The Academy Awards shifts from ABC to YouTube

Stunning deal builds streaming’s clout and is a huge blow to linear TV In a stunning deal with The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – and one that could be the death knell to linear TV, Google’s YouTube – yes, the video portal where you can watch anything from cat videos to old commercials, has landed the Oscars […]

NBCUniversal, YouTubeTV reach long-term agreement

Covers cable channels being spun off to Versant, is relaunching NBCSN  A day after reaching a short-term extension to stay on Google’s YouTubeTV, NBCUniversal announced a new long-term deal, which includes NBC, its owned stations, Bravo, Telemundo, and the soon-to-be spun-off cable channels to Versant: CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, SyFy, and others. Also included are NBC’s four regional sports network channels […]

The Media Notepad: WBBM Newsradio names Craig Schwalb news director

Also: Mayoral debates scheduled; CBS-owned stations to rebrand news properties Audacy’s all-news WBBM-AM/WCFS-FM announced last week the hire of Craig Schwalb as brand manager and news director of the station effective January 23. He succeeds Ron Gleason, who retired last month.  Schwalb comes from Hubbard’s dominant all-news station WTOP in Washington, D.C., a station who typically leads the country in […]

Google lands NFL Sunday Ticket

Package was last NFL property still out on open market; heads to YouTube TV After 29 seasons on DirecTV, NFL Sunday Ticket is on the move. Google and the NFL announced an agreement Thursday with the tech giant acquiring the out-of-market package of games for an estimated $2 billion as an add-on option to existing YouTube TV subscriptions and a-la-carte […]

Election 2018: Your viewer and listener guide

Hot-button issues drives viewers to the polls – and election coverage Election night on Tuesday is going to be like Christmas morning for news organizations as viewers are expected to tune in enmasse for the results. In the past, viewers barely tuned into election night as races weren’t exciting or the outcome was expected (re: the 1984 and 1996 Presidential […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” renewed – but how?

Renewal of low-rated ABC action drama would not be possible if the network’s parent company didn’t own the show – and it may be a harbinger for things to come regarding network television On the surface, the weak ratings for ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD should have earned the series its cancellation stripes – but didn’t. Why? A few weeks ago, […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: B’s rule

News on Blackhawks; Bob’s Burgers, and Bethenny Frankel. Oh, and the soda tax is dead. Are you ready for some hockey? Chicagoans sure are. Thursday night’s home opener against the Stanley Cup-defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins drew a eye-opening 5.1 Nielsen household rating for the newly renamed NBC Sports Chicago channel (formerly CSN Chicago). The number is impressive given the amount […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Alternative rock returns to 101.1

It’s official: the alternative rock format, which vanished from the 101.1 frequency in 2011 after Merlin Media took over, returned Friday morning at 9 a.m. prompt, simulcasting sister station WKQX/87.7 FM for a period of 30-45 days.  The move came a week after Cumulus announced it was taking over operations of three Merlin Media stations in Chicago. According to Radio […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Blackhawks slipping back to old ways?

An update to Friday’s story regarding Susannah Collins: As speculated, Collins’ firing was indeed ordered by Blackhawks’ owner Rocky Wirtz who, according to Robert Channick of the Chicago Tribune Saturday, sent a letter to CSN Chicago, showing his concern about those SportsNutz videos she was in during 2009 and 2010. The copy of the letter was cc’ed to Jerry Reinsdorf […]

Comcast SportsNet Chicago cuts Susannah Collins

Comcast Sportsnet Chicago sideline reporter Susannah Collins was released from her position Thursday night after just eight months on the job, reports Robert Channick of the Chicago Tribune. In a moment that would’ve made Dick Clark and Ed McMahon proud (and would’ve make TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes), Collins made a notable on-air flub during the first intermission of a […]

Welcome to Comic-Con

It’s finally here! On Thursday, the 43rd annual Comic-Con kicked off Thursday in San Diego. Once held in a basement of a downtown hotel, Comic-Con expanded over the decades and now takes place at the city’s convention center. Certainly, Comic-Con is a far better and more enjoyable experience to cover than some overrated, overblown, overhyped, and over-covered event that took […]

T Dog Media is now on Facebook and YouTube

Break out the Dr. Peppers! After a long wait, T Dog Media is now on Facebook and YouTube. The T Dog Media page on Facebook was launched quietly on June 21, as a sub-page of my personal account. Most posts you see on T Dog Media will be posted on the Facebook page – in addition to some exclusive content […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Four thoughts – one column

(Editor’s Note: The original version of this post stated that the Chicago White Sox had a nine-game LOSING streak when in fact, they had a nine-game WINNING streak. T Dog Media regrets the error and apologizes. This also makes yours truly qualified to work in the Los Angeles news media, where I can botch up names of Los Angeles Kings’ […]

ABC unveils 2012-13 schedule

ABC’s 2012-13 campaign has changes on four nights in a schedule released Tuesday morning before its upfront presentation later in the afternoon. (In addition, fellow Disney property ESPN also held an upfront on Tuesday. Information is at the end of the ABC analysis.) ABC plans to debut five new series this fall, with another five scheduled for midseason. Like Fox […]

T Dog’s Six Pack

Yes, T Dog’s Four Pack is back! But due to the struggling economy (ha, ha), yours truly is forced to cut one each from the winners’ pack and the losers’ pack – and merge the rest together to form T Dog’s Six Pack – three winners and three losers each in the same post – plus, Six Pack is a […]