Chicagoland Television

Chicagoland Television
Launched January 1, 1993 (1993-01-01)
Owned by
Picture format
Slogan Continuous Coverage - Around Chicago, Around The Clock
Country United States
Language English
Broadcast area Chicago metropolitan area, parts of northern Illinois and northwestern Indiana
Headquarters Chicago, Illinois
Sister channel(s)
Website cltv.com
Availability
Cable
Comcast Xfinity (Chicago area) Channel location varies depending on area (SD only) (HD from June 1, 2017 on channel 352)
Comcast Xfinity (Rockford) Channel 10 (SD)
Comcast Xfinity (South Bend) Channel 53 (SD)
RCN (Chicago area)
  • Channel 31 (SD)
  • Channel 616 (HD)

Chicagoland Television (branded on-air as CLTV) is an American regional cable news television channel located in Chicago, Illinois. The channel currently serves the Chicago metropolitan area, with additional availability in the nearby Rockford and South Bend, Indiana markets. The channel, which is exclusive to Comcast Xfinity and RCN customers, broadcasts news programming 24 hours a day, with the exception of some locally produced non-news programs and special programming.

The channel has been owned by Tribune Media (through its Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary) since its debut; it is one of three flagship media properties owned by the company, alongside radio station WGN (720 AM) and CLTV's news partners, independent station WGN-TV (channel 9). The Chicago Tribune, owned by Tronc (the former Tribune Publishing) since Tribune's publishing assets were spun-off in summer 2014, continues to contribute some CLTV content. Chicagoland Television operates from the studios of WGN-TV on Bradley Place in Chicago's North Center neighborhood.

History

The channel began operations on January 1, 1993, originally broadcasting out of studios located in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook. On February 4, 2009, the Tribune Company announced that it would combine CLTV's operations with the company's flagship television station WGN-TV, though CLTV would continue to operate as a standalone cable news channel. As a result of the integration of the channel's operations, CLTV relocated from its Oak Brook studio to WGN's Bradley Place studios on the northwest side of Chicago. The move became official on August 28, 2009, when editorial control of the cable channel was also turned over to WGN-TV's news department.[1][2]

Prior to this, Tribune integrated CLTV's weather operations with channel 9, and WGN radio entered into a content agreement with WGN-TV to provide weather forecasts for that station. Upon the completion of the merger, CLTV received a new on-air logo, implemented new graphics based on those used by WGN-TV for that station's newscasts and upgraded to high definition broadcasts.

In July 2009, CLTV laid off more than 20 staffers, including on-air personalities Aaron Baskerville, Randi Belisomo and Regina Waldrop.[3] Other staffers cut were in sales and production.

Programming

CLTV focuses primarily on 24-hour rolling news coverage, with broadcasts structured into a traditional wheel format of news, traffic and transit reports, weather forecasts, sports, and entertainment and feature reports. The wheel format is subject to interruption due to breaking news events within the city or significant national events that necessitate longer-form coverage. Live news broadcasts on the channel begin daily at 4 a.m. and run in blocks of varying lengths until 12 a.m.

Other programs featured on CLTV include:

  • Politics Tonight, a nightly political discussion program hosted by WGN-TV political editor Paul Lisnek, airing weeknights at 5:30 p.m. (repeats at 10:00 p.m.);
  • Rebroadcasts of WGN-TV newscasts including one-hour of that station's two-hour midday (the noon hour repeating at 1 p.m. each weekday), weekend morning (the 8 a.m. hour repeating at 9 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays), 9 and 10 p.m. (repeats at 10:30 and 11:30 p.m. weeknights, respectively plus the 9 p.m. repeat at 10 p.m. Sundays), the Saturday 5 p.m. newscast (which airs at 6 p.m. Saturdays) and bi-weekly public affairs programs Adelante, Chicago and People to People;
  • Special live half-hour editions of WGN-TV's 9 p.m. newscast that are broadcast exclusively on CLTV during instances in which WGN-TV telecasts an NBA, NHL or Major League Baseball event being held on the West Coast that is scheduled for a 9 p.m. CT start time locally (an additional half-hour newscast airs live on WGN-TV following the game). CLTV began airing these occasional broadcasts on July 8, 2010;[4]
  • Weekend rebroadcasts of non-news programs produced for WGN-TV including food and cultural program Chicago's Best, lifestyle program Living Healthy Chicago and the DIY/home project program The Weekend Workbench;
  • Limited paid programming during early overnight periods
  • CLTV SportsFeed which airs Sundays-Thursdays at 6 p.m. and repeats at 9 p.m.
  • Live hour-long simulcasts of The Steve Cochran Show (weekday mornings at 9 a.m.) and The Roe Conn Show (weekdays at 3 p.m.) from sister station 720 WGN Radio

Some sports programming also has been featured on the channel including:

In addition, the channel was used in the past as an overflow feed for regional sports network Comcast SportsNet Chicago (now NBC Sports Chicago; branded technically as CSN+ in order to alleviate sports overflows with CSN Chicago's properties). CLTV was also used during the existence of SportsChannel and Fox Sports Net Chicago as the overflow feeds of those channels before the launch of CSN Chicago. By the second quarter of 2010, Comcast's Chicago systems transitioned to digital-only transmission of its channel lineup (requiring a digital converter box or CableCard-compliant receiver to receive programming), and NBCSC+ has been transitioned to its own channel, along with a NBCSC+HD feed.

Partnerships with other Tribune Company properties

Due to CLTV's ownership by the Tribune Company, the channel shares content and reporting from other news operations run by the company. News footage is shared extensively between CLTV and WGN-TV. All of CLTV's weather coverage is provided by WGN-TV. Columnists from the Chicago Tribune (as mentioned above, now separately owned since mid-2014) also provide in-depth reporting for many feature stories seen on CLTV. Metromix, a joint venture between tronc and the Gannett Company that provides local arts and cultural coverage and is available as the cultural section in the Tribune, produced Metromix Weekend for CLTV. The primetime program initially aired on a nightly basis until 2008, when it was relegated to Thursdays and Fridays, with repeats during the weekend (the program is currently on hiatus).

Availability

CLTV reaches an estimated 1.8 million households, making it one of the most widely distributed regional cable news channels in the United States. The channel had been exclusively available on Comcast (and its forerunners AT&T Broadband, MediaOne and TCI) until October 2009, when RCN started to carry CLTV after Tribune struck a new carriage agreement with Comcast that removed the channel's exclusivity to that provider, enabling CLTV to appear on additional providers in the Chicago area.[5] Three months later on January 19, 2010, Comcast began offering CLTV on digital cable in the company's Rockford and South Bend service areas.[6] The SportsChannel/Fox Sports Net and Comcast SportsNet overflow content was not exclusive before October 2009, and was used on other systems that did not carry CLTV. CLTV currently remains unavailable to WOW!, AT&T U-verse, Dish Network and DirecTV subscribers in the Chicago market.

Notable current personalities

+ denotes personnel exclusively seen on CLTV

Anchors
Weather team
Sports team
  • Rich King – sports anchor; Fridays and Saturdays
Reporters

References

  1. ↑ Rosenthal, Phil (February 4, 2009). "WGN-TV, CLTV to integrate operations". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  2. ↑ Tribune Co. combining operations of WGN-TV and cable outlet CLTV, Chicago Tribune, February 5, 2009
  3. ↑ Saphir, Ann (July 10, 2009). "CLTV cuts staffers". Crain's Chicago Business. Crain Communications. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  4. ↑ WGN News at Nine to Air on CLTV & Stream Live on WGNtv.com When Baseball on WGN-TV Starts at 9pm, Tribune Company. Retrieved 12-9-2010.
  5. ↑ RCN adds CLTV to channel lineup Chicago Tribune October 15, 2009
  6. ↑ Comcast and CLTV Announce Launch of CLTV in Rockford and South Bend Markets Archived July 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Tribune Company Press Release January 19, 2010
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