Ed Sherman recently reported in his Tribune column that the Cubs are trying to find a "multi-channel" solution to their WGN-TV contract woes.
WGN re-opened the broadcast deal, allegedly claiming it was losing $200,000 per telecast because of poor ratings. The Cubs counter that they are not getting paid enough (around $250,000 per game). So the team is exploring options.
One problem is that the Cubs partnership with Comcast prohibits porting the 75 WGN telecasts to another cable outlet. Comcast SportsNet already carries the majority of Cubs and White Sox telecasts.
So the Cubs brain trust is thinking outside the box to go inside the digital box to start its own mini-Cub channel.
Remember when the FCC mandated that all analog television signals change to digital? People got government coupons to pick up television set converter boxes. These boxes would convert new digital over-the-airwaves signals for older television sets. One of the advantages of the new digital air signals is that a broadcaster can split it into several different channels. The old UHF stations used that technology feature to create four channels in one signal (ex., Channel 23.1, 23.2, 23.3 and 23.4)
Now, most television consumers have basic cable service in their homes, or have sat TV dishes on their roofs. So the real audience for these over-the-air only broadcasts is fairly limited (even though some cable operators simulcast them in the triple digit cable channels). Since the Cubs cable contract does not allow a secondary cable channel, the Cubs new mini-digital network would have a tiny footprint in the Chicago metro area.
The problem is that the big four network stations are affiliates with national programs to run. WGN is the one big independent station, but whose management now wants to create its own network programming for national distribution (without the Cubs games). That leaves only the small, independent UHF broadcasters as potential partners in a short term broadcast venture (Comcast's partnership ends after 2020).
So why would the Cubs try to start their own network from scratch and run it on a low signal broadcast outlet for five years? If the WGN-TV numbers are true, the Cubs would be running higher deficits on their own because there is less audience for advertising. But the Cubs are on a quest to get more revenue, apparently at any cost.
This appears to be another strange decision in a line of odd choices the Cubs "business" side has been making in the past few months.
