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The Future of WGN America


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One has to wonder why Disney just doesn't sue Robertson to get the clauses removed or something; after all, Disney is WAY more powerful than Robertson, so they could easily sue him into nonexistence (it's surprising that he's retained his power base as long as he has, considering the age of televangelism has long since ended; it pretty much went out with Reagan).

 

Disney could just shut down ABC Family and launch a new network to free itself from the stipulations, but that would require new carriage agreements but they probably have the leverage to do that if they tied it into carriage of ESPN or ABC O&Os

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I never knew about the whole ABC Family drama and the dissent to Pat Robertson, I thought they knew what they were getting when they took it out of Fox's hands (who had to agree to his terms when they bought the ch.)

 

Not too familiar with the national WGN. I just got WGNA on my Comcast system in the recent days. Tried to find their local news, and apparently its non existent on the lineup.

 

I think if anything Tribune should look at doing the Superstation format again and try work around those silly Syndex laws. Recently it came to me that channels need to separate themselves to the competition. All of the cable channels are mostly the same crap different number, so why could WGN just separate themselves and theme the network around Chicago, perhaps run one local newscast a day and maybe the 9 O Clock be national themed? Hey BBC America kinda does this, Americanized programming but British news in the morning - not remotely a wacky idea, right?

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  • 2 weeks later...

One has to wonder why Disney just doesn't sue Robertson to get the clauses removed or something; after all, Disney is WAY more powerful than Robertson, so they could easily sue him into nonexistence (it's surprising that he's retained his power base as long as he has, considering the age of televangelism has long since ended; it pretty much went out with Reagan).

I doubt it. For one, it was Haim Saban and Fox that effectively created the mess when they bought The Family Channel. And Michael Eisner fell on the sword within Disney corporate; his dismissal a few years later had a lot to do with this. They are probably playing out the string until Pat dies and/or CBN simply winds down operations.

 

True, Disney could shut down ABC Family and start a new network from scratch. But it's probably VERY low on the priority list for The Walt Disney Company.

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I doubt it. For one, it was Haim Saban and Fox that effectively created the mess when they bought The Family Channel. And Michael Eisner fell on the sword within Disney corporate; his dismissal a few years later had a lot to do with this. They are probably playing out the string until Pat dies and/or CBN simply winds down operations.

 

True, Disney could shut down ABC Family and start a new network from scratch. But it's probably VERY low on the priority list for The Walt Disney Company.

 

Make it ABC is VERY low on The Walt Disney Company's priority list.

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