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Cubs opt out of WGN Contract

K

KeithE4

That doesn't necessarily mean they're gone after the 2014 season, but Tribune has 30 days to meet the higher assessed market value of the broadcast rights. After that, the Cubs are free to negotiate with another station or form their own network. If the Cubs hadn't done this, they'd be locked in through 2022.

This doesn't affect games that air on Comcast Sports Net, nor does it affect their games on WGN radio (IIRC, they just reupped with them). This is just for the 70 games that air on WGN-TV, WGN America, and WCIU-TV.

http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2013/11/6/5073176/cubs-opt-out-wgn-tv-contract
 
I could see Comcast Sportsnet-Chicago making a deal to renegotiate their deal with the Cubs to not only extend it, but to get all non-network games starting in 2015.

If the Cubs do leave WGN-9, the WGN America cable/satellite service will likely cease to exist as many cable/satellite operators will drop it given that it's big draw (the Cubs) would no longer be part of the schedule.

This Fall and Winter, WGN is telecasting 20 Blackhawks hockey games and 29 Bulls' basketball games (although six games of the latter are being shown on WCIU-26). NHL regulations preclude any Hawks' games from appearing on WGN America, while current NBA regulations allow just 15 Bulls' games to be on the superstation feed.

Even if the Cubs (and/or White Sox) do stay with WGN, Major League Baseball may decide down the line to implement a regulation which would bar WGN America from carrying any Cubs' games, and it's also possible that the NBA could follow the NHL's lead and ban superstations broadcasting it's games.
 
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Joseph_Gallant said:
Even if the Cubs (and/or White Sox) do stay with WGN, Major League Baseball may decide down the line to implement a regulation which would bar WGN America from carrying any Cubs' games, and it's also possible that the NBA could follow the NHL's lead and ban superstations broadcasting it's games.
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I think that rule is already in place, but stations currently airing games may keep them as long as there is no lapse in coverage.

I don't thnk the Braves can ever air their games on TBS again, even if they dump the Sunday MLB game and "reconnect" with Channel 17 in Atlanta. But as long as WGN-TV still carries the Cubs and Sox, they can renew the deals and keep them on WGN America. But if both teams leave WGN, that's it.
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
If the Cubs do leave WGN-9, the WGN America cable/satellite service will likely cease to exist as many cable/satellite operators will drop it given that it's big draw (the Cubs) would no longer be part of the schedule.
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Which is why WGN America is going into original programming to keep their slot; they're casting now for Salem, another 'supernatural crime drama', and are expected to expand further, probably as part of a plan by Tribune for their stations to plan just in case the CW goes kaput after the first ten-year round of affiliation deals cease in September 2016.

Trust me, they won't go easy; they have too many low-number cable positions in much of the Midwest and East to just give up because they lost the Cubs. They've already taken off many of the Bulls games on the superstation, and the ones that remain are usually against the middle and lower-tier NBA teams in the first place.
 
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nomadcowatbk said:
Cubs assume fans in North Dakota will get extra innings
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Kennesaw Molehill Selig wants everybody to get Extra Innings or MLB.TV for out-of-market games. For $120 (MLB.TV, a bit higher for Extra Innings), it's worth it if you watch a lot of baseball.
 
KeithE4 said:
Kennesaw Molehill Selig wants everybody to get Extra Innings or MLB.TV for out-of-market games. For $120 (MLB.TV, a bit higher for Extra Innings), it's worth it if you watch a lot of baseball.
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Exactly. I just downgraded my cable/internet bundle from $160 to $80 a month, essentially getting rid of all the sports channels. In April, I will re-add the sports channels and use a portion of my 6 months of savings ($480) to buy mlb.tv.
 
sandiegoinexile said:
Exactly. I just downgraded my cable/internet bundle from $160 to $80 a month, essentially getting rid of all the sports channels. In April, I will re-add the sports channels and use a portion of my 6 months of savings ($480) to buy mlb.tv.
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I've had MLB.TV since 2010. You have to have a fast internet connection or dropouts will occur. I'll probably cough up the extra bucks and change it to Extra Innings next season, now that I have DirecTV. DSL (all I have, since cable is not available in my apartment complex) isn't fast enough to handle high-speed video.
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
If the Cubs do leave WGN-9, the WGN America cable/satellite service will likely cease to exist as many cable/satellite operators will drop it given that it's big draw (the Cubs) would no longer be part of the schedule.
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WGN America isn't going anywhere, just like TBS didn't go anywhere when they stopped showing the Braves. At this point it's just another general entertainment network that happens to show Cubs games.
 
ansky212 said:
WGN America isn't going anywhere, just like TBS didn't go anywhere when they stopped showing the Braves. At this point it's just another general entertainment network that happens to show Cubs games.
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If anything, they might change names to better distinguish themselves from WGN 9 in Chicago

If they do lose baseball, I'd also expect them to drop the news as well & go 24/7 General Entertainment just like TBS did

Cheers & 73 :D
 
Tribune stations never take The Daily Buzz because it's produced by a competitor and they have their own form of morning show for those who don't have a newscast, and it's a bad show to begin with; DBZ has managed to flop twice in three years on one station in Milwaukee for instance and has more turnover than most 'training ground' stations.

Also, TBS has a newscast channel; it's called CNN. They haven't had a news department in 33 years and the station in Atlanta is under the management of the lousy CBS station nobody in that market likes at all.
 
ansky212 said:
WGN America isn't going anywhere, just like TBS didn't go anywhere when they stopped showing the Braves. At this point it's just another general entertainment network that happens to show Cubs games.
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The channel itself may not go away, but I do believe that Tribune will scrap everything else that's Chicago-centric, change the name, and add new and different programming.
 
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