The Media Notepad: NBC 5’s Andy Avalos retires; Alicia Roman promoted to morning shift

Also: Young Sheldon adds TBS home; Rick Dees becomes voice of RewindTV; Dish and Sinclair avoid blackouts – for now  Veteran meteorologist Andy Avalos announced his retirement on Friday after 33 years on Chicago television. Starting on August 30, fellow NBC 5 (WMAQ) meteorologist Alicia Roman is taking over Avalos’ spot on the morning newscast from 4-7 a.m. She’s been […]

NHL rights: NBC’s out, Turner’s in

Surprise bid from WarnerMedia subsidiary ends NBC’s 16-year run In a surprise no one saw coming, WarnerMedia’s Turner Sports skated away with the remaining NHL package in a deal officially announced Tuesday by outbidding NBCUniversal and Fox Sports, one of two put up for bids recently by the league with ESPN and ABC acquiring the other portion several weeks ago.  […]

Bears, Cubs rule Monday evening

Bears game up in the ratings from last MNF appearance  The Bears MVP: Luke Skywalker? Monday was a great day for Chicago sports fans as the Cubs and Bears played in meaningful games. The Cubs played Game 3 of the National League Divisional Series between the Cubs and the Washington Nationals and the Bears played the Minnesota Vikings on Monday […]

Wednesday ratings roundup: Cubs clincher also a win in ratings

Empire tops in national ratings (Editor’s Note: Excluding the Cubs number, these are final adults 18-49 ratings.)  While yours truly should talk about Wednesday night’s prime-time ratings race, you can’t ignore the fact the Chicago Cubs’ return to the postseason is going to have an impact on the broadcast networks. TBS is happy given they have rights to the NLDS […]

Victory is ours: “Big Bang Theory” secures two-year renewal deal

Deal with CBS takes sitcom to 2019; becomes longest-running sitcom in network’s history…and two cast members get a significant raise More Bazinga ahead: CBS has renewed The Big Bang Theory for two more seasons at 24 episodes each, through the end of the 2018-19 season. This brings the episode count to 279 over twelve seasons. Big Bang now joins an […]

AT&T, TimeWarner propose merger

AT&T to purchase TimeWarner for $85 billion Opponents to deal already lining up Bugs Bunny, Sheldon Cooper, and Scooby Doo are getting ready to reach out and touch someone – a lot of people, that is. While Chicago and the rest of America (except in the St. Louis area) was busy celebrating the Cubs’ advancing to the World Series for […]

Second Presidential Debate draws less than the first

Viewers may be getting tired of rhetoric Are you tired of hearing that racist, sexiest, woman-groping, Chicago-hating, wannabe rapist running as the Republican nominee for President? Yours truly know he is. And so are millions of Americans. Sunday night’s second debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump drew 66 million viewers, down from the record 84 million the first had on […]

Cubs-Mets score for Turner Sports

Chicago ratings go on a roller coaster ride; ratings drop for fourth game  The Chicago Cubs may have been swept out of the playoffs by the New York Mets, but Turner Sports was really the big winner in the series. The National League Championship Series between teams from two of the largest markets in the country brought in a record […]

CBS cancels “The Millers”

The sophomore season’s surprise cancellation leaves the sitcom genre in a tailspin In a surprise move, CBS on Friday canceled The Millers just five episodes into its second season. The multi-cam comedy, which had The Big Bang Theory as a lead-in on Thursday night last season, recently made a disastrous move to Monday. Replacing The Millers in its Monday time […]

NBA re-ups with ESPN, Turner

Fox shut out of rights The NBA maintained the status quo when it came to the league’s television rights as both Turner Sports and ESPN renewed their respective deals for a whopping nine years, bringing in a total of $24 billion, with yearly payments increasing from $930 million to just over $2.6 billion a year, according to the New York Times. […]

Craig Ferguson in talks to land new talk show – in prime access

According to Variety, Craig Ferguson is in “advanced talks” to host a new talk show produced by Tribune Media. But instead of the show being targeted for daytime, early fringe, or late night time slots, which usually is the case for most programs in this genre, Ferguson’s show would be targeted to prime access, generally 6-8 p.m., depending on what […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: WLS-AM fined by FCC

News briefs from Chicago and beyond: – Cumulus-owned WLS-AM has been fined $44,000 from the Federal Communications Commission for failing to disclose eleven news items it broadcast were advertisements.  The “news items” aired on WLS between March and May 2009 (during the ownership reign of Citadel, Inc.), for Workers Independent News, who pretended to interview a local politician. Workers failed […]

“Simpsons” make serious “D’oh” with new cable deal

Twentieth Television sells to corporate sibling FXX for an estimated $750 million-$1 billion For fans eager for more Simpsons beyond the offerings on Fox and in broadcast syndication, finally some good news – but it comes with some strings attached. After two decades, The Simpsons are finally coming to cable in a $750-$1 billion mega deal with recently-launched FXX, 21st […]

“Scandal” remains red hot

Super Fun Night has Super Fun ratings Crazy Ones decline; NBC Thursday sitcom block flops Judging by all the viewing parties held nationwide for this show (yours truly even got an invitation to one,) you’d think Scandal would be the hottest thing since the advent of the pancake. You’d be right. Scandal skyrocketed in popularity over the past year thanks […]