– The Chicago Sky has signed a TV deal with Weigel’s WWME-TV to carry eight games this summer. The WNBA Team previously had those games on sister station WCIU-TV. Of note is the June 3 game against the Los Angeles Sparks, which features former Naperville hoops star Cadence Parker. -Phil Donahue is returning to the home that made him famous […]
Three Tribune-owned stations – WGN-TV in Chicago, WPIX-TV in New York, and KDAF-TV in Dallas have signed deals with bilingual digital network LATV. The Hispanic-targeted network is landing on one of the digital subchannels of each of the three stations. LATV replaces The Tube on these channels, which ceased operations last September. With the new adds, LATV now airs on […]
Good thing you didn’t take my advice. Yours truly did watch WGN’s celebration and it turned out to be well done. Jim Belushi actually did a decent job of hosting (yes, I’m surprised myself) – though he was a little wooden. Personally, I would’ve preferred Dean Richards or Bill Murray, but Belushi did an alright job. (This blog praising Jim […]
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 […]
The Chicago Blackhawks announced on Tuesday that the team’s entire 82-game schedule will be shown on television. And this is not – I repeat, not – an April Fool’s joke. The Blackhawks signed a deal with WGN-TV on Tuesday, making 20 or so games available to the Tribune-owned station, marking the first time since 1980 games have been made available […]
Longtime WGN-TV anchor Allison Payne returns to the anchor chair at 9 p.m. beginning on Monday after suffering a series of mini-strokes that has kept her off the air for the last three months.
Another hiring to report (now that’s more like it…) The Tribune Co. has hired radio veteran Sean Compton to senior VP of programming and entertainment for the 23-station Tribune group, which includes WGN-TV. Compton replaces Marc Schacher, who is stepping down after 29 years with the company. Schacher was behind the Tribune group purchases of programs such as Friends, Two […]
A big news anchor shakeup is in the works at Chicago’s TV news stations. The ball got rolling last week when Mark Supplesa abruptly left WFLD-TV after rejecting a contract offer. In Feder’s column today, he put in all in perspective, with several high-profile names involved in play: – Diann Burns of WBBM-Channel 2 may lose her 10 p.m. anchor […]
Affiliates – who depend on their network’s prime-time programs to draw viewers to their late newscasts – suffered ratings declines during the just-concluded February sweeps as the writer’s strike forced the networks into reruns and were forced to air less-appealing reality shows. Judging by the few markets available for review, NBC affiliates seemed to be affected less, thanks to a […]
The CW may be tanking, but Tribune’s WGN-TV is thriving – its morning show ranked number one in the daypart (second item), besting ABC-owned WLS-TV in the recently concluded February book from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. – though it tied WLS at 6 a.m. Meanwhile, not even the presence of American Idol and the Super Bowl has helped Fox-owned […]
CBS Television Distribution’s Everybody Loves Raymond will soon get an upgrade to high-definition. Beginning March 17, all 210 episodes of Raymond will be available to air in high-definition. The program started shooting in high definition in 1999, so the series first three seasons are being converted to HD, with series creator Phillip Rosenthal supervising the process. The move is timed […]
Syndication veteran Ed Wilson has been named the new president of Tribune Broadcasting. In his new role, Wilson will oversee Tribune’s 23 TV stations (including WGN-TV), as well as WGN Superstation, WGN Radio, and ad-sales company Tribune Entertainment. He comes over from Fox, where he was president of the network. Wilson began his career in sales at Viacom in 1980 […]
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 […]
Wishing a speedy recovery to two on-air personalities: WGN’s Allison Payne, who has been kept off the air due to a series of “mini-strokes”, and to Pardon the Interruption host and Washington Post sportswriter Michael Wilbon, who suffered a mild heart attack over the weekend. To each, get well soon. Updated at 2:30 p.m. (added link to Wilbon story)
The latest from the convention: – In a coup for small syndie Program Partners, the company signed Marie Osmond to host a one-hour talk show strip for fall 2009. Marie Osmond last co-hosted a talk show with her brother Donny back in the late ’90’s for Sony. – MGM has decided to bring back Gladiators 2000, a teen-oriented game show […]
ABC ABC-Owned Stations ABC 7 Chicago American Idol CBS CBS Chicago CBS Media Ventures CBS News And Stations Chicago Bears Chicago Blackhawks Chicago Bulls Chicago Cubs Chicago White Sox ESPN Family Guy FCC Fox Fox 32 Fox Television Stations Los Angeles Milwaukee NBC NBC 5 NBC Owned Television Stations NBCUniversal Syndication Studios New York City Nexstar Media Group Radio Ratings Sinclair Inc. Syndication The Big Bang Theory The CW The Simpsons Tribune Media Warner Bros. WBBM-TV Chicago WCIU Chicago WFLD Chicago WGN-TV Chicago WGN Radio WLS-AM Chicago WLS-TV Chicago WMAQ Chicago WPWR Chicago