WGN used to be the ONLY place to catch the Cubs on TV, Curious...When ESPN started broadcasting MLB in 1990, the Cubs needed to find a cable TV partner due to ESPN's exclusive contract with the league, specifically on Wednesday nights and when the Cubs were on the road. That explains why Cubs' games are on other channels besides WGN's local CW 9 & the former WGN Superstation, DIRECTV 307, nowadays. It does get kinda goofy in regards to WGN's broadcast deals with the Bulls & Blackhawks. Long before they became an NBA punching bag, WGN went to court in a much-publicized case in which the league didn't want the station(s) to broadcast Bulls' games over the air. The league thought WGN & its Superstation monopolized the visiting team's market. The two sides ended up settling out of court, with 15 games a season available on both Channel 9 and on the renamed WGN America, and 15 others airing only in Chicago. As for the Hawks, while it's my understanding Channel 9 used to carry the team's games, long before the defunct SportsVision, SportsChannel, FOX Sports Net Chicago & the current Comcast SportsNet, I'm a little puzzled why WGN (A) was excluded from airing a handful of games given their growing popularity.

I'm aware of all the WGN/NBA stuff from long ago. It's some bullshit, yeah. It's better for the league to have the Bulls serving otherwise unserved Midwestern cities like St. Louis, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Omaha, and Milwaukee.

The Hawks are held off WGN America because Bettman doesn't want the Blackhawks to be seen outside Chicago when other teams don't have that luxury, and because Versus is then no longer the exclusive cable home of the NHL. While I sorta get the latter, the former is retarded. He's a marketing genius, I tells ya.

But yeah, the Cubs' broadcasting setup is way too contrived right now. WGN, 26, CSN, CLTV, ESPN, ESPN2, Fox...that's too damn many. Now obviously we can't eliminate national Fox coverage as much as we might like to do that (though it'd be nice to tell them to skimp on the Cubs GOTWs and let us handle that ourselves), but having this quartet of local outlets is ridiculous and kind of insulting. The reason WGN has a national feed in the first place is precisely because they have the Cubs and Bulls. Everything else is filler. And it's hardly as if WGN has anything better to show during the day. Steve Wilkos? Maury Povich? Beauty and the Geek? I can't believe it's more profitable to show that schlock than it is to air 150some Cubs games.

The White Sox can have Comcast Sportsnet to themselves and not get in my way.

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