Posted by chicagomedia.org on October 18, 2009 at 16:03:30:
October 15, 2009
RCN adds CLTV to channel lineup
CLTV, the 16-year-old Tribune Co. Chicago-area cable news channel previously only available to Comcast subscribers, was added this afternoon to the RCN cable lineup as well.
RCN's Chicago market includes the city's lakefront area, including Lincoln Park, Lake View, Gold Coast, Streeterville, Rogers Park and the Village of Skokie. As of 4 p.m. today, RCN customers could find CLTV on Channel 31.
Steve Farber, general manager of Chicagoland Television, said CLTV has reworked its long-standing agreement with Comcast enabling it to appear on other systems. "We would anticipate we'll be in more Chicago homes as we get into 2010, but we don't have anything else to announce yet," Farber said.
"This channel is in high demand so we're confident that our customers will appreciate its addition," Tom McKay, RCN's senior vice president and Chicago general manager, said in the announcement, noting that the company "moved quickly to add this popular regional news station" as soon as it was available.
CLTV moved its operations to Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.'s WGN-Ch. 9 facility on West Bradley Place in August, with management saying the shared newsroom gave CLTV additional resources for covering area stories.
"This is the next step in relaunching and reinvigorating CLTV," Farber said.
The move to WGN enables CLTV to program in high-definition, but the channel is not yet available in HD. Farber said there are no plans to make CLTV available either online or on one of WGN's digital broadcast subchannels. "We are a cable channel and intend to remain one," he said.
Posted at 05:14:43 PM by Phil Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune