Monday, March 30, 2009

WMAQ to outsource sports?

Ed Sherman (remember him?) has a business of sports blog at Crain's ChicagoBusiness.com and the former Chicago Tribune sports media reporter has dirt on a possible move by NBC-owned WMAQ-TV to outsource their sports department to Comcast SportsNet.

This comes as stations are looking for ways to save money in an already declining economy. Many have eliminated their sports departments altogether.

If WMAQ does make the move, it would come without precendent. In 2003, CBS affiliate KCTV in Kansas City outsourced its sports department to local production company Metro Sports, owned by Time Warner Cable. When the deal expired last December, it left the Meredith-owned station without any sports reporting on its newscasts (then again, given the recent performance of the city's sports teams, most people didn't notice.)

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