country with the Fox owned-and-operated stations as the main launch group, debuting September 14. The […]
Also: So long My50…again; “Wheel”, “Drew” off to strong ratings start; ABC 7 promotes Nwosu to marketing position While NBC Sports’ other RSNs are preparing for the future, NBC Sports Chicago is ending its 20-year run Monday – but not quietly as the station plans to air over 36 hours of live and past content Sunday, celebrating its time on […]
New TV era means a new way of doing business Back in the late 1980s when cable TV was growing, a big deal was made about syndicated exclusively, or “syndex” as local broadcasters complained about national “superstations” such as WWOR-TV in New York and WGN-TV in Chicago draining rating points from their programs. And so, on January 1, 1990, […]
Also: Jennifer Hudson, Sherri Sheppard start off well; Clippers return to broadcast TV in L.A. We won’t go into this as much as we did in previous years when the Bears and Packers play in primetime as what has been said about this…has already been said. The Chicago team’s 27-10 loss to Green Bay drew 20.8 million viewers across NBC, […]
Drastically different schedules begins today (Editor’s Note: This post was updated on September 17.) There are a ton of changes in television outside of prime-time with the new season beginning today. For one, there is no more Ellen DeGeneres as she danced off the stage last spring while Maury Povich and his paternity tests retired to Florida, leaving us with […]
Longtime cultural icon passes just two and a half weeks before she turned 100 In a week filled with devasting deaths, here’s another one: Betty White – a beloved television icon and wonderful all-around person, died Friday, December 31 at the age of 99 – just two and a half weeks before she was to turn 100 on January 17. […]
Canadian sitcom makes history by sweeping Emmy Awards– Half-hour sitcoms are (or were) the bedrock of the television industry here in the United States, but in Canada…it’s a completely different story. The only sitcom from the Great White North to even come close to being a global hit was in the mid-1980s when Check It Out!, a sitcom taped in […]
Iconic television personality dies at 88 Television fans are mourning the loss of Regis Philbin, who was one of the most beloved hosts in the medium. Not only he successfully re-invented morning television with his Live franchise with Kathie Lee Gifford and later Kelly Ripa, but also “saved ABC” as host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. He holds […]
Also: Amy Jacobson gets her press cred back; WGN Radio may bring back Garry Meier; NewsNation hires Joe Donlon and two WGN-TV vets [Editor’s Note: This post was updated on June 27 at 8:50 p.m.] In a move not unexpected, local stations have dropped episodes of Cops and Live PD: Police Patrol from their schedules as protests have flared across […]
Premiere is highest-rated of the season A few weeks ago, a writer from Mediapost said the return of American Idol on ABC “saved” the television industry. He might want to revise his article. In stunning news, the revival of Roseanne won big time in the ratings for ABC – averaging a 5.2 rating in the adults 18-49 demo for ABC […]
Interest in genre explodes as off-net debut puts up strong numbers When the news was announced Dateline NBC reruns were being sold into broadcast syndication, the idea was…laughable. After all, since Cops broke the mold in 1992 and became the first reality show to be sold into off-network syndication, others came along and weren’t exactly successful (Rescue 911, Top Cops, […]
Also: Bears renew local deal with Fox; My Network TV also renews; “MeToo’s” odd connection to Chicago TV Despite defending their World Series title from last year, ratings for prime-time Cubs games declined last year, according to a report in Forbes. The Cubs earned a 4.4 Nielsen household rating, down 9 percent from last year. Forbes did not specify […]
Game against Eagles last Sunday was shoved onto little-watched outlet in Los Angeles. The Chargers’ move to Los Angeles from San Diego couldn’t have been more disastrous. Game three into this experiment, and the Chargers are only drawing around 25,000 fans per game in the 30,000-seat StubHub Center, a soccer stadium in south suburban Carson, Calif., thirteen miles south of […]
Rachael Ray returns to WGN; “Mom” gets the shaft in top markets (Editor’s Note: Hurricane Irma coverage may impact the debut of shows in some areas.) The 2017-18 television season doesn’t begin until September 25, but outside of primetime, new programming and schedule changes are occurring as soon as Monday. The biggest news is the debut of Steve Harvey’s new […]
A hate crime video shot live on Facebook has stations debating the use of such content In a city whose news stations are accustomed to airing gruesome video and reporting on daily shootings and murders, even this was too much to take. Chicago’s five television newsrooms were debating earlier this month on whether or not repeated airings of a disabled […]
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