06-14-2016, 01:00 PM
Quote:I still contend that once the Trib could no longer steal profits away from the Cubs with their one big happy corporate family mentality, they turned away from live sports. Having to pay market price for Cubs games was not in their interest.Oh for sure, I don't think there's any doubt that once the Cubs were sold it changed things. But I also don't think sports drew well for them outside of Chicago compared to costs, there's truth there too I'm sure. These deals get complicated. Part of WGN's strategy, I'm almost certain, is looking for wider carriage (to in theory increase ad profits), and by converting to a basic cable model they also now get paid for that carriage by reclassifying as restransmission consent. It's a better model by almost any standards than where they were, the problems come when you can't strike deals for carriage. I think I saw that WGN America/trubune networks was recently picked up in the NYC DMA by a cable provider (big win, assuming they got a price they wanted) but if they don't strike a deal with Dish, for instance, that's a big loss.