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. […]
Also: Sun-Times sees ownership shift; AAF ends its run quickly; Pickler & Ben to exit The bible thumpers strike again: Beginning Monday, Fox Valley-based WFXF-FM – better known as The Fox 103.9 – will turn the keys over to the Educational Media Foundation (EMF) as the station flips from Classic Rock to Christian Music. As a result, the station’s on-air […]
News comes as NBA ratings also slide If NBC Sports Chicago hopes to continue getting around $4.40 per subscriber fee once the Cubs depart for their own regional sports network, Chicago’s NBA team might want to improve – and fast. Ratings released at the All-Star break for NBA teams show the Bulls sitting among the lower tier of NBA teams, […]
Also: NCIS: New Orleans sold to TNT The first of Dick Wolf’s three Chicago procedural dramas is heading to broadcast syndication. NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution announced Monday it struck a deal to sell reruns of Chicago P.D. as a weekday strip to Fox-owned stations in eleven markets, for a September 2018 start. The deal includes Chicago’s Fox-owned CW affiliate WPWR-TV, […]
Discussion on Chicago violence draws over a million viewers; also, news on CBS, The Bulls, and Big Bang As gun violence continues to plague Chicago, the national spotlight on the city isn’t dimming anytime soon with MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes the latest television program to come here to discuss the issue. Despite a last-minute scheduling change (originally scheduled […]
Also: Conviction canceled, becomes first casualty; NFL ratings continue to decline; WLIT to flip to Christmas music Thursday; PlaysttionVue drops Viacom channels Fresh after a bruising election season, Chicago radio listeners are going to subjected to a half-hour with Mayor Rahm Emanuel – whether they like it or not. On Monday, over 40 radio stations in the Chicago area are airing a half-hour interview […]
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 […]
Rose, Kane injuries could have local and national ratings impact Like in golf, Chicago sports fans would like a mulligan and start 2015 all over again. After a fall season of horrendous Bears football, Chicagoans spent the early part of 2015 turning their focus toward the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks, who were […]
Chicago-produced hip-hop drama is city’s top-rated show Despite its New York setting, Chicago is becoming Empire’s kind of town. While the locally-shot Fox drama is showing unprecedented ratings growth (at least in this day and age), more and more Chicago viewers can’t get enough of the Lyons. In a ratings report as part of an overall look at the Chicago market […]
– Sun-Times reverses decision on endorsements – Premiere week shows cool off, but Jane The Virgin and Criestla debut to respectable numbers with cancellations coming from other places – Florida Panthers attendance woes * Fox announced Friday morning it had a new affiliation deal with Tribune Broadcasting’s KCPQ, but with a few catches – the deal only runs through July 2018 and […]
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. […]
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 […]
– Meredith Vieira off to so-so ratings start – Utopia falls out of the gate – Bulls release 2014-15 TV schedule – Despite the troubles of the Chicago Bears and the NFL in general, ratings for pro football continue strong. The season’s first game featuring the Bears and the Buffalo Bills drew a 30.3 household rating locally for Fox, with viewers sticking […]
– The other shoe has dropped: Craig Ferguson announced Monday he was stepping down as host of CBS’ Late Late Show, effective at the end of 2014. The news comes as David Letterman (who is the executive producer of the show and controls the 11:35 p.m. weeknight time slot), announced his retirement three weeks ago. With this move, he also […]
* The first shot has been fired in the Chicago’s new sports-talk wars: Robert Feder reports that Tribune’s new Game has stolen Ben Finfer away from CBS’ The Score (WSCR), where he’ll serve as producer – but also as show host, being paired with David Kaplan at Noon and then joins Alex Quigley and Howard Griffith from 1-3 p.m. Finfer […]