Cubs TV Deal Stuff

[Fro]

Give me a break... they aren't going to have any trouble selling TV spots, particularly with a competitive Cubs team.

[Felix Leiter]

Because of the contract with Comcast, the Cubs can't cable broadcast any other non-Comcast games until 2020. This just screws the out of market fans who relied on WGN-TV. Plus it's selling season for all the ad agencies to ink 2015 annual contracts.

[Andy]

Because of the contract with Comcast, the Cubs can't cable broadcast any other non-Comcast games until 2020. This just screws the out of market fans who relied on WGN-TV. Plus it's selling season for all the ad agencies to ink 2015 annual contracts.

MLB.TV is under $150 for the season. That's not a small amount of money, but it's 6 months of all the baseball you want (really 7, if you're into spring training). If you're out of market, it's a great value.

 

ETA: Just realized you might have been referring to the possibility of non-broadcast games, in which case oops. Although that does seem extremely unlikely.

Edited December 10, 2014 by Andy

[Banedon]

Dan Bernstein is pretty much laughing off the idea that any Cubs games wouldn't be broadcast.

[Guest]

Because of the contract with Comcast, the Cubs can't cable broadcast any other non-Comcast games until 2020. This just screws the out of market fans who relied on WGN-TV. Plus it's selling season for all the ad agencies to ink 2015 annual contracts.

 

This is 2014; the Cubs don't need to be on cable for out of market fans to watch them (nor can out of market fans see them on CSN without a special MLB package anyway). WGN was going away from nationally broadcasting Chicago sports anyway. Nobody is getting "screwed" that otherwise wouldn't have been.

[CubColtPacer]

The people who will be affected by the move away from WGN are those in the Cubs broadcast territory who will not have any access to whatever channel the Cubs land on. Those people will have no ability to legally watch those games. I completely understand what they are doing, but there are people (millions of them overall, hard to tell how many are Cubs fans) who this will be a significant downgrade to access even if they are willing to spend money.

[Guest]

The people who will be affected by the move away from WGN are those in the Cubs broadcast territory who will not have any access to whatever channel the Cubs land on. Those people will have no ability to legally watch those games. I completely understand what they are doing, but there are people (millions of them overall, hard to tell how many are Cubs fans) who this will be a significant downgrade to access even if they are willing to spend money.

 

Did those people watch on WGN local or WGN America? If WGN local, why wouldn't they be able to watch on other local Chicago outlets?

[CubColtPacer]

The people who will be affected by the move away from WGN are those in the Cubs broadcast territory who will not have any access to whatever channel the Cubs land on. Those people will have no ability to legally watch those games. I completely understand what they are doing, but there are people (millions of them overall, hard to tell how many are Cubs fans) who this will be a significant downgrade to access even if they are willing to spend money.

 

Did those people watch on WGN local or WGN America? If WGN local, why wouldn't they be able to watch on other local Chicago outlets?

 

I'm considering those who are outside the WGN local area but inside the Cubs broadcast territory. I assume whatever local channel they land on will have around the same coverage area as WGN local does.

[Guest]

The people who will be affected by the move away from WGN are those in the Cubs broadcast territory who will not have any access to whatever channel the Cubs land on. Those people will have no ability to legally watch those games. I completely understand what they are doing, but there are people (millions of them overall, hard to tell how many are Cubs fans) who this will be a significant downgrade to access even if they are willing to spend money.

 

Did those people watch on WGN local or WGN America? If WGN local, why wouldn't they be able to watch on other local Chicago outlets?

 

I'm considering those who are outside the WGN local area but inside the Cubs broadcast territory. I assume whatever local channel they land on will have around the same coverage area as WGN local does.

 

So they watch it on WGN America? I'm not trying to be a smart ass...I'm genuinely asking.

 

I'm asking because I'm pretty sure WGN America is dropping all national Chicago sports broadcasts. So those people would be screwed over by WGN regardless of the Cubs leaving WGN.

[EPCub4]

I'm from Peoria, and for years, we obviously couldn't get WCIU broadcasts. Even when a game on WCIU was also broadcast on ESPN, we were blacked out of the national broadcast because we were in the "Cubs market". The Peoria TV market was eventually able to pick up the WCIU games on the MyNetworkTV affiliate (WAOE) for the last few years.

 

I don't really get how the 2015 TV situation will shake out beyond CSN, but I'm concerned about "being in the market but not really in the market" again. If you're in a team's market, you're also blacked out of those broadcasts on MLB.TV, correct?

[Fro]

The people who will be affected by the move away from WGN are those in the Cubs broadcast territory who will not have any access to whatever channel the Cubs land on. Those people will have no ability to legally watch those games. I completely understand what they are doing, but there are people (millions of them overall, hard to tell how many are Cubs fans) who this will be a significant downgrade to access even if they are willing to spend money.

 

Did those people watch on WGN local or WGN America? If WGN local, why wouldn't they be able to watch on other local Chicago outlets?

 

Here is WGN TV's broadcast range (the solid line)

http://i.imgur.com/QWUQc9e.png

 

Here is the blackout area for MLB TV (everything in blue which is nearly all of Illinois, all of Iowa, and most of Indiana and a bit of Wisconsin)

http://i.imgur.com/DVY8BLQl.png

 

Right now everyone in the blue outside of metro Chicago can watch all the games sans the WCIU ones on CSN Chicago and WGN America. In 2015 they're only going to be able to see the CSN Chicago games.

[gscool89]

Not to mention a lot of that area doesn't even receive CSN Chicago on their cable package. I lived in Des Moines for a little bit and they didn't offer CSN Chicago on the Mediacom package which is absurd since the I Cubs play there. Instead they offered FSN Minnesota and St. Louis. MLB's blackout rules are beyond stupid for this reason.

[Guest]

The people who will be affected by the move away from WGN are those in the Cubs broadcast territory who will not have any access to whatever channel the Cubs land on. Those people will have no ability to legally watch those games. I completely understand what they are doing, but there are people (millions of them overall, hard to tell how many are Cubs fans) who this will be a significant downgrade to access even if they are willing to spend money.

 

Did those people watch on WGN local or WGN America? If WGN local, why wouldn't they be able to watch on other local Chicago outlets?

 

Here is WGN TV's broadcast range (the solid line)

http://i.imgur.com/QWUQc9e.png

 

Here is the blackout area for MLB TV (everything in blue which is nearly all of Illinois, all of Iowa, and most of Indiana and a bit of Wisconsin)

http://i.imgur.com/DVY8BLQl.png

 

Right now everyone in the blue outside of metro Chicago can watch all the games sans the WCIU ones on CSN Chicago and WGN America. In 2015 they're only going to be able to see the CSN Chicago games.

 

Right, but, unless I'm remembering incorrectly, WGN America wasn't going to broadcast any sports anymore, regardless of whether the Cubs stay(ed) on WGN.

[gscool89]

He's saying that Cubs fans outside of the WGN TV viewing area will be blacked out of games on MLB.TV/MLBEI even without being able to receive the game on any cable/satellite provider which sucks.

 

I wonder if the Cubs can go around and do mini affiliate deals with smaller local TV stations to air games that are not on Comcast SportsNet on their network in areas were you can't get WGNTV Chicago. I know they do this for WCIU games.

[Guest]

He's saying that Cubs fans outside of the WGN TV viewing area will be blacked out of games on MLB.TV/MLBEI even without being able to receive the game on any cable/satellite provider which sucks.

 

I wonder if the Cubs can go around and do mini affiliate deals with smaller local TV stations to air games that are not on Comcast SportsNet on their network in areas were you can't get WGNTV Chicago. I know they do this for WCIU games.

 

And I'm saying that would have been the case even if the Cubs stayed on WGN because WGN America isn't going to broadcast sports anymore (unless I'm wrong about that - just going off memory).

[EPCub4]

He's saying that Cubs fans outside of the WGN TV viewing area will be blacked out of games on MLB.TV/MLBEI even without being able to receive the game on any cable/satellite provider which sucks.

 

This is my doomsday scenario. I just can't believe everyone in that blue "blackout area" won't get half the games on TV.

[Andy]

He's saying that Cubs fans outside of the WGN TV viewing area will be blacked out of games on MLB.TV/MLBEI even without being able to receive the game on any cable/satellite provider which sucks.

 

I wonder if the Cubs can go around and do mini affiliate deals with smaller local TV stations to air games that are not on Comcast SportsNet on their network in areas were you can't get WGNTV Chicago. I know they do this for WCIU games.

 

And I'm saying that would have been the case even if the Cubs stayed on WGN because WGN America isn't going to broadcast sports anymore (unless I'm wrong about that - just going off memory).

That was the word, yes. I thought the Cubs represented the last of that, but apparently the Bulls' Saturday games are still on WGN America for this season.

[hawkeyecub]

He's saying that Cubs fans outside of the WGN TV viewing area will be blacked out of games on MLB.TV/MLBEI even without being able to receive the game on any cable/satellite provider which sucks.

 

I wonder if the Cubs can go around and do mini affiliate deals with smaller local TV stations to air games that are not on Comcast SportsNet on their network in areas were you can't get WGNTV Chicago. I know they do this for WCIU games.

 

Right, they could do that via some of the substations they've been having the WCIU games on. A lot of affiliates outside of the Chicago local area but in the Cubs market picked them up last year.

 

The problem is DirecTV/Dish don't carry the substations (KCRG 9.2 around here for example) like cable companies do. So everyone in the Cubs market that has a dish package would be frozen out totally.

[gscool89]

He's saying that Cubs fans outside of the WGN TV viewing area will be blacked out of games on MLB.TV/MLBEI even without being able to receive the game on any cable/satellite provider which sucks.

 

I wonder if the Cubs can go around and do mini affiliate deals with smaller local TV stations to air games that are not on Comcast SportsNet on their network in areas were you can't get WGNTV Chicago. I know they do this for WCIU games.

 

And I'm saying that would have been the case even if the Cubs stayed on WGN because WGN America isn't going to broadcast sports anymore (unless I'm wrong about that - just going off memory).

No you're right about that. WGN is really phasing out all sports outside of the Blackhawks which have always been only on local WGN and not WGN America. And in that case, it screws Blackhawks fans in the Blackhawks market outside of Chicago who can't get the Blackhawks on satellite or cable as well as NHL Center Ice.

[CubColtPacer]

The people who will be affected by the move away from WGN are those in the Cubs broadcast territory who will not have any access to whatever channel the Cubs land on. Those people will have no ability to legally watch those games. I completely understand what they are doing, but there are people (millions of them overall, hard to tell how many are Cubs fans) who this will be a significant downgrade to access even if they are willing to spend money.

 

Did those people watch on WGN local or WGN America? If WGN local, why wouldn't they be able to watch on other local Chicago outlets?

 

I'm considering those who are outside the WGN local area but inside the Cubs broadcast territory. I assume whatever local channel they land on will have around the same coverage area as WGN local does.

 

So they watch it on WGN America? I'm not trying to be a smart ass...I'm genuinely asking.

 

I'm asking because I'm pretty sure WGN America is dropping all national Chicago sports broadcasts. So those people would be screwed over by WGN regardless of the Cubs leaving WGN.

 

I somehow missed WGN's decision to do that (although it doesn't surprise me, the Cubs were their most valuable property and were talking about leaving at the time they decided to do that). To rephrase my initial statement, there are lots of people who are going to be stuck with many less Cubs games (maybe all of them depending on if their local carrier carries CSN or not) with no way to get them. But really, that just puts Cubs fans in the same place as fans of many teams throughout the country thanks to the blackout rules.

[mul21]

He's saying that Cubs fans outside of the WGN TV viewing area will be blacked out of games on MLB.TV/MLBEI even without being able to receive the game on any cable/satellite provider which sucks.

 

I wonder if the Cubs can go around and do mini affiliate deals with smaller local TV stations to air games that are not on Comcast SportsNet on their network in areas were you can't get WGNTV Chicago. I know they do this for WCIU games.

 

Right, they could do that via some of the substations they've been having the WCIU games on. A lot of affiliates outside of the Chicago local area but in the Cubs market picked them up last year.

 

The problem is DirecTV/Dish don't carry the substations (KCRG 9.2 around here for example) like cable companies do. So everyone in the Cubs market that has a dish package would be frozen out totally.

 

No they won't. A simple $30 over the air box will get you those stations and most newer TVs have that capability built into them now too.

[J.R.]

They'll buy time if that's what it takes. Not one game will be played in the dark.

[Guest]

They'll buy time if that's what it takes. Not one game will be played in the dark.

 

yeah, i just cannot see that happening

[Felix Leiter]

Again David, Cub fans are being screwed.

 

The Blackhawks paid The Score to carry their games for at least a year(before Old Man Wirtz passed), because they were bad and no one wanted to pony up broadcast fees. Seems to me the White Sox did something like that too. I think the last thing you want is 'King Crane' anywhere near the media rights contract discussion. It will become a disaster.

[Sammy Sofa]

Whut.