DirecTV subscribers who rely on Tribune Co. local television stations aired on the satellite service to get their baseball fix breathed a sigh of relief late last night as the two sides reached an agreement that brought those stations and national cable network WGN America back on air. more ›

Chicago's sports bars with DirecTV are in a hurry to make sure they have WGN-Channel 9 in time for the Cubs home-opener tomorrow afternoon. more ›

The dispute has turned into a "we had/did not have an agreement" argument in which each side is casting the other as the bad guy. Hanging in the balance are the viewing habits of 30 million viewers in 19 television markets across the country. more ›

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey rejected two plans for reorganizing Tribune Co. and threatened to appoint a trustee to help pull the media company out of the heavily leveraged "deal from Hell." more ›

That sound you hear in the distance isn't the wind; it's the snickering of scores of local media professionals reacting to the news. more ›

A tipster sent us a link to what appears to be a possible redesign for ChicagoNow. Keep in mind that, if this is the case, it's far from the finished design. more ›

The Tribune Co. exodus that started with the departure of CEO Randy Michaels and "Chief Innovation Officer" Lee Abrams continued yesterday with the departure of Kevin Metheny from WGN-AM. Also not letting the door hit him in the ass on the way out is former City Clerk and convicted felon Jim Laski, who came to epitomize Metheny's meddling management style as much as Howard Stern's nickname for Metheny - "Pig Virus." more ›

On the eve the publication of that damning New York Times profile into the corporate culture at Tribune Co. under Sam Zell, CEO Randy MIchaels, the man at the focus of the exposé, sent out an email to Tribune employees urging them to "ignore the noise" that would be generated from the piece that painted the actions of executives brought in after Zell's debt-heavy leveraged buyout as juvenile, at best. more ›

The Tribune Co., like that one prudish looking girl in high school who was outed as easy the day after senior prom, is getting picked on mercilessly in the wake of that New York Times expose. more ›

Crain's reports that Fitch Ratings cut the issuer default rating on Tribune Co. stock from "B-" to "CCC," saying that default "is a real possibility." [Crain's] more ›

Maybe he hasn't made Keith Olbermann's nightly list yet, but Sam Zell is quickly cementing his place among the "Worst People in Chicago" as he continues to antagonize Chicagoans since his takeover of the Tribune Co. more ›

It's not just your suburban-bound friend's condo that's taking longer to sell -- the Cubs sale is proceeding slower than Sam Zell predicted due to real estate uncertainties as well. more ›

When Carlos Zambrano, Derrek Lee and Kosuke Fokodume receive their first paychecks of the 2008 seasons, there will be a signature on them. Whose it'll be, nobody knows. That's because current Cubs owner Sam Zell vows to close a deal on the sale of the Cubs by Opening Day. more ›

Every time we think the state's government can't get any worse, they somehow find a way to surprise us. Unable to reach a deal that'll adequately fund the CTA and its crumbling infrastructure, they think they want to buy yet another fixer-upper piece of property. The State of Illinois is supposedly interested in buying Wrigley Field, which is for sale along with the Cubs following billionaire Sam Zell's takeover of the Tribune Co. The Illinois... more ›

Fans can expect another busy offseason for the Cubs. And while last winter was spent courting the likes of Alfonso Soriano and Ted Lilly, this year's focus is going to be the ownership of the team. The Tribune Co., the current owners, has been dragging its feet on the sale, as it tries to maximize the overall price. While officially the desire is to close the sale during the fourth quarter, it's likely a deal... more ›

Well, that didn't take long, did it? The Arizona Diamondbacks finished off the Cubs 5-1 on Saturday, sweeping the NLDS ... and delaying a Cubs World Series at least another year. Those of us familiar with the Cubs knew what to expect from Game Three as a soon as Rich Hill's very first pitch to Chris Young ended up in the left-field bleachers. Hill was lucky to escape the inning down only 2-0, and he... more ›

They're Ours! We were pleasantly surprised by signings announced on both sides of town in recent days -- the Cubs and Carlos Zambrano agreed to a five year deal worth $91.5 million on Friday, and on Saturday the White Sox announced a two year, $22 million extension for Jermaine Dye. Zambrano's signing caught us by surprise for a number of reasons -- because of the impending sale of the Cubs, because of the dollars involved... more ›

After helping the Cubs climb back into the NL Central race by going 9-3 with a 1.98 ERA through June and July, Carlos Zambrano looks like a different pitcher in August. more ›

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig must have choked on his frozen custard when he found out that Mark Cuban has officially thrown his hat into the ring to buy the Cubs. On Thursday Cuban made public that he had submitted his application to buy the storied ball club. Bud, of course, has other ideas about who shall buy the Cubs. He has been lobbying for longtime friend John Canning Jr. to purchase the team from the... more ›

On this -- officially the slowest sports day of the year -- we will take the opportunity to look back at the first half (or so) of the season for the Cubs and Sox. Fans of both teams entered the season with high expectations. Has either team lived up to those expectations? Cubs After spending a ton of money on free agents during the off season, the Cubs sit in second place in the NL... more ›

Even before the team was officially up for sale, there has been a great deal of speculation about who the next owner of the Cubs might be. While the media -- Chicagoist included -- has focused on the likes of Donald Trump, Ernie Banks and Mark Cuban as possible new team owners, if MLB commissioner Bud Selig gets his way the new owner will be less well known to most of us. Fortune magazine is... more ›

We here at Chicagoist like to keep it local (since that's our name and all). With that in mind, here's all the news — or at least three stories we found that we wanted to bring to your attention but couldn't really get a whole post out of. So let's get on those chaps, buckaroos, and head on down to the old roundup: Dick Durbin Seeks Review of Tribune Sale. Expressing concern that federal regulators... more ›

Peraica put Stroger "on notice". Daley will appoint a commission to study gun laws and makers -- he says we'll debate Iraq forever, but no one wants to talk about this issue. A consumer revolt by Midwestern baby boomers is bringing Brownberry's Natural Wheat bread -- original recipe -- back to store shelves June 11. Parent Arnold Foods Co. introduced an airier, sweeter version in April. Big mistake. Tribune Co. said Monday that the... more ›

With the Cubs' season rapidly spiraling out of control, all hell broke lose at the formerly "friendly confines," beginning with Friday's matinee. Unable to beat their opponents of late -- and perhaps too used to beating themselves on the field -- the Cubs began beating on each other instead. Television cameras captured for all to see, a fight between pitcher Carlos Zambrano and catcher Michael Barrett in the Cubs dugout following a rough inning that... more ›

This is not a fun time to be a baseball fan in Chicago. Whether a White Sox or Cubs fan, you no doubt have that sinking feeling about your team's prospects for the postseason after they were swept this week. The Cubs lost 9-0 to the Florida Marlins on Wednesday, following a day full of meetings. The players held one. So did management. Didn't help, at least on Wednesday. The players felt they needed to... more ›

This week, the Cubs announced plans to build a statue of Ernie Banks outside Wrigley Field, honoring Mr. Cub himself. The new statue will be in place before the 2008 season. While discussions about erecting a statue honoring perhaps the greatest Cubs player ever had been going on for a while, Jess Jackson recently got the ball rolling with a public petition, appearances on the Mike North morning show, and a publicized meetings with Tribune... more ›

We Chicago sports fans sure didn't have very long to mourn the end of the Bulls season. Barely 12 hours later, the trash talking is reaching a fever pitch, as the Cubs and White Sox face off for the first time in 2007. Wrigley Field hosts the first installment of the city's annual crosstown showdown, beginning with Friday's matinee. The teams enter this weekend's series on opposite trajectories, with the Sox having won eight of... more ›

We've been singing the praises of local internet startup GrubHub for a while now, so we weren't totally surprised to see them featured in today's Sun-Times. What we were pleasantly surprised to discover is that GrubHub is raking in the dough in a serious kind of way. Last year they placed more than $4 million in Chicago delivery orders, and they have already have completed $3 million in orders in 2007. Not bad for a... more ›

After months of speculation that the Cubs might be put up for sale as part of a restructuring or sale of Tribune Co., almost immediately after the board's approval of Chicago billionaire Sam Zell's offer, news came that the team would in fact be sold. Now the handicapping can begin on who the new owner will be. There has certainly been no shortage of potential bidders mentioned. Of course, that was before the Cubs went... more ›

For the past six weeks, the Chicago Sun-Times has been conducting a trial against the Chicago Tribune on charges of "gross negligence and neglect in its ownership of the Chicago Cubs." Over the course of the past six weeks, the prosecution and defense have "called" countless witnesses to the stand. Jerry "The bleacher preacher" Pritikin, Marc Silverman, Milo Hamilton, Jimmy Piersall, Mike Murphy, Dallas Green, and Ron Santo. Santo was the lone witness for... more ›