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WGN Superstation

J

johnfox

Guest
It was posted a while back Tribune was goimg to relaunch WGN in May. I watched a Cubs game over the weekend and it looked the same. I don't care what they do as long as they keep The Cubs Anyone know anything new?
 
I don't think Tribune owns the Cubs anymore, do they? I know they were talking about selling them at one time. When they do, look for them to go the way of the Braves on TBS.
 
There is no buyer for the Cubs as of yet, but they (meaning MLB and Tribune) want to complete the sale by the end of the year. Zell himself owns a piece of the crosstown White Sox, so either way he would have to get rid of one or the another.

As for the Superstation relaunch...it was probably too soon to change up, now since the baseball season is going on. It would probably be to do the relaunch after the baseball season ends. As it looks like, they're doing this thing gradually.
 
That puts you in the small minority of those who care about the Sox beyond Chicago then, right?!
I read somewhere that one stipulation of the Tribune selling the Cubs is that a long-term agreement to continue carrying the Cubs on WGN must be in place. I doubt a local-only deal would suffice.
 
ShawnHill1 said:
There is no buyer for the Cubs as of yet, but they (meaning MLB and Tribune) want to complete the sale by the end of the year. Zell himself owns a piece of the crosstown White Sox, so either way he would have to get rid of one or the another.

IIRC, Zell sold his non-voting/minority interest in the Sox earlier this year.

In any case, if Bud Lite is true to form, he'll want the Cubs & Sox on local Chicago channels only, with out-of-market coverage only via MLB Extra Innings, other than the network broadcasts on Fox, ESPN, and TBS. Even if the Cubs and/or Sox were to remain on WGN-TV, I'll be surprised if they'll be on whatever they'll call the WGN Superstation after this season or maybe next.
 
In some of the trade web sites, it's now referring to itself as "THE Superstation," probably taking advantage of TBS not being a SS anymore. Aside from that, I haven't seen anything.
 
I've never understood why the label of "superstation" was carried so long by either TBS or WGN. Aside from their several sports programs they aired pretty much local, boring fare consisting of network rejects and reruns (although TBS was at one time a seeming predesessor to SPEED - especially on Saturday afternoons) much like independants in other markets do.

Last time I watched WGN (probably 2 years ago) they had the oldest collection of talking news heads I've ever seen anywhere. I don't know the Chicago market but I would have thought these people might have known Philo Farnsworth in person.

Not being a TBS watcher since the 80's I have no idea what's changed over there either except from their numerous promo's on other stations. Seems like they air sitcoms, especially Black-oriented ones, from distributors who can't cut the major networks. Most of their shows look like major wastes of time.
 
I agree the Superstation label has kind of outlived it's usefulness. It was great till the late 80s, when a lot of markets didn't have independent stations and local sports.

Now that cable/dish has pretty much tied up the local sports packages, and local news can be viewed online, there is no need for an out of market station as they probably won't have any unique programming anyway.

But I loved getting KTVU (Oakland) and WOR (New York) back in the late 70s. It was facsincating to watch their news and to see the local shows
 
johnfox said:
It was posted a while back Tribune was goimg to relaunch WGN in May. I watched a Cubs game over the weekend and it looked the same. I don't care what they do as long as they keep The Cubs Anyone know anything new?

Watching Corner Gas and saw a promo for "Outta Sight Retro Nights" starting June 2nd. Full of quick clips from Kotter, WKRP, Taxi and Barney Miller. Perhaps a clue?
 
history said:
Watching Corner Gas and saw a promo for "Outta Sight Retro Nights" starting June 2nd. Full of quick clips from Kotter, WKRP, Taxi and Barney Miller. Perhaps a clue?

I checked the listings for June 2 on Zap2it.com and they just list America's Funniest Videos from 8-10pm. Maybe they just haven't been updated yet.
 
ansky212 said:
I checked the listings for June 2 on Zap2it.com and they just list America's Funniest Videos from 8-10pm. Maybe they just haven't been updated yet.

Correction: I just checked the listings on TVGuide.com.
On 6/2 there is Mary Tyler Moore from 8-10pm
On 6/3 there is Barney Miller from 8-10pm
On 6/4 there is Taxi from 8-10pm

That's as far out as their listings go as of today.
 
ansky212 said:
ansky212 said:
I checked the listings for June 2 on Zap2it.com and they just list America's Funniest Videos from 8-10pm. Maybe they just haven't been updated yet.

Correction: I just checked the listings on TVGuide.com.
On 6/2 there is Mary Tyler Moore from 8-10pm
On 6/3 there is Barney Miller from 8-10pm
On 6/4 there is Taxi from 8-10pm

That's as far out as their listings go as of today.




Thats good news it's better than watching TVLand. So if they are showing older shows at night what's going to be airing doing the day?
 
ChaseW said:
Thats good news it's better than watching TVLand. So if they are showing older shows at night what's going to be airing doing the day?

Unless they didn't update it yet, Same programming as normal.

Eastern
530AM PAID PROGRAMSx5 (includes religious shows)
8AM BEVERLY HILLBILLIESx2
9AM MATLOCK
10AM NASH BRIDGESx2
12PM HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET
1PM WGN NEWS
2PM MATLOCK
3PM AMERCIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS
4PM COSBYx2
5PM SISTER SISTERx2
6PM FUNNIEST PETS & PEOPLEx2
7PM AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS
10PM WGN NEWS
11PM SCRUBSx2
12AM Corner Gas
1230AM BECKER
1AM AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS
2AM STEVE WILCOS
3AM PAID PROGRAMSx2
4AM LIZZIE MGUIRE
430AM HAPPY DAYSx2
 
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