The new syndication season begins next Monday, and its going to be tougher to launch a new show than ever before, thanks to the upcoming election and the exploding number of alternative choices available in the marketplace. There are seven new first-run strips invading the airwaves this year, but all of them will have to face competition from cable news […]
Independent WCIU-TV here in Chicago plans a tribute to the late Bernie Mac this Saturday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. (second item.) The station airs a local tribute at 5 p.m., followed by two episodes of The Bernie Mac Show at 6 p.m., and his special appearance with Rich Koz on Stooge-a-Palooza in 2006 at 7 p.m. WCIU has […]
As you’ve heard by now, Chicago comedian Bernie Mac passed away early Saturday Morning at Northwestern Memorial Hospital due to complications of pneumonia. He was 50. He has had some health problems over the years, including a bout with sarcoidosis, which went into remission in 2005. Born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough on Oct 5, 1957, Bernie Mac broke into comedy in […]
Also: RTN loses CBS programming Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting and Los Angeles-based MGM are teaming up to launch this. Yes, this. As in “This TV”. Beginning in October, MGM and Weigel plan to launch the new-digital channel, featuring classic movies and television shows from the MGM library (material that wasn’t bought by Ted Turner in the 1980’s, so no Chips, Gone […]
Mark Suppelsa, the anchor who left Fox-owned WFLD-TV last March, is rumored to join Tribune’s WGN-TV later this summer, replacing Steve Sanders alongside Allison Payne on the station’s 9 p.m. newscast. Suppelsa is technically still under contract to WFLD – the station has a right to match any offer a competitor offers until June 17. WGN is likely to make […]
But it’s no trick: WCIU-TV acquired the rights to air MTV’s Punk’d with Ashton Kutcher to strip five nights a week beginning in September from Trifecta Entertainment. The proram cleared 80 percent of the U.S. with WNYW-TV in New York and KTLA in Los Angeles also on board. This comes as Trifecta and Litton Entertainment announced a strategic partnership last […]
More cable news: Male-oriented cable network Spike has acquired the rights to air all 259 episodes of the former Fox comedy Married… With Children beginning in September in a deal worth $12 million. Married… was Fox’s first-ever prime time series (premiering on April 5, 1987), and was the first Fox sitcom to be sold in syndication. The deal with Sony […]
This dates way back when WCIU-TV carried Kids’ WB programming, and this is the price they paid for it: The Weigel-owned independent station was fined $16,500 for kids’ ad violations by the FCC, regarding Pokemon product placement on Eggo waffles and Fruit By The Foot fruit roll-ups (perhaps this is one of reasons why WCIU dropped Kids’ WB from the […]
A reminder: the new WMEU-CA, branded Me-Too is launching today at 5 a.m.The new channel is a spin-off of Me-TV (WWME-CA), which launched in 2005. WMEU is taking the place of ethnic-programmed WFBT-CA, which is switching to one of WCIU’s sub-channels. WMEU, WFBT, WWME, and WCIU are all owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Me-Too is available on broadcast analogchannel 48 (good […]
WFBT to become WMEU-TV, a.k.a Me-Too; Me-TV expands to Milwaukee; Retro TV Network arrives in Rockford, South Bend Can’t get enough of classic television? You’re not alone. In a major expansion of its digital strategy, Weigel Broadcasting announced it is scrapping ethnic-format programming at low-powered WFBT-Channel 48 and replacing it with a spin-off of its’ already successful WWME-Channel 23 (Me-TV), […]
TV Newsday’s Harry Jessell interviews Weigel Broadcasting executive Neal Sabin – the former general manager of WPWR-TV who jumped to WCIU in that same capacity in 1994 and now runs not only WCIU, but now a group of stations, including low power classic-TV formatted WWME-TV and ethnic WFBT in Chicago; and stations in Milwaukee and South Bend, Ind. Sabin talks […]
The latest from the convention: WCIU picks up Judge Penny: Independent WCIU-TV in Chicago picks up its first-ever syndicated program from Program Partners by acquiring the company’s new first-run courtroom strip Family Court with Judge Penny. The program has cleared 70 percent of the country, including Fox-owned stations in New York and Los Angeles. Additional clearances include CBS/CW stations in […]
After Warner Bros. announced on January 4 that they were releasing its content exclusively on Blu-Ray, with the possibly of Paramount joining them, leaving NBC Universal as the only studio exclusively in the HD-DVD camp. And according to the article, viewers might not want to fork over $300 for a Blu-Ray player but get downloadable HD content from Apple’s iTunes […]
Sony Pictures Television’s Judge Hatchett daytime strip will end original production after eight seasons, but instead will pitch “best of” theme weeks to TV stations for next fall. Hatchett airs locally on Fox-owned WFLD-TV. Since there are so many episodes produced of Hatchett over the years, Sony says the move makes economical sense – there are well over 1000 episodes […]
An article written in the Sun-Times today (how come Feder didn’t get a chance to write this?), mentions four call letters you’d better get reacquainted with – WPWR. Of course, Fox-owned WPWR-TV (Channel 50), a former UPN affiliate now-turned My Network TV affiliate has the Bears-Redskins game Thursday night, which is carried on NFL Network, which of course, you can’t […]
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