Feder: CW moving from WGN to WPWR

[mvcg66b3r]

Robert Feder is reporting that The CW in Chicago is moving from WGN to WPWR this fall.

Robservations: CW Network losing WGN affiliation, moving to WPWR

In a rare change of network affiliations in Chicago, the CW Network will move this fall from Tribune Media WGN-Channel 9 to Fox-owned WPWR-Channel 50, sources said Sunday. The switch, expected to be announced Monday, will return “Chicago’s Very Own” to a strictly local programming lineup, starting in September. Tribune Media still owns CW affiliates in 12 other markets, including New York and Los Angeles.

Sources said the move to WPWR, low-rated sister station of WFLD-Channel 32, is expected to mean a shift of less than $4 million in local advertising revenue.

http://www.robertfeder.com/2016/05/22/robservations-wgn-to-drop-cw-network/

 

[only1moore]

Sounds like the management at WGN wanted out for some time, plus the CW's schedule felt out of place with the rest of the lineup, so this might be a good more for them. They were better at being independent than being a affiliated station.

 

[CaliRadioFan]

Sooo....WGN Prime Time News? What few syndicated movie 'packages' that are left are meant for weekend programming. More Sports I would imagine. A "Bozo's Big Top" revival???

 

[Mario500]

The official World Wide Web site for Tribune Media has an article about the news of WGN-TV parting ways with the CW Television Network.

 

[KeithE4]

WGN-TV/Chicago To Become Independent Station Featuring Local News, Live Sports, High-Quality Syndicated Programming

Isn't that what they were between 1956 (the end of the Dumont network) and 1995 (the start of the WB)? It's like deja vu all over again.

 

[Oscar Madison]

I wonder if WGN America will go back to being a Superstation again, as well.

Except for the Dumont owned stations in New York and Washington, WGN-TV was Dumont's only exclusive outlet (and only exclusive independent affiliate). The FCC considered WBKB-TV and Dumont O&O because Paramount invested in Dumont but it did not carry Dumont programming.

 

[KeithE4]

I wonder if WGN America will go back to being a Superstation again, as well.

The chances of that are somewhere less than zero. That horse left the barn two years ago and it ain't coming back.

Except for the Dumont owned stations in New York and Washington, WGN-TV was Dumont's only exclusive outlet (and only exclusive independent affiliate). The FCC considered WBKB-TV and Dumont O&O because Paramount invested in Dumont but it did not carry Dumont programming.

The FCC also considered KTLA Los Angeles as a Dumont O&O, as it was also owned by Paramount. Those two stations, plus the three direct Dumont O&Os (WABD New York, WTTG Washington, and WDTV Pittsburgh) made up the maximum of 5 VHF stations allowed. They also tried UHF in Kansas City, and quickly failed.

 

[KeithE4]

Sooo....WGN Prime Time News? What few syndicated movie 'packages' that are left are meant for weekend programming. More Sports I would imagine. A "Bozo's Big Top" revival???

That's "Bozo's Circus," not "Bozo's Big Top." The latter, IIRC was the name of the Boston Bozo show that was syndicated nationwide. Either way, that's another WGN horse that's long out of the barn.

 

[nickp]

With WGN getting rid of CW, I think that opens the door for the Cubs to come back to wgn america

 

[mvcg66b3r]

With WGN getting rid of CW, I think that opens the door for the Cubs to come back to wgn america

Not gonna happen, MLB won't allow it.

 

[KeithE4]

Not gonna happen, MLB won't allow it.

Correct. The Superstation era is now officially over. WGN was grandfathered as long as they considered themselves an extension of Channel 9 in Chicago, even with the Syndex programming removed. Once they rebranded, and got rid of the Chicago-centric programming, that was the end.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

Will the same happen in New York and LA where Tribune has CW affiliates? I know that in Los Angeles KTLA has the CW Programming for now until CBS decides to move CW shows to KCAL9 and in New York WPIX has CW programming for now until WLNY (CBS O&O) decided to get CW programming there.

 

[E-Cam]

Will the same happen in New York and LA where Tribune has CW affiliates? I know that in Los Angeles KTLA has the CW Programming for now until CBS decides to move CW shows to KCAL9 and in New York WPIX has CW programming for now until WLNY (CBS O&O) decided to get CW programming there.

Also in Dallas, KDAF would go independent with the CW moving to CBS owned KTXA and Miami with CBS owned WBFS going CW and Tribune owned WSFL going MyNetworkTV. It would be a miracle now since Tribune has singed an agreement with the CW continuing with their present stations.

 

[TVCOOL]

Also in Dallas, KDAF would go independent with the CW moving to CBS owned KTXA and Miami with CBS owned WBFS going CW and Tribune owned WSFL going MyNetworkTV. It would be a miracle now since Tribune has singed an agreement with the CW continuing with their present stations.

Once WLNY has a signal that covers the New York City area I see CBS moving all CW programming to that station.

 

[ChocoMingo]

I think WCIU should have been the new CW affiliate, as they are independent as well. Why didn't WGN consider WCIU-TV as the new home for CW. Some people, including me, are guessing (don't know if it become true in the future) that the 2016-2017 TV year is going to be a repeat of what happened during the big 1994 affiliation switch, where almost all major channels switched networks. It's where CW affiliates (not in the big cities, as Tribune extended the other CW affiliates (WPIX, etc.) contracts with the CW itself) switch and either get another network (maybe the Big 4 networks, NBC, CBS, ABC, or FOX) or return to being independent.

WGN, you had better options than WPWR. FOX hasn't owned a CW affiliate in a long time, maybe even all of it's 30 year life, but WCIU could've been a better CW affiliate. After all, "The U" would be CW26. "Double-u" is the pronunciation of W in CW, and as some CW viewers might say (mostly young adults/millennials), lol.

 

[Markxxx]

Tribune has signed a renewal for all their CW affiliates except WGN there will be no changes in any other market.

Tribune does not own any part of the CW, thus would have no say in whether the new CW affiliation went to WPWR or WCIU or a subchannel for that matter.

 

[schmave]

Would have been nice if this had happened a few years ago. Maybe there would have been a chance that WGN America and WGN-TV would not be totally separate entities now. Taking the WB off the national feed in October 1999 really helped accelerate the separation of feeds, which obviously had been going on for close to a decade at that point.
There are Cubs fans, and fans of other teams, who wrongly blame the team for them not airing on WGN America anymore. Wasn't their decision, nor the local WGN's call.

 

[ChocoMingo]

Look at what's happening around the country. WRAL switching to NBC, WHDH having NBC being taken away by NBC Boston, who they say is presumably WNEU-TV or the ION TV station, leaving Boston as the largest market without an ION TV affiliate, etc. Unless, WHDH is the new ION affiliation, which is weird, as ION never usually affiliates any VHF stations... Still, I believe that 2016-2017 will be a repeat of what happened to TV stations in 1994 during the New World/Fox merger. Only in a different situation, where stations are changing affiliations in separate deals and negotiations, so much that it's enough to be considered a big switch in some markets. Some stations even had to go off the air forever. Who knows, it may even last the rest of this decade! Even markets as small as the Virgin Islands has been affected, where now, WSVI has lost their long-lasting ABC affiliation, leaving the market without any ABC or NBC station. Some may speculate, that the late WBNB-TV may come back as ABC or NBC. Once again, who knows?

 

[Mr Tony]

Even markets as small as the Virgin Islands has been affected, where now, WSVI has lost their long-lasting ABC affiliation, leaving the market without any ABC or NBC station.

They have NBC via WVGN-LD and have for over a decade now

 

[ChocoMingo]

They have NBC via WVGN-LD and have for over a decade now

True, now I believe that TV2 (WMNS-LP), the current CBS affiliate, should switch to ABC, if WBNB-TV (Channel 10) does come back after 27 years of being off the air because of Hurricane Hugo. Their last owner, which owned WHSV-TV is Benedek Broadcasting. Benedek sold WHSV to Gray in 2002. So, the new owners of WBNB should be Gray Broadcasting. If you think WSVI is the ABC affiliate, not anymore, they just somehow, switched to ION TV, a fail-safe from being independent. WBNB would be CBS as it has been all the time before, WSVI is ION, WVGN as you told me is NBC, WVXF is FOX, WTJX is PBS, and TV2/WMNS-LP is ABC. The only ones not affected in the switch is WTJX (because it's PBS), WVGN, and WVXF. WSVI switched to ION in the beginning of the year, WMNS (CBS to ABC), and if WBNB comes back, it will get the CBS affiliate it has always had it's entire "lifetime".