Weigel Broadcasting

Ten games will be available on WISC’s 3.1 and 3.2 channels beginning Feb. 23.

Ten games will be available on WQAD’s 8.3 subchannel beginning Feb. 23.

Weigel Broadcasting digital network Decades becomes Catchy Comedy March 27, featuring classic sitcoms such as I Love Lucy, Good Times and Night Court. Catchy Comedy features the tagline “Catch All the Laughs” and is set to be Nielsen-rated.

The new OTA network will feature factual and historical programming. It debuts on Hearst, Marquee, Maranatha and Weigel subchannels nationwide on March 28.

In a series of transactions totaling nearly $100 million, Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting has acquired two stations serving the New York market as affiliates for the company’s MeTV digital networks.

A local food show in Chicago supporting restaurants during the pandemic has turned into a success for WCIU. “It’s just fun and everybody can always get behind food,” says Molly Kelly, Weigel Broadcasting’s media strategy director.

The programming vet comes on board after nine years at Discovery Inc., most recently as SVP of factual programming for Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Science Channel.

New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include openings for a lead broadcast engineer in Chicago and a chief engineer in Savannah, Ga.

The deal covers measurement services for Weigel Broadcasting’s eight stations in Milwaukee and South Bend, Ind.

She joins from WITI in the market to succeed the retiring Mark Strachota as head of WDJT, WMLW, WBME and WYTU.

Weigel Broadcasting’s MeTV FM in Chicago, the increasingly popular soft-rock oldies station at WRME 87.7 FM, has teamed up with CBS-owned WBBM on news and weather updates.

Twenty-five years after WCIU Chicago shed its affiliation with the Univision Spanish-language network and became fully independent as “The U,” the Weigel Broadcasting station is about to take on a new identity. On Sunday it will become an affiliate of The CW.

Beginning in the third quarter, Weigel Broadcasting’s Decades multicast network will be carried on Fox-owned stations in 12 major markets as part of a multiyear agreement with Fox Television Stations, LLC. The deal ups the network’s U.S. coverage to 60% with 65 TV affiliates nationwide. Decades will launch on Fox stations in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, Tampa, Phoenix, Detroit, Minneapolis, Austin and Gainesville, Fla.

With the addition, the station will move its current programming branded as The U to a subchannel.

Hall’s new syndicated talk show, which was being pitched as a daytime offering, will air instead from 8 to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday on Weigel Broadcasting’s independent WCIU Chicago. It’s a huge coup for Hall and an exceedingly shrewd move by the Weigel bosses.

The new multicast network will debut on Sept. 3 featuring  procedural dramas focusing on strong women. At launch, it will reach 42% of U.S. TV households anchored by the CBS Television Stations.