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Superstation WGN is a Chicago-based American Superstation, owned by Tribune Broadcasting Company. Superstation WGN offers its national programming across North America without network programming. The Superstation is available via satellite to DirecTV and Dish Network in the United States, StarChoice in Canada and cable television subscribers in both countries. Canada's other satellite provider, Bell ExpressVu, carries the local Chicago feed. In the Chicago area, the Superstation is not available on cable or terrestrial digital but is available to DirecTV and Dish Network viewers.
History In 1978, WGN-TV channel 9 in Chicago was uplinked via satellite for cable and satellite subscribers nationwide. For the next 12 years, the national WGN-TV signal was the same exact signal as the Chicago-land signal. In 1989, a new law known as Syndication Exclusivity Rights, or "SyndEx", was passed. This law means that whenever a local station has the exclusive rights to air a syndicated program in their market, it must be covered up on any out-of-town stations by the local cable company. On January 1, 1990, a special national feed of WGN was launched to avoid any blackouts, save for sports programming, similar to WWOR-TV's "WWOR EMI Service", only with fewer blackouts. Superstation WGN's national feed does not carry the WGN Morning News (it is claimed that the newscast was dropped from the Superstation due to "SyndEx" rules on some segments) but does air the Noon and 9 p.m. newscasts. The evening newscast is occasionally pre-empted nationally due to special programming not allowed to air outside of the Chicago area, primetime sports cleared on the local Chicago channel but not the Superstation feed (crime drama reruns usually fill the news slot in this case), or if a movie on the Superstation runs long. Another major programming difference between the national and local Chicago feeds is that Superstation WGN does not carry CW network programming (which does appear on the Chicago feed), as that network is available in most markets around the country. The Superstation feed did carry programming from the former The WB network nationwide (which Tribune had an ownership interest in) from the network's launch in 1995, until 1999, when local station coverage was deemed sufficent enough by Time Warner and Tribune to discontinue airing The WB on the Superstation feed. Both the local Chicago and national feeds feature select Cubs and White Sox baseball games and air a select amount of Bulls basketball games. Due to NBA broadcast rights restrictions, most Bulls games contracted to air on WGN-TV are seen in the Chicago area only; the Superstation feed airs movies and other syndicated programming instead. Nearly half of WGN-produced White Sox games and eight Cubs games air on WCIU-TV for the Chicago market only. With the news that fellow Superstation TBS Superstation is moving its national broadcasts of the Atlanta Braves to its local Atlanta WTBS-TV feed in 2008, it leaves WGN as one of the few Superstations broadcasting local sports to a national audience. * Logos Note: The Superstation feed used the local WGN Chicago logos until 1995; see the WGN-TV article for logos between 1978-1995. Image:Wgn2001_a.jpg|Superstation WGN logo from 2001 to 2002. Image:Superstation wgn.jpg|The Present Superstation WGN logo since 2002. The "S" oval was used alone at the logo's launch but the WGN call letters were re-added shortly thereafter to avoid audience confusion. See Also | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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