The Cubs have exercised a clause in their current contract with the Tribune's flagship station (which currently runs through 2022) that states that the station has 30 days to agree to significantly higher rights fees for 2015 through 2019--if they don't, the Cubs will be free to shop other alternatives, potentially ending what must be the MLB's longest TV relationship of 66 years (which from 1968 to 1982, while the White Sox were on other stations, had WGN televising almost all 162 games):
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-chicago-cubs-wgn-tv-20131106,0,2270840.story Currently, WGN pays the Cubs $20M to televise 70 games a season (some of which are on Weigel Broadcasting's pure indie WCIU, thanks to their CW commitments--all games televised on WGN are also seen nationally on WGN America). Whatever other games aren't on Fox, ESPN or TBS are televised on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, of which the Cubs own 25%. It's obvious that the Cubs are looking at the $7B the Dodgers are getting from Time Warner Cable for their own cable channel and being a little jealous, but I wonder if Comcast would want to jeopardize CSNC (which also has the Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks as co-owners) by taking off one of its major attractions. -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
