I never realized how complicated the Monday Night Football local rights are.

[Spring Rubber 703]

This is my first year back home in Chicago after college, so I had always assumed that WLS aired all of the Bears Monday Night Football games because I would only see the late December MNFs (during my break) while the primetime shows were all on holiday hiatus. Apparently during the TV season, Disney makes sure that the primetime schedule airs uninterrupted on WLS, so they sell the rights off to WGN/WCIU.

 

This year it looks like WGN is getting the first MNF game in early October; then the late October and late November games will both be on WCIU; no games on WLS this year.

 

How many games have WGN/WCIU simulcasted for MNF in the past? What year did they start? I can't believe I never even knew they simulcated MNF games.

[24994J 5577]

This will be WGN's first Monday night game, though they carried the Thursday game last year. WCIU has had the early-season Monday games since 2009 or 2010. WLS only carries the games once Dancing with the Stars is over. If the ABC schedule was sitcoms or dramas, there'd be no problem...but DWTS is live and reliant on "audience participation", and I think DWTS voting closes within an hour or so after airtime, so Chicago viewers would be shut-out. I can see why ABC would stop them from showing the football game. Maybe we'll see the games again once they kill DWTS.

[Jess 1115]

Similar situation in Philly. WPVI is the Eagles' official TV station, so they have local rights to Monday/Thursday games. However, Dancing With The Stars has to air live. So they've been subleasing the rights to WPHL.

 

However, they still produce a pregame show for those games - and THAT airs on PHL. In previous years this meant that 17 would show a pregame with 6ABC's talent, an ESPN-branded game, a postgame show with Eagles TV talent (Don Tollefson, natch!), and finally a tape-delayed newscast from NBC 10. That was a sight. This year should be less weird because the news is now coming from 6ABC, at least.

 

Interestingly, the Eagles have two Monday Nights and a Thursday. WPHL gets both MNF games but the Thursday looks like it's a 6ABC game.

[24994J 5577]

WGN handles pregame for theirs and the WCIU games.

[Glimmer 282]

This will be WGN's first Monday night game, though they carried the Thursday game last year. WCIU has had the early-season Monday games since 2009 or 2010. WLS only carries the games once Dancing with the Stars is over. If the ABC schedule was sitcoms or dramas, there'd be no problem...but DWTS is live and reliant on "audience participation", and I think DWTS voting closes within an hour or so after airtime, so Chicago viewers would be shut-out. I can see why ABC would stop them from showing the football game. Maybe we'll see the games again once they kill DWTS.

 

To that end, WISN has always carried MNF games even during the DWTS in-season (in fact, they're delaying the season premiere to late night tomorrow to air Packers vs. Seahawks live). Of course it doesn't hurt that 1.) Hearst still owns that small stake in ESPN and 2.) the Packers are something of a ratings killer in Milwaukee.

[Spring Rubber 703]

WGN used to have the rights to the Thursday Night games, but this year, the rights have gone to WPWR, which surprised me quite a bit. I don't think I've watched that channel since the mid 90s when they used to syndicate The Three Stooges. There's literally nothing worth watching on that channel, and I'm curious how many people in the market don't even realize it exists.

[lazynetjunkie 34]

WGN used to have the rights to the Thursday Night games, but this year, the rights have gone to WPWR, which surprised me quite a bit. I don't think I've watched that channel since the mid 90s when they used to syndicate The Three Stooges. There's literally nothing worth watching on that channel, and I'm curious how many people in the market don't even realize it exists.

 

It actually went to WFLD/WPWR. Same ownership, same management, same control, and terms that it could have been on either. Management decided to put it on WPWR for 2 main reasons. First, so it would't interfere with normal WFLD FOX Thursday night primetime (X Factor and Glee). Second, to boost ratings for WPWR. Really, what do they show at that time Thursdays on My50? Reruns of Without a Trace, White Collar, etc. People will find the game. The channel/network is not an issue. Management just made it a win win for the station group.

[Jess 1115]

To that end, WISN has always carried MNF games even during the DWTS in-season (in fact, they're delaying the season premiere to late night tomorrow to air Packers vs. Seahawks live). Of course it doesn't hurt that 1.) Hearst still owns that small stake in ESPN and 2.) the Packers are something of a ratings killer in Milwaukee.

Also doesn't hurt that 3.) ABC doesn't own WISN, so it can't directly force them to take DWTS. I'm sure, all things considered, that 6ABC would rather have Eagles on their station because they always draw big ratings, but ABC (reasonably, I might add) doesn't want to sacrifice one of its biggest shows in the #4 market. Like mentioned, I'm sure that if they move and/or cancel DWTS, monday nights will air on 6 again.

 

 

It actually went to WFLD/WPWR. Same ownership, same management, same control, and terms that it could have been on either. Management decided to put it on WPWR for 2 main reasons. First, so it would't interfere with normal WFLD FOX Thursday night primetime (X Factor and Glee). Second, to boost ratings for WPWR. Really, what do they show at that time Thursdays on My50? Reruns of Without a Trace, White Collar, etc. People will find the game. The channel/network is not an issue. Management just made it a win win for the station group.

Regardless, I'm sure that whatever WPWR airs at 9pm does better than whatever WFLD airs at 9pm.

 

Just a question, though, how does WPWR present itself these days? What does it primarily promote? I'm hesitant to call our My affiliate a My affiliate because they promote everything except the primetime lineup. They really resemble an old-school independent, centered around the evening comedy lineup, Phillies games, and major special events. So I'm genuinely curious as to what My50 and the other Fox-owned MyNet affiliates do with regards to their positioning these days.

 

An aside, though - if you guys think Monday Night Football local TV rights are complicated, let me attempt to explain the Sunday afternoon rights and blackout rules sometime. They're inscrutable.

[24994J 5577]

The 1-2 combo of "Family Feud" at 5pm and "The Big Bang Theory" at 6pm is their main promotion, along with "How I Met Your Mother" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" at 9 and 10. They still carry MLS Fire games and AHL Wolves games (which may do better with the NHL lockout). And in regards to presentation, they're still "My50 Chicago" and they even have a mascot with his own Facebook and Twitter pages...

Yeah...it's bad.

[lazynetjunkie 34]

The 1-2 combo of "Family Feud" at 5pm and "The Big Bang Theory" at 6pm is their main promotion, along with "How I Met Your Mother" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" at 9 and 10. They still carry MLS Fire games and AHL Wolves games (which may do better with the NHL lockout). And in regards to presentation, they're still "My50 Chicago" and they even have a mascot with his own Facebook and Twitter pages...

Yeah...it's bad.

 

The mascot originally created for/by WPWR and spread like a disease to the other My# stations.. Surprisingly, FOX Chicago News at 9 still does better than the How I Met Your Mother reruns on My50 at the same time.

 

Family Feud is on both WFLD and WPWR; however, what kind of gets me is that they show the new first-run episodes on My50 while they just run last season on WFLD. Jeremy Kyle was moved to My50 and replaced with last season Family Feud reruns on WFLD.

[24994J 5577]

[T.L. Hughes 890]

This will be WGN's first Monday night game, though they carried the Thursday game last year. WCIU has had the early-season Monday games since 2009 or 2010. WLS only carries the games once Dancing with the Stars is over. If the ABC schedule was sitcoms or dramas, there'd be no problem...but DWTS is live and reliant on "audience participation", and I think DWTS voting closes within an hour or so after airtime, so Chicago viewers would be shut-out. I can see why ABC would stop them from showing the football game. Maybe we'll see the games again once they kill DWTS.

 

Similar situation in Philly. WPVI is the Eagles' official TV station, so they have local rights to Monday/Thursday games. However, Dancing With The Stars has to air live. So they've been subleasing the rights to WPHL.

 

However, they still produce a pregame show for those games - and THAT airs on PHL. In previous years this meant that 17 would show a pregame with 6ABC's talent, an ESPN-branded game, a postgame show with Eagles TV talent (Don Tollefson, natch!), and finally a tape-delayed newscast from NBC 10. That was a sight. This year should be less weird because the news is now coming from 6ABC, at least.

 

Interestingly, the Eagles have two Monday Nights and a Thursday. WPHL gets both MNF games but the Thursday looks like it's a 6ABC game.

 

In Chicago and Philly, the ABC-owned stations are leasing the Monday Night Football over-the-air broadcasts to Tribune-owned stations this year. But what seems weird about this is that WLS and WPVI both could have done what WCAU did with college sports events this year and air them on their second digital subchannels. The ABC-owned stations each have two subchannels that are affiliated with Live Well Network in which one of the two LWN subchannels is broadcast in high definition, wouldn't it be easier to move the game there than lease the rights to another unrelated station? Or does the fact that DirecTV and Dish don't carry the LWN channels (since the FCC still hasn't required satellite operators to carry digital multicast channels yet) and issues with cable coverage of those channels complicate matters?

 

Surprisingly, FOX Chicago News at 9 still does better than the How I Met Your Mother reruns on My50 at the same time.

 

Kind of interesting that WFLD's news gets trounced at 9 p.m. by WGN, yet their newscast beats sitcom reruns on its own sister station. Then again mismanagement of the WFLD news department, the fact that WGN puts out a journalistically good news product and viewer habits gravitating toward WGN's news at 9 p.m. partly due to the fact that WGN's newscasts beat WFLD's to the air by 40(?) years is likely why both stations' news ratings are the opposite of their primetime lead-in (WGN getting higher ratings at 9, despite a lead-in by the low-rated CW; WFLD getting poor ratings at 9, despite a higher-rated Fox lead-in).

 

As a non-Chicagoan, I actually do watch WGN's news live online instead of the 9 p.m. newscasts on two stations in my area, however I can't give a comparison between WGN and WFLD's newscasts as I've never actually seen a full WFLD newscast (just breaking news coverage during the teacher's strike and NATO Summit protests). I'm wondering, though, has there ever been an instance in which WGN lost to WFLD in the same timeslot?

[24994J 5577]

I'm wondering, though, has there ever been an instance in which WGN lost to WFLD in the same timeslot?

Uhhhhhhhhhhh...maybe? I don't know, the nights when WGN has a game on and WFLD is the only station with news...and that is faaaaaaar from guaranteed.

[Jase 1047]

I'm wondering, though, has there ever been an instance in which WGN lost to WFLD in the same time slot?

 

If we're taking about going head to head at 9PM, I believe WFLD they had a couple of demo wins over WGN in the past (if I remember the promos correctly) and maybe a few wins in total viewers (i.e. after the America idol finale, etc...) also. However, as we all know, those days are long over.