Mannym13 15 Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 So this morning, while I was watching Today on NBC5, I noticed a few commercials -about 3- regarding the fact that the Cubs game against the Brewers tomorrow will be on Cozi TV, or 5.2 ota, because of conflicts on CSN and CSN plus with the Bulls and Blackhawks both having playoff games concurrent with the game. The Sox will be on WCIU on Friday night, so I was wondering why the Cubs game wasn't just switched to WGN since that's still open? WGN could move their CW programming to Sunday or after 11:00 like they do sometimes, but I'm just curious as to why the game's not on WGN but on Cozi, of all places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
24994J 5276 Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 I was considering post about this. I wonder if, much like WCAU and KNTV, WMAQ will become a player in the broadcast negotiations with the Cubs. Obviously, this a a rare arrangement, and it could mean nothing, but it might deserve a second glance. The CW's been kinda bitchy about pre-emptions in the last few years, so that's probably a hang-up with putting the game on 'GN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmkcool2002 7 Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 I'm surprised WGN/WCIU aren't mad considering they pay for EXCLUSIVE broadcast TV rights Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
24994J 5276 Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 I'm surprised WGN/WCIU aren't mad considering they pay for EXCLUSIVE broadcast TV rights Exclusive? Hardly. Only about 50-60 Sox games are on WGN/WCIU and about half of the Cubs games. CSN has the others, not counting ESPN and Fox Sports. Besides, the Cubs and WGN aren't on the best of terms right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 It very well may have to with the fact that WGN is only allowed a certain amount of pre-emptions per year by The CW (plus sweeps). Plus, CSN does not want to lose any ad revenue from having to move the game to a separate un-related company. If anything, this will motivate the Cubs owners to start their own network since this will undoubtedly happen again in the future. I don't know why the Cubs and WGN would be on bad terms. Irregardless if they continue with WGN as their OTA partner or not, both have worked together for 50+ years and any change will be a business decision and nothing more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightynine 287 Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 Probably as simple of a matter as this is part of CSN's package of games and not WGN's, so they aren't even in the picture. So it's somewhere in CSN's contract that if the first two channels are unavailable due to a conflict, the Cubs game moves to 5.2. Considering how rare this is likely to happen, that makes sense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mannym13 15 Posted April 24, 2014 Author Share Posted April 24, 2014 I was considering post about this. I wonder if, much like WCAU and KNTV, WMAQ will become a player in the broadcast negotiations with the Cubs. Obviously, this a a rare arrangement, and it could mean nothing, but it might deserve a second glance. The CW's been kinda bitchy about pre-emptions in the last few years, so that's probably a hang-up with putting the game on 'GN. It very well may have to with the fact that WGN is only allowed a certain amount of pre-emptions per year by The CW (plus sweeps). Plus, CSN does not want to lose any ad revenue from having to move the game to a separate un-related company. If anything, this will motivate the Cubs owners to start their own network since this will undoubtedly happen again in the future. I don't know why the Cubs and WGN would be on bad terms. Irregardless if they continue with WGN as their OTA partner or not, both have worked together for 50+ years and any change will be a business decision and nothing more. Now that I think about it, I think it's more about CW programming pre-emptions because maybe once a year you see games switched from CSN to WGN or vise versa. I think this time, it was just a matter of having to air this many hours of CW programming, or something of that nature because it makes no sense to put a game on Cozi when WGN is available, but, I guess, this time, WGN wasn't an option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spring Rubber 612 Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 I don't think I've seen games get flipped between WGN and CSN as they are two separate networks. I have seen games get flipped between WGN and WCIU, though, since they are partners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mannym13 15 Posted April 25, 2014 Author Share Posted April 25, 2014 I've seen the ad a few more times, and they have a CSN plus logo on the screen at the end. Also, on the Cubs website, Cozi appears to be listed as CSN+2, which I find interesting. I don't really know what that means. I guess that puts Cozi into consideration as an overflow for CSN games over WGN. I just find it strange to have Cozi listed as CSN+2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Heller 1 Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 So this morning, while I was watching Today on NBC5, I noticed a few commercials -about 3- regarding the fact that the Cubs game against the Brewers tomorrow will be on Cozi TV, or 5.2 ota, because of conflicts on CSN and CSN plus with the Bulls and Blackhawks both having playoff games concurrent with the game. The Sox will be on WCIU on Friday night, so I was wondering why the Cubs game wasn't just switched to WGN since that's still open? WGN could move their CW programming to Sunday or after 11:00 like they do sometimes, but I'm just curious as to why the game's not on WGN but on Cozi, of all places. something tells me that The cubs are trying to follow the Giants, and (recently) phillies, moving OTA games to a NBC O&O station (Cubs/WMAQ, Giants/KNTV, and Phillies/WCAU) we'll see what The cubs decide to either stay with WGN or move to another OTA station in Chicago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 something tells me that The cubs are trying to follow the Giants, and (recently) phillies, moving OTA games to a NBC O&O station (Cubs/WMAQ, Giants/KNTV, and Phillies/WCAU) we'll see what The cubs decide to either stay with WGN or move to another OTA station in Chicago. No they're not. WGN is they're OTA partner and that will not change this season. This is one of those special circumstances that lead to the Cubs being moved to another channel, nothing more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
24994J 5276 Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Chicago Tribune's got the write-up... http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-comcast-sportsnet-broadcast-20140424,0,4524365.story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundershock MN 169 Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Chicago Tribune's got the write-up... http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-comcast-sportsnet-broadcast-20140424,0,4524365.story IMO, that article is really written poorly. It implys the game(s) were moved to Cozi TV (& CLTV.) What about satellite subscribers? They must be out of luck since SatCos don't carry Cozi TV & CLTV...well not really. The thing is the Bulls game & Cubs game are still technically CSN games they are just being simulcasted on other outlets as well. CSN Chicago does a much better job explaining it. The Bulls game is on "CSN Chicago +" and will also be carried on CLTV. That is pretty much SOP. The Cubs game is on "CSN Chicago +2" and will also be carried on Cozi TV. That is a little unique. As I don't believe they have ever done that before. In the past either the MVPD's picked up the "CSN +2" feed or they didn't. This set up presumably allows them to achieve maximum distribution for the games. So, they have there bases covered as the SatCos will just pick up the "CSN +" & "CSN +2" channels/feeds. And, if the CableCos fail to pick them up or don't have the space they are covered as most (if not all) carry CLTV & Cozi TV. This would also explain the dual logos in the ads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
24994J 5276 Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Well, of course it wants to make the Tribune company look good, even though any overflow is ALWAYS on CLTV. That said, I just found out that my provider (AT&T) will be using one of their off-air sports channels to carry the Cub game, so it won't be restricted to OTA and certain cable customers. But, dammit, I'm going to watch it on 5.2 just for the novelty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.