CUB OWNERS
PARTNER WITH SINCLAIR BROADCASTING FOR PAY TO VIEW
By Anne Sommerkamp
As of this writing, Sept. 28, 2019
could be the last game broadcast on WGN. The station has been carrying Chicago
pro sports since 1948, beginning with the Cubs. The Hawks, Bulls and Sox have
been on and off WGN over the years, but all four teams seem to be going out
together in 2020.
The Hawks, Bulls, and Sox are going
to Comcast Sports' newly named NBCSCH, and a new "All Cubs-All the
Time" Regional Sports Network will debut for the 2020 baseball season. Cub
fans will have to pay to see them play on the Marquis Sports network. Marquis
Sports is being launched by Sinclair broadcasting. Sinclair has been steadily growing and
acquiring new affiliates in more and more markets for decades. It has, in the
process, spread a conservative message enforced by mandates on local news
anchors to read required copy. Locally owned Sinclair stations must also air
partisan commentaries by figures like Boris
Epshteyn, Sinclair’s
chief political analyst and a former Trump aide in both the 2016 campaign and
the White House. Sinclair could soon be available in over 72% of the households
in the United States presenting extremely far right news content.
How can one broadcast entity be
allowed access to 72% of all homes in the U.S.? Capitalism and good lawyers
that's how. The Federal Communications Commission doesn't allow broadcast
companies to serve more than 39% of households. To get around the 39 percent
cap, Sinclair said in an FCC filing that it intends to sell stations in
eight markets, including New York, Chicago, and Seattle. BUT that doesn’t mean
those stations won’t be influenced by Sinclair.
As reported in Variety, Sinclair doesn’t plan to be too
far removed from WPIX and WGN. The filing discloses that Sinclair already has
buyers lined up for both stations and that Sinclair intends to continue running
the stations through an “options and services agreement” inked with the buyers.
Sinclair won’t own these stations, but still plans to spread the conservative
message to those massive audiences.
Back to the Cubs...
Chicagoans are used to seeing sports on TV for free, but there isn’t another
big city in the country that enjoys over-the-air access to so many local pro
teams and games. The almighty dollar has pushed teams onto regional sports
networks (RSNs), such as NBCSCH and the Cubs’ Marquee Sports Network.
The RSNs have the right to sell some
games to WGN, allowing fans who only have over-the-air TV to see the Cubs.
There won't be as many games on free TV as Chicago fans are used to. In New
York, for example, the Yankees and Mets, who are the majority owners of their
own network, sell a package of games to WPIX. The Yankees will air 21 games
over the air and the Mets 25. Baseball is the ideal sport for such an
arrangement because of the number of games available. The Yankees and Mets can
afford to sell off a game per week with roughly 150 games available after the
national networks select their share.
The Ricketts family, who owns the
Cubs has made over three times the 900 million dollars paid by the Ricketts in
2009. The Ricketts family made significant contributions to the Trump
campaign.
Sinclair Broadcasting is owned by the
Julian Sinclair Smith family from Maryland and is often criticized for its
conservative bent. Critics including former news anchor Dan Rather have described Sinclair's practices
as being "an assault on our democracy" by disseminating what is
perceived to be Orwellian-like propaganda to its local stations.
All in all, there is a lot of money
being made and spent. The worrisome part is the rightwing bloviation getting
more exposure in more markets.
