Here, however, is the problem: the Cubs, at this moment, are terrible, and despite Theo Epstein, are expected to remain so for a couple more years, and the ratings prove it. If the Cubs do decide for some inexplicable reason to go their own network, it screams Rickett's Folly, on par with Jerry Reinsdorf moving all the White Sox games to Sportsvision in the early 80s (which is what sent Harry Caray to the Cubs). The ticket prices are in a huge bubble unless they're playing the Cardinals. They're borderline irrelevant, especially with the Bulls and Blackhawks taking up nearly half the season. And there's not a lot of OTA suitors (My50, anyone?). Either they're going to re-up at a reduced price with WGN or they're moving all the games to CSN-C (which would likely infuriate City Council).
On Wednesday, November 6, 2013, Mark Jeffries wrote: > 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.
