Former MLBer Ryan Dempster will host his own talk show on the Cubs' Marquee Sports Network that will include "guests from baseball, the arts and other walks of life," according to Paul Sullivan of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. The show, titled "Off the Mound with Ryan Dempster," will be taped "once a month beginning in April and air with several repeats on the new network." Dempster said, "We're going to run it like a late-night talk show. More of our guests will be sports related, baseball related, but we're not going to just limit it to baseball." Dempster also will serve as a "part-time analyst for Cubs telecasts and continue his MLB Network job as a studio analyst." However, he said, "If this 'Off the Mound' thing goes well, I'd like to continue to pursue that as much as I can and have fun with it" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 2/17).
MAKING SOME PROGRESS: BROADCASTING & CABLE's Jon Lafayette notes Marquee has signed a deal to be "streamed as part of the Hulu+ Live TV lineup," marking the RSN's "first over-the-top deal with a virtual MVPD." That is significant because it means fans "can watch games if they cut the cord." Marquee has yet to reach a deal with Comcast, the dominant cable operator in Chicago, and the deal with Hulu "might put pressure on Comcast, if it wants to avoid having its subscribers cut the cord" (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 2/17).
