the ultimate game of chicken

so you want to play chicken, eh? cubs owner TOM "show me the money" RICKETTS has told WGN that he is looking to opt out of their television contract after the 2014 season in search of the golden goose, which is probably located on the cable side of the tv world but that causes a major problem for wgn.

pre-cable, wgn was the king of the world on both tv and radio and on a clear night, their radio signal could be picked up in atlanta, new york and denver and tv broadcasts were routinely picked up (although a little fuzzy) in indianapolis, milwaukee, northern wisconsin and downstate illinois. that's exactly how CUB NATION was formed because it certainly wasn't due to the quality of the product. they were the only game in town.

TBS out of atlanta gave viewers their first option back in the early 80's and since then, cable tv has grown quicker than PRINCE FIELDER'S waistline and on any given night, you can watch 4 games with just a basic cable sports package. and believe me, there's big time money lurking in the cable weeds and i believe tom ricketts has his lure ready to cast.

so what's the problem?

maybe none but i can tell you that many inner city families do not have cable and many parts of rural america have the same problem so you immediately have to subtract them from the equation. 

i can also tell you that when the white sox switched from wgn to what was then called UHF, their attendance fell drastically because not everyone's tv had uhf capability. and when the sox tried a pay per view channel known as SPORTSVISION, it was a total disaster from which they have never recovered.

maybe it might just be easier if wgn antes up the big bucks and then everyone can relax.  a final thought:  think the cubs would buy their own channel like the yankees and the braves???