 | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Nationwide |
| Network | The WB (1995–1999) |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Picture format | 1080i (HDTV) (downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Tribune Media (1978–2019) Nexstar Media Group (2019–2021) |
| Parent | DT Media Group |
| Sister channels | |
| History | |
| Launched | November 9, 1978[1][2] |
| Closed | March 1, 2021 (42 years, 3 months and 20 days) |
| Replaced by | NewsNation |
| Former names |
|
WGN America was an American subscription television network that operated from November 9, 1978 to February 28, 2021. The service was originally uplinked to satellite by United Video Inc. as a national feed of Chicago independent station WGN-TV, making the station's programming available to cable and satellite providers throughout the United States as the second nationally distributed "superstation" (after Atlanta station WTCG, now operating as the cable-originated TBS, which had become a national service almost two years earlier).
It maintained a nearly identical program schedule as the Chicago station, airing a variety of programming including films, syndicated series, programs intended for local broadcast in the Chicago market (including local newscasts, public affairs shows and children's programs), and sports (including Chicago Cubs and White Sox baseball, Chicago Bulls basketball, and regional collegiate events). By the 1990s, the WGN superstation feed began substituting some syndicated programs (and starting in 1996, selected sporting events) in accordance with syndication exclusivity rules implemented by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in January 1990 to reduce programming duplication between local and out-of-market television stations carried by local cable systems, and served as the national carrier of The WB (part-owned by WGN-TV founding owner Tribune Broadcasting, which would acquire the national feed from United Video in 2001) during the latter half of the decade.
WGN America was converted into a conventional basic cable network in December 2014, adding scripted original programs and removing WGN-TV's local programs from its schedule as well as making the network available on cable and satellite providers within the Chicago market. Nexstar Media Group acquired WGN America as part of its 2019 purchase of most of Tribune's assets, becoming the company's only wholly owned, national cable-originated network. The channel in its final form under the WGN branding ran a mixture of entertainment programs (consisting of comedy and drama series, and theatrical feature films) for most of the broadcast day and, beginning in March 2020, a straight-news format—via a daily national prime time newscast, NewsNation—during the evening and early overnight hours.[3] Nexstar relaunched the network as NewsNation on March 1, 2021, and plans to convert its entire schedule to a general news and discussion format by late 2024, as contracts for syndicated entertainment programs held over from the predecessor WGN America service (and originally purchased for the network by Tribune) expire.[4]
- ^ "Cable Briefs". Broadcasting. Broadcasting Publications, Inc. December 18, 1978.
- ^ "WGN America profile" (PDF). TheCab.tv. 2012.
- ^ "WGN America Announces Anchor Teams and Correspondents for Prime-Time National Newscast "News Nation" Launching September 1" (PDF). WGN America (Press release). Nexstar Media Group. June 2, 2020.
- ^ "WGN America will change its name to NewsNation, moving to compete with CNN, Fox, MSNBC". Los Angeles Times. 2021-01-25. Retrieved 2021-01-25.