This morning’s report on the Chicago Cubs possibly pairing up with ABC-7 for a portion of their games turned out to be spot on. Read that earlier article for more details on the Cubs’ current – complex – television rights situation.
For now, though, the Cubs have announced that they are, indeed, pairing up with ABC-7 to air 25 Cubs games per year, starting in 2015, and running through 2019.
“We are excited to have WLS-TV [ABC-7] as our new television broadcast partner,” said President of Business Operations Crane Kenney in a statement. “WLS-TV has established itself as a trusted voice in Chicago, and we look forward to a new chapter of Cubs baseball airing on the flagship station of the ABC television network.”
The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
For now, it doesn’t appear that the 25-game set that ABC-7 is getting will be limited to a certain viewing window, and the games could be daytime, primetime or weekends. My guess, though, is that ABC probably has a preference for daytime and weekend games, given their network broadcasts in primetime.
Kenney indicated in the statement that an announcement on the home for the remaining 45-ish games not contracted to ABC-7 or CSN is coming soon. Earlier reports indicated they will be returning to local WGN-9.