Country | United States |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Northern and Central Illinois, Iowa, Eastern and Central Nebraska, Northern, Western and Central Indiana, Southwestern Michigan, Southeastern Wisconsin Nationwide (via satellite) |
Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois |
Programming | |
Language(s) | English |
Picture format | HDTV 1080p |
Ownership | |
Owner | Sinclair Broadcast Group Chicago Cubs |
Sister channels | Bally Sports |
History | |
Launched | February 22, 2020 |
Replaced | NBC Sports Chicago WGN Sports WLS-TV |
Links | |
Webcast | watchmarquee |
Website | www |
Availability | |
Streaming media | |
DirecTV Stream | Internet Protocol television |
FuboTV | Internet Protocol television |
Marquee Sports Network is a regional sports network operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group and the Chicago Cubs, launched on February 22, 2020. It is devoted exclusively to Cubs baseball, replacing a trio of channels (cable channel NBC Sports Chicago and broadcast partners WLS-TV and WGN-TV) as the exclusive broadcaster of Cubs games not shown on national TV. [1]
On November 16, 2015, in an interview with WSCR radio, the Cubs' president of business operations Crane Kenney stated that the team was seeking to launch its own in-house regional sports network after its current broadcast contracts with NBC Sports Chicago, WGN Sports, and WLS-TV expire after the 2019 season. [2] [3] [4]
On December 18, 2018, it was reported by the Chicago Sun-Times that the team was preparing to launch its RSN, "Marquee", in 2020, and that Sinclair Broadcast Group was a frontrunner to serve as managing partner. [5] Sinclair had previously attempted to purchase WGN's parent company Tribune Media, and ran the national sports network Stadium with the White Sox's investment arm Silver Chalice, prior to selling its stake to Silver Chalice in 2023. The venture was officially announced in February 2019 to be launched in 2020 with Sinclair. [6] [7]
On May 22, 2019, Michael McCarthy was named general manager of the Marquee Sports Network after being the Cubs' consultant on the channel. [8] He is the former president of the MSG Network [8] and a former top official with the Milwaukee Bucks (COO) and the St. Louis Blues (vice chairman). [9]
On August 22, 2019, a consortium of Sinclair and Entertainment Studios acquired Fox Sports Networks for $10.6 billion, thus making Marquee a sister to them (FSN previously operated a Chicago network, but it became defunct when Chicago's professional teams abandoned it in favor of a joint venture with Comcast—currently known as NBC Sports Chicago). The divestiture was mandated as part of Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, who chose not to retain the networks under its successor Fox Corporation. [10] [11]
Early reception of Marquee was mixed by fans, culminating in fans booing Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts during the annual Cubs Convention in 2020 after mention of the new network. [12] [13]
Marquee Sports Network officially launched on February 22, 2020, at 1 p.m. CT, with its first program being a launch special hosted by actor and Cubs fan Bill Murray, followed by a documentary on Ernie Banks. The channel aired its first live spring training game against the Oakland Athletics at Sloan Park later in the day; the game had been postponed from the afternoon due to the threat of rain. [1] [14] However, because the start of the season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, its first regular-season game was not until July 24, 2020. [15]
Marquee's Cubs broadcasts underwent tweaks for the 2021 season. Alongside its new play-by-play voice Jon Sciambi, the network would no longer require commentators to wear a suit and tie on-air (a mandate made during the inaugural season by executives insisting that Marquee's broadcasts have a "national network quality"), and replaced an unorthodox bottom-centered score bar it had used during the first season with a more traditional scoreboard in the top-left of the screen (a move which also differentiated Marquee from its newly-relaunched sister networks in the Bally Sports group, whose on-air branding was derived from that of Marquee, but with an equally-unorthodox integration of a scoreboard and ticker). [16]
The network would use the slogan "We get it" in a marketing campaign to promote the new Cubs season and these tweaks. [17] [18] [19]
In July 2023, Marquee launched a standalone in-market streaming service priced at $19.99 a month. With the service's launch, Marquee also upgraded its streaming video quality to 1080p. [20]
The Cubs' previous television commentators Len Kasper (play-by-play) and Jim "J.D." Deshaies (color) retained their roles on Marquee at the channel's launch. [21] On May 1, 2019, it was reported that David Kaplan—NBC Sports Chicago studio host for Cubs games—had renewed his contract with the channel, dispelling rumors that he planned to join Marquee. [22] Cole Wright, formerly of NFL Network, was to serve as studio host, and Taylor McGregor, formerly field reporter for the Colorado Rockies on AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, was to serve as field reporter. [23] The channel also brought on Bob Vorwald, former executive producer of WGN Sports. [1]
After the 2020 season, Kasper left the Cubs and Marquee to become the radio voice of the Chicago White Sox on WMVP. [24] Jon Sciambi, then a television and radio play-by-play voice on ESPN's MLB national broadcasts, was hired to replace Kasper. [25] Beth Mowins and longtime Cubs radio broadcaster Pat Hughes act as fill-in announcers when Sciambi is not available. [26]
Besides game broadcasts, Marquee carries documentaries, game replays and player profiles, as well as coverage of select minor league games. [23] [1]
Most Chicago Sky games are available on Marquee or its streaming-only channel, Marquee Plus, in a rights deal shared with WCIU-TV. The network also airs Chicago Sky: No Limits for interviews, analysis, and other Sky information.
In 2023, Marquee picked up the rights to broadcast Chicago Hounds games. During the team's inaugural season, 13 of the team's 16 games were available through Marquee or Marquee Plus. [28]
Marquee Sports Network was an affiliate of the ACC on Regional Sports Networks package, airing select football and men’s and women’s basketball games especially during the baseball offseason, including local coverage of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, until the rights were picked up by The CW in 2023. Likewise, the network aired a package of Conference USA football and men’s basketball produced by Stadium until the conference ended its relationship with the network following the 2022-2023 season.
Marquee is broadcast in five states, particularly Illinois (with the exception of Southern Illinois), most of Iowa, eastern Nebraska, all of Indiana except areas near the Ohio River, and Kenosha County, Wisconsin. The broadcasting areas for each state are listed below.
As of February 2020, Sinclair had secured distribution deals with Charter Communications, RCN, DirecTV, Mediacom, and Frontier Communications to carry Marquee Sports Network at launch. [1]
Upon the announcement of the channel, the network's ability to gain carriage was compared to the troubled negotiations of the Los Angeles Dodgers' SportsNet LA. [34] Industry observer Phillip Swan thought Marquee would have a "50-50 chance of working" while commenting "How can you not look at the disaster of the SportsNet (LA) scene and not be a little skeptical?" [35] Charter has since come to terms with DirecTV to carry SportsNet LA. [36]
Industry experts predicted that Marquee would seek around $5 per subscriber placing it behind YES Network and ESPN. [35] Sinclair secured Marquee's first major carriage agreement with Charter Communications on July 11, 2019. As part of the multi-year carriage agreement, Marquee was bundled alongside Sinclair's owned-and-operated television stations, Tennis Channel and the regional Fox Sports Networks that Sinclair was in the process of buying from Disney at the time. [37]
On October 17, 2019, AT&T agreed to carry Marquee on its television services (including DirecTV, the second largest provider serving the region behind Comcast) as part of a larger, multi-year carriage agreement with Sinclair. [38] [39] Sinclair later reached a deal with Mediacom on November 6, 2019, to carry Marquee Sports Network. [39] On February 17, 2020, the network announced an agreement to carry the network on Hulu's live streaming service. [40] On February 27, the network announced an agreement with WOW cable. [41]
Comcast, the largest television provider in the region (with an estimated 1.5 million subscribers), [42] reached an agreement to carry Marquee on July 24 (in time for the Cubs' opening game) as part of a larger renewal for Sinclair-owned television stations and cable networks. [43]
Until May 2022, Marquee's deal with DirecTV was for in-market coverage only. Unlike many other regional sports networks, Marquee was not included in DirecTV's Sports Pack, which carries RSNs nationwide with appropriate blackouts of professional events. That changed May 9, 2022, with the announcement that Marquee would be available nationwide with the Sports Pack, albeit with the appropriate blackouts. [44]
Dish Network and YouTube TV (which has indicated they have no deal for Marquee's sister RSNs after February 29 and would remove them from the platform on that date) have not reached an agreement with Sinclair to carry Marquee Sports Network. [39]
Additionally, Marquee also has the rights to the games for the Cubs' Minor League Baseball clubs, including Des Moines Iowa Cubs and the South Bend Cubs, ending deals with local broadcast subchannels to leverage Iowa and northern Indiana cable systems into carrying the network. [1] Despite airing some minor league games from the Tennessee Smokies and Myrtle Beach Pelicans, Marquee is not available in Tennessee nor South Carolina.
Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on March 20, 2019, following its acquisition of 21st Century Fox. A condition of that acquisition imposed by the U.S. Department of Justice required Disney to sell the regional networks by June 18, 2019, 90 days after the completion of its acquisition. Disney subsequently agreed to sell the networks to Sinclair; the transaction was completed on August 22, 2019. The networks continued to use the Fox Sports name only under a transitional license agreement while rebranding options were explored. A rebranding cross-partnership with Bally's Corporation took effect on March 31, 2021, and the networks were rebranded as Bally Sports, ending the Fox Sports Networks branding after 25 years.
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