CBSN to expand to other markets, including Chicago

Local news streaming service to be based out of CBS 2 Chicago is about to get its first local news streaming service. As announced on Thursday, CBS Television Stations and CBS Interactive announced an expansion of their local news streaming service to Chicago and twelve other cities, with content provided by CBS owned-and-operated stations in those markets. Modeled after CBS’ […]

21st Century Fox to buy Sinclair stations

Fox re-purchases three stations; Chicago’s WPWR could switch owners as a result Exactly a year after Sinclair Broadcasting announced its purchase of Tribune Media, the Hunt Valley, Md. company announced Wednesdaya the sale of seven Fox affiliates from the deal to 21st Century Fox. Of the seven, three Fox are re-purchasing: KDVR in Denver; WJW in Cleveland; and KSTU in […]

Sinclair amends Tribune deal…again

Would keep WPIX New York but spin-off WGN to an LLC Maybe the fourth time’s the charm: Hunt Valley, Md. based Sinclair Broadcasting has filed another amended proposal to purchase Tribune Media. In their new filing with the FCC, Sinclair is proposing to sell 23 stations in 18 markets in order to satisfy the broadcast ownership rules. In the new […]

DMA Report: Chicago, other big markets losing households

New DMA rankings show large markets losing population Chicago, San Diego, Indianapolis big losers; Nashville, Portland big gainers An analysis of the 2017-18 Nielsen designated market area (DMA) television household rankings shows a shift in population away from the top markets of New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago to other DMAs while other big markets such as Washington D.C., Houston, […]

NBA Finals score highest ratings in nineteen years

Third straight Warriors-Cavs matchup sends viewers through the entrances Despite a few games in boring blowout territory, the 2017 NBA Finals matchup between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers drew the highest ratings for a NBA Finals matchup in nineteen years. According to Nielsen, the series drew  20.4 million viewers – the most on average since 1998 when […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: Good ratings start for APB – but not creatively

Also: The End for Sacramento’s KDND;  ‘The Insider’ canceled; WIND-AM’s Joe Walsh goes national  The latest crime procedural based (and filmed) in Chicago debuted Monday night with Fox’s APB, starring Justin Kirk. The premise: after losing a friend to an armed robbery at a liquor store, millionaire Gideon Reeves (Kirk) decides to take over the high-crime 13th police district using high-tech […]

Entercom merges with CBS Radio

Seven Chicago radio stations under new ownership In a deal which marks the first under the FCC chairmanship of Ajit Pai, CBS Radio announced Thursday morning it was merging its station group to Philadelphia-based Entrecom Communications for $1.7 billion. The merger creates a new mega-station group, with 244 stations nationwide and in 23 of the top 25 radio markets. When the […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: Gannett pulls plug on merger with Tronc

  The proposed merger between Gannett and Tronc is now off the table. Gannett announced Tuesday it would no longer pursue a merger between the two, due to bankers pulling hteir money from the deal. Merger talks between the two was going at a snail’s pace . By comparison, the AT&T-TimeWarner proposed merger took just two days to get together. The […]

T Dog”s Media Notepad: Introducing MeTV Music

WCIU to air Bears game Monday night MeTV launches Internet stream Chi-Town Rising gets another run Tribune renews Fox affiliations in six markets As first reported by Robert Feder Monday, Weigel’s MeTV is launching a separate Internet stream of its terrestrial radio station at WRME-LP (87.7 FM). “MeTV Music brings back so many of the artists and songs that terrestrial radio has […]

Think Tank Express: Radio…The Chicago Way

WLUP contest a scam? Nah. That’s the way things are done in the C-H-I.  Only in Chicago where someone achieves a zero rating on a TV show and gets a radio deal. Yours truly is talking about human repellent Mancow Mueller, whose recent WPWR show failed to find an audience and somehow managed to snare a deal with Cumulus-run WLUP-FM […]

Dahl: WGN Radio “the worst”

Dahl calls out Tribune Media station in a rant. Too bad its something Chicago radio listeners already know. A T Dog Media Think Tank [Editor’s Note: contains strong language. Reader discretion is advised.] Last week, viewers flocked back to their television sets as the new fall season began, with new high-profile programs and a strong lineup of above-quality shows which […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Syndication special

Also: WLS-TV dominates November ratings With the NATPE gathering just weeks away, syndicators are gearing up their sales teams to pitch new projects for the fall of 2014, including Celebrity Name Game (see below) and The Real – both recently receiving “firm gos”. Several freshman and sophomore series are on the bubble including Queen Latifah, The Arsenio Hall Show, Katie, […]

Tribune buys Local TV LLC for $2.7 billion

    Tribune adds stations from Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Memphis to its stable About a year or so ago, there was speculation on whether or not Tribune Broadcasting, planning to exit Chapter 11, would stay in the broadcast business. Consider this a definite answer. Chicago-based Tribune announced Monday it was acquiring Newport, Ky.-based Local TV LLC for $2.7 billion. The […]

Confirmed: “Queen Latifah” to CBS 2… and WCIU

As reported here and on other trade sites last week, Queen Latifah’s return to daytime TV snared its first major deal with Sony Pictures Television: CBS’ owned and operated TV stations signed on for the show in sixteen markets. According to an article in Broadcasting & Cable last Monday, Latifah’s show will in fact, be shown on WBBM-TV next fall, […]