WGN-TV will televise 92 Cubs games during the '98
season -- about 50 fewer than last year, according to
Hirsley & Jones of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. The station
"characterized the decision as TV baseball history squeezed
by TV baseball economics: The Cubs need to be taken off WGN
at times for their own good." Hirsley & Jones: "Lower-rated
baseball broadcasts need to be replaced by higher-rated
entertainment shows so those programs can generate more ad
revenues to pay higher baseball bills as the cost of
fielding a competitive team continues to escalate." While
Cubs games averaged a 4.7 rating last season, programs like
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Dawson's Creek" receive
higher ratings. Most of the games taken off WGN will be
moved to CLTV, the Cubs' local cable partner, also owned by
Tribune Co. But Hirsley & Jones note that CLTV's signal
"doesn't reach beyond the immediate Chicago area," and added
that "about" 30% of Chicago-area viewers don't have cable.
Tribune Broadcasting Co. President Dennis FitzSimons:
"Ultimately, the Cubs have to be competitive in terms of
revenue they can generate for telecast rights if they're
going to put a competitive team on the field." FitzSimons
"stressed" that WGN still will carry more MLB games than any
over-the-air station this year. FitzSimons: "Advertising
budgets are not designed to support a 140-game (broadcast)
schedule. There's a reason why no other (non-cable) station
is carrying [92] games" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 1/29). Also in
Chicago, Dave Van Dyck writes, "Where the Cubs will be hurt
is in the marketing of a team that built itself through ivy-
walled, sunny afternoon baseball on free TV." In addition
to Cubs games, WGN will show 52 White Sox games and
"several" end-of-season Bulls games (SUN-TIMES, 1/29).
AND BUFFY? Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray, on being
replaced by programming like "Buffy": "Well, hell, I'm more
attractive than Buffy. ... Oh yeah. She's a gorgeous hunk
of a woman. She may be good-looking, but she doesn't have
anything to do with baseball" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 1/29).
