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WGN America dropping Chicago Sports broadcasts


stevieboy247

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As part of its plans to convert from a superstation to a basic cable network, WGN America is dropping the broadcasts of Chicago sports teams.

 

http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2014/5/30/5765782/wgn-america-dropping-cubs-other-chicago-teams

 

Could we be seeing the possibility that this cable network conversion are hints of a Tribune broadcast network too? I don't want to speculate, but I just find this conversion rather convenient.

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All this tells me is that there's no reason to watch WGN America anymore. First they got rid of the newscasts and now this.

 

I know that WGN was out of the running for the next Cubs TV contract even before this story hit but it's sad to see such a tradition go away, even if the Cubs did suck the past few years.

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All this tells me is that there's no reason to watch WGN America anymore. First they got rid of the newscasts and now this.

 

I know that WGN was out of the running for the next Cubs TV contract even before this story hit but it's sad to see such a tradition go away, even if the Cubs did suck the past few years.

WGN-9 is still in the running for the next Cubs contract. It's WGN America that will no longer carry the Chicago sports teams.

 

Not sure why you all think WGN America is doomed! TBS started out as WTBS-TV, and still exists as WPCH-TV today despite the split with what is now known as TBS. TBS is one of the highest rated cable networks.

 

Just out of curiosity, why the obsession with watching Chicago news, on a regular basis, when you don't live in Chicago?

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WGN-9 is still in the running for the next Cubs contract. It's WGN America that will no longer carry the Chicago sports teams.

 

Not sure why you all think WGN America is doomed! TBS started out as WTBS-TV, and still exists as WPCH-TV today despite the split with what is now known as TBS. TBS is one of the highest rated cable networks.

 

Just out of curiosity, why the obsession with watching Chicago news, on a regular basis, when you don't live in Chicago?

 

Is it a requirement that one live in a particular area for him/her to be interested in the local news from there? It's been mentioned before that there are former Chicago residents (mostly the elderly) who have moved away to other areas and would watch WGN news at 9 to keep up to date on what was happening in Chicago. When Tribune pulled the 9pm news off the WGNA channel, people were pissed since they lost one of their daily connections of Chicago.

On a side note, I think Liguori is an idiot for ending the Chicago are sports on WGNA. I find it surprising that they wouldn't be able to capitalize more on ad revenue for the sports (which he uses to justify the ending of the sports on the channel). I think that he probably did all this to keep the rights fees down.

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On a side note, I think Liguori is an idiot for ending the Chicago are sports on WGNA. I find it surprising that they wouldn't be able to capitalize more on ad revenue for the sports (which he uses to justify the ending of the sports on the channel). I think that he probably did all this to keep the rights fees down.

 

I think dropping sports may be temporary until the channel is in a better position programming-wise. It is best to start from scratch sometimes, so while dropping all things 'Chicago' may be tough/harsh, in the long run, it makes financial sense. Given both the Cubs and Sox are years away from being great and with a lot of the excitement surrounding the Bulls & Blackhawks coming in the post-season, from the Tribune's pov, they're not losing out on much.

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I think dropping sports may be temporary until the channel is in a better position programming-wise. It is best to start from scratch sometimes, so while dropping all things 'Chicago' may be tough/harsh, in the long run, it makes financial sense. Given both the Cubs and Sox are years away from being great and with a lot of the excitement surrounding the Bulls & Blackhawks coming in the post-season, from the Tribune's pov, they're not losing out on much.

 

Well, unless the bubble bursts, they're going to have a hard time getting back into sports unless they are willing to pony up a chunk of change. Only time will tell what will happen with the channel.
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Probably the internet change the way how WGN broadcasts, as their FAQ....

http://wgnamerica.com/contact_us_faq

However, if WGN America really become cable networks, they would probably goes same route to TBS....Currently, TBS isn't available in Canada, and they sale rights to other Canada TV. Changing to cable would made WGN America unavailable in Canada.

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Probably the internet change the way how WGN broadcasts, as their FAQ....

http://wgnamerica.com/contact_us_faq

However, if WGN America really become cable networks, they would probably goes same route to TBS....Currently, TBS isn't available in Canada, and they sale rights to other Canada TV. Changing to cable would made WGN America unavailable in Canada.

 

The reason is because the CRTC authorized the transmission of WTBS television, not the TBS superstation feed. It wasn't much of a difference until the two split.

 

There's another big change for the Cubs: after 90 years, they're moving on radio to WBBM. Apparently Cubs baseball had become a money loser for WGN radio due to low ratings.

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Anyway...

 

Tradition's one thing. Money's another. The agreement between WGN and the Cubs isn't bitter, so I can live with this.

 

My big beef with this is the team's destination. WBBM promotes themselves as the "24-hour news station", ignoring the fact that they devote 5 hours a week to some classic radio show, plus an additional 8-9 hours a week on Bears coverage for as few as 20 (but not exceeding 24) weeks a year. Then they're going to add another 3-4 hours A DAY for 6 months? But they'll still be "Chicago's 24-hour news station". Is it petty to complain about this? Maybe, but it's still inaccurate and wrong on CBS's part.

 

My only hope is that the White Sox leave WBBM sports sister WSCR after 2015 (likely for ESPN-owned WMVP) and the Cubs would presumably shift away from WBBM. Also, what's going to happen in September of next year when two stations might have to broadcast 3 games at once? Seems like overload to me.

 

And what does this do to WGN's programming? With the regular absence of WBBM's traffic and weather on the 8's, WGN is probably going to feel the need to fill the void, inserting their own reports, and disrupting the flow of their talk shows. Rival WLS started doing this over a year ago, and it's made their afternoon show virtually un-listenable due to the constant interruptions (they've fallen from top 10 to #24 since the switch).

 

:rant:

 

Long story short, EVERYBODY LOSES.

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Regarding the elimination of Chicago sports simulcasts, I said this on my previous post, they might as well get rid of the 4am & 12pm newscast, drop the "WGN America" name (because it would be useless when you drop what's left of the city's charm of the channel) and let the channel come into the Chicago cable systems, even though it would be meaningless, unless they boost their original offerings.

 

There's another big change for the Cubs: after 90 years, they're moving on radio to WBBM. Apparently Cubs baseball had become a money loser for WGN radio due to low ratings.

Man, that's going to be a hard pill to swallow......

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Regarding the elimination of Chicago sports simulcasts, I said this on my previous post, they might as well get rid of the 4am & 12pm newscast, drop the "WGN America" name (because it would be useless when you drop what's left of the city's charm of the channel) and let the channel come into the Chicago cable systems, even though it would be meaningless, unless they boost their original offerings.

 

That kinda seems like the way it is going. It isn't really WGN if there's no sports. Within five years, Tribune's probably going to do to WGN America what Turner Broadcasting did to TBS when it got the rights to games from Major League Baseball teams other than the Braves and partial rights to the MLB League Championship and Division Series, split up the feeds and rebrand one of them (in WGN's case, the national version). However (as NTVNews0 pointed out about WGN America but didn't point out about WGN-TV), WGN will still be a superstation if that happens since the local Chicago feed is still available in Canada on cable and satellite, it just won't be available in the U.S. anymore.

 

Shaw Broadcast Systems has been distributing the local feed since September 2007 because of higher carriage fees for WGN America (then Superstation WGN) compared to transmitting the local Chicago feed; unfortunately, the Syndex laws in place makes adding the WGN-TV feed to cable and satellite systems a non-possibility here in the states.

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  • 3 months later...

So, with the announcement of this year's broadcast schedule, the first Chicago team to vacate WGN America will be the Bulls. No surprise, we knew it was coming, but there's another little nugget buried in this article. WCIU will no longer be the secondary home for Trib-produced games. That distinction will go to Fox-owned WPWR.

 

Gotta be honest. Didn't see that coming.

 

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20140911/BLOGS04/140919965/bulls-national-tv-games-slashed-without-wgn-america

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so, some Bulls games on 'PWR??? hmmm interesting hand if you are a poker player , I have a feeling that Bulls on 'PWR is but the begining..might the Cubs be making a move say to another Fox station.."CUBS ON WFLD"??

 

It's been rumored before. At this point, the Cubs are better off exploring their options in regards to getting out of their contract with CSN. Since CSN cannot take in additional games due to commitments with other teams, then the Cubs are really losing a lot of potential tv revenue having several different tv partners.They really cannot wait until 2019 to start their own RSN.
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so, some Bulls games on 'PWR??? hmmm interesting hand if you are a poker player , I have a feeling that Bulls on 'PWR is but the begining..might the Cubs be making a move say to another Fox station.."CUBS ON WFLD"??

 

Remember, the Tribune itself published a rumor that WPWR might be traded to Tribune for KCPQ after the newspaper spinoff.

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Remember, the Tribune itself published a rumor that WPWR might be traded to Tribune for KCPQ after the newspaper spinoff.

 

To add more fuel to that speculative fire, the games that will be on WPWR will still be produced by WGN (Still trying to figure out why those aren't on WGN either, there's no Blackhawks games conflicting with those Bull games on WPWR). If anything, this just means that WGN's relationship with WCIU is over.

 

http://wgntv.com/2014/09/11/chicagos-very-own-wgn-tv-announces-2014-2015-chicago-bulls-schedule/

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I'm not going to look at when those games are, but keep in mind that the CW is cracking down on that.

 

All but one are on Friday (there's one Thursday game at the end of the season) so you might be right. Gotta wonder why they want to break ties with WCIU though.

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All but one are on Friday (there's one Thursday game at the end of the season) so you might be right. Gotta wonder why they want to break ties with WCIU though.

 

Yeah, the divorce with TheU totally baffles me. I can't see how that doesn't fuel the duopoly rumors with My50. That's the only way this makes much sense. I'll be interested to see 1) What becomes of the White Sox deal with WCIU, and 2) Did Bulls management have to sign off on any of this/have any input? And, related to the two, would the Sox following be an automatic as Jerry Reinsdorf & family own both teams?

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

And what does this do to WGN's programming? With the regular absence of WBBM's traffic and weather on the 8's, WGN is probably going to feel the need to fill the void, inserting their own reports, and disrupting the flow of their talk shows. Rival WLS started doing this over a year ago, and it's made their afternoon show virtually un-listenable due to the constant interruptions (they've fallen from top 10 to #24 since the switch).

 

:rant:

 

Long story short, EVERYBODY LOSES.

 

A little off-topic...

 

Well, WGN may not be going with traffic/weather every 10 minutes, but they are beefing up their news output...

http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/news/6883-wgn-am-adding-anna-davlantes-more-news

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A little off-topic...

 

Well, WGN may not be going with traffic/weather every 10 minutes, but they are beefing up their news output...

http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/news/6883-wgn-am-adding-anna-davlantes-more-news

 

Considering that WBBM is near the top of the ratings in Chicago radio, it only makes sense to go after that piece of the pie.

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