https://670thescore.radio.com/blogs/bruce-levine/chicago-set-changes-sports-television-climate

Actually not really sure if this is news or not, as we all knew a new TV Deal was coming, but looks like no more free Chicago Sports Broadcasts as of Fall 2019 with WGN out.

Would the Sox (Jerry) still make a deal with NBC Sports Chicago? Or go some other route? Seems like the best way would be to go with good old channel 37 for maximum viewer ratings. Having their own station seems too farfetched. 

Edited June 30, 20187 yr by Scoots

1 hour ago, Scoots said:

 

https://670thescore.radio.com/blogs/bruce-levine/chicago-set-changes-sports-television-climate

Actually not really sure if this is news or not, as we all knew a new TV Deal was coming, but looks like no more free Chicago Sports Broadcasts as of Fall 2019 with WGN out.

Would the Sox (Jerry) still make a deal with NBC Sports Chicago? Or go some other route? Seems like the best way would be to go with good old channel 37 for maximum viewer ratings. Having their own station seems too farfetched. 

I think you mean channel 32?

And this is from my interview with Bob Grim, the Sox Director of Broadcast Operations:

ML: Have you thought about starting a regional type network for example like the St. Louis Cardinals have? 

BG: “The issue there is that a lot of the area cable operations just don’t want to take on a channel that’s just going to show ballgames especially if they have to charge a premium rate for it.” 

“And the issue we have with a regional radio network is that a lot of the “mom and pop” stations that used to be around and aired Sox games in the past just don’t exist anymore. They’ve all been bought up by national corporations and they simply program via satellite from Dallas or Chicago or someplace. The stations simply don’t want to have to pay someone even though it’s probably not a lot, to run the board and insert commercials between innings and such.” (Author's Note: At one time during the 1950's & 1960's the Sox radio network was around 100 stations...one of the largest in baseball stretching all across the Midwest and into the deep South including places like Jackson, Mississippi, Atlanta, before they got the Braves and most of the state of Florida since they trained in Tampa and then Sarasota in the spring)

ML: Well taking it a step further have the Sox ever had any discussions about starting their own TV network a la the Yankees YES Network? I mean Jerry Reinsdorf owns the Sox, he owns the Bulls and he has a good relationship with the Wirtz Family, they both built the United Center. That gives you three major sports and you don’t have to play second fiddle to the Cubs anymore. 

BG: “I’ve never personally been involved in any discussions like that but I think it probably has been talked about. Even with those three teams that you mentioned Mark, we’d still have an awful lot of time to fill. You’re talking about 24 hours a day, seven days a week.” 

“Right now to be honest the Sox simply don’t have the amount of video, classic games and stuff that could be used to do something like that. We’re getting closer though, Major League Baseball now requires all teams to tape every game and send the copy to New York where they archive it for us. So as time goes on we’ll be getting more and more material that we could use if something like this happens but now unlike the Yankees, we just don’t have material from the 20’s or 30’s that we could use say as a documentary to help fill time. When Jerry and his group took over in January 1981, they looked and any material that the Sox may have had was gone. No one knows where it went or who got it.” 

Just can't ever see the Sox having their own network.

9 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

I think you mean channel 32?

And this is from my interview with Bob Grim, the Sox Director of Broadcast Operations:

ML: Have you thought about starting a regional type network for example like the St. Louis Cardinals have? 

BG: “The issue there is that a lot of the area cable operations just don’t want to take on a channel that’s just going to show ballgames especially if they have to charge a premium rate for it.” 

“And the issue we have with a regional radio network is that a lot of the “mom and pop” stations that used to be around and aired Sox games in the past just don’t exist anymore. They’ve all been bought up by national corporations and they simply program via satellite from Dallas or Chicago or someplace. The stations simply don’t want to have to pay someone even though it’s probably not a lot, to run the board and insert commercials between innings and such.” (Author's Note: At one time during the 1950's & 1960's the Sox radio network was around 100 stations...one of the largest in baseball stretching all across the Midwest and into the deep South including places like Jackson, Mississippi, Atlanta, before they got the Braves and most of the state of Florida since they trained in Tampa and then Sarasota in the spring)

ML: Well taking it a step further have the Sox ever had any discussions about starting their own TV network a la the Yankees YES Network? I mean Jerry Reinsdorf owns the Sox, he owns the Bulls and he has a good relationship with the Wirtz Family, they both built the United Center. That gives you three major sports and you don’t have to play second fiddle to the Cubs anymore. 

BG: “I’ve never personally been involved in any discussions like that but I think it probably has been talked about. Even with those three teams that you mentioned Mark, we’d still have an awful lot of time to fill. You’re talking about 24 hours a day, seven days a week.” 

“Right now to be honest the Sox simply don’t have the amount of video, classic games and stuff that could be used to do something like that. We’re getting closer though, Major League Baseball now requires all teams to tape every game and send the copy to New York where they archive it for us. So as time goes on we’ll be getting more and more material that we could use if something like this happens but now unlike the Yankees, we just don’t have material from the 20’s or 30’s that we could use say as a documentary to help fill time. When Jerry and his group took over in January 1981, they looked and any material that the Sox may have had was gone. No one knows where it went or who got it.” 

Just can't ever see the Sox having their own network.

Thank you for this insightful commentary. Definitely helps me understand the situation and the complexities of owning a TV station.

What do you think these teams will do then after this year?

Why would WGN TV not want to broadcast baseball? Is it because they don't want to pay more money?

Edited June 30, 20187 yr by WBWSF

Also interesting that the Cubs might not be able to form their own network. 

2 hours ago, WBWSF said:

Why would WGN TV not want to broadcast baseball? Is it because they don't want to pay more money?

Probably. Even their radio broadcasts...not sure why anyone would want to listen to them. I've listened a little bit out of Sox games just out of curiosity and they're boring.

2 hours ago, Scoots said:

Thank you for this insightful commentary. Definitely helps me understand the situation and the complexities of owning a TV station.

What do you think these teams will do then after this year?

Just a guess, I haven't spoken with anyone on this but I think the Cubs are going to try to go solo. That's been their wish for a long time. I think the other three teams are going to return to NBC Sports Chicago. In the Sox case I think they'll still have some games (maybe 35 or so) on "free" TV, one of the other channels (not 2,5,7, or 9)

Since when do the Cardinals have their own network?

1 hour ago, Heads22 said:

Since when do the Cardinals have their own network?

Basically Fox Sports Midwest out of St. Louis, only other pro team on it is the Blues. They have no competition during baseball season and are affiliated with a major broadcast organization. 

Edited June 30, 20187 yr by Lip Man 1
added info

32 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Basically Fox Sports Midwest out of St. Louis, only other pro team on it is the Blues. They have no competition during baseball season and are affiliated with a major broadcast organization. 

There's a difference between being the primary team and it being their network. They also show Royals games, Pacers games and Sporting KC.

Hers something that might be behimd a paywall, but sort of throws everything in the air. The Cubs will probably start their own network, I am guessing they are hoping the Bears join them.

Bears programming would work out pretty well IMO. The only problem they may have is it could be too homer, and not so unbiased coverage.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-cubs-tv-channel-fox-rsn-future-20180625-story.html

"the days of over-the-air free Chicago television sports will end in October 2019. "

Over-the-air broadcasts are free to the viewer but the  teams still make some money from advertising . Sports franchises also  reap the benefit of gaining new fans who don't subscribe to cable.  The Sox have a long and mostly unpleasant experience  moving away from WGN so I brace myself for what this next move might mean.

 

6 minutes ago, tray said:

"the days of over-the-air free Chicago television sports will end in October 2019. "

Over-the-air broadcasts are free to the viewer but the  teams still make some money from advertising . Sports franchises also  reap the benefit of gaining new fans who don't subscribe to cable.  The Sox have a long and mostly unpleasant experience  moving away from WGN so I brace myself for what this next move might mean.

 

It doesn't mean much.  What are the Sox on WGN now?  Maybe 30 times a year?

9 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

It doesn't mean much.  What are the Sox on WGN now?  Maybe 30 times a year?

That's kind of what I was thinking. I agree with Lip, I think they will just renew a deal with NBC Sports. Is it just me or does it seems like NBC Sports Chicago covers the Sox more frequently and heavily than the Cubs? Or is it just because as a Sox fan I am not used to both teams getting equal amounts of coverage.

11 minutes ago, Scoots said:

That's kind of what I was thinking. I agree with Lip, I think they will just renew a deal with NBC Sports. Is it just me or does it seems like NBC Sports Chicago covers the Sox more frequently and heavily than the Cubs? Or is it just because as a Sox fan I am not used to both teams getting equal amounts of coverage.

Yeah, I am going to guess with the infrastructure they have in place with NBCSN already being all on the local cable networks and having staff in place, etc. the Sox stay put.

1 minute ago, southsider2k5 said:

Yeah, I am going to guess with the infrastructure they have in place with NBCSN already being all on the local cable networks and having staff in place, etc. the Sox stay put.

Does the ownership group of the Bulls/Sox still own part of the network or did that arrangement end when it was no longer Comcast?

49 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Does the ownership group of the Bulls/Sox still own part of the network or did that arrangement end when it was no longer Comcast?

I imagine that the structure was contractual and that NBC just acquired Comcast's old position in the contract. 

2 hours ago, Dick Allen said:

Hers something that might be behimd a paywall, but sort of throws everything in the air. The Cubs will probably start their own network, I am guessing they are hoping the Bears join them.

Bears programming would work out pretty well IMO. The only problem they may have is it could be too homer, and not so unbiased coverage.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-cubs-tv-channel-fox-rsn-future-20180625-story.html

Local broadcasts are supposed to be biased. 

2 hours ago, Heads22 said:

There's a difference between being the primary team and it being their network. They also show Royals games, Pacers games and Sporting KC.

Don't think they show the Pacers in St. Louis do they? That's not Indiana's market and they don't show the Royals in the St. Louis area obviously. As far as soccer that doesn't move the needle much either way.

1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said:

It doesn't mean much.  What are the Sox on WGN now?  Maybe 30 times a year?

I think it's 55 games but I could be wrong.

1 hour ago, Balta1701 said:

Does the ownership group of the Bulls/Sox still own part of the network or did that arrangement end when it was no longer Comcast?

They still own I think 40% combined between the Sox and Bulls since they are owned by the same group / individual.

What is going to be the important part for the Sox is what do they get money-wise for the new TV deal? Considering the past 11 years and the fact they are rebuilding, that could depress the market for them (as well as not potentially having multiple suitors. Seattle, Arizona and St. Louis all got billion(s) dollar deals when their rights were up. I don't know if the Sox can get that in a split market but we'll see. 

26 minutes ago, ptatc said:

Local broadcasts are supposed to be biased. 

I get that, but since they can’t show the games, team produced content probably wouldn’t play as well as the stuff out there now especially if they aren’t a good team. People will eat up the fluff if you are winning, but if you aren’t and there are other choices that could be a problem.

On 6/30/2018 at 5:26 PM, Lip Man 1 said:

Don't think they show the Pacers in St. Louis do they?

As far as I know, Pacers games only air on Fox Sports Indiana.

On 6/30/2018 at 5:53 PM, Dick Allen said:

I get that, but since they can’t show the games, team produced content probably wouldn’t play as well as the stuff out there now especially if they aren’t a good team. People will eat up the fluff if you are winning, but if you aren’t and there are other choices that could be a problem.

Too true.