WGN-TV

===CW affiliation; split of the local and national signals (2006–2016)===
On January 24, 2006, the [[Warner Bros. Entertainment]] division of Time Warner and [[CBS Corporation]] announced the formation of [[The CW]], a network that would initially feature a mix of programs originating on The WB and UPN—which Time Warner and CBS, respectively, would shut down in concurrence with The CW's launch—as well as new series developed specifically for the CW schedule. In conjunction with the launch announcement, Tribune signed a ten-year agreement involving sixteen of the group's 19 WB affiliates (including WGN-TV), which would join eleven UPN stations owned by [[CBS Television Stations|CBS]] to form The CW's initial group of charter affiliates.<ref>{{cite news |title='Gilmore Girls' meet 'Smackdown'; CW Network to combine WB, UPN in CBS-Warner venture beginning in September |url=https://money.cnn.com/2006/01/24/news/companies/cbs_warner/ |author=Jessica Seid |website=[[CNNMoney.com]] |date=January 24, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=UPN and WB to Combine, Forming New TV Network |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/business/media/24cnd-network.html?bl |author=Bill Carter |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 24, 2006}}</ref> Because The CW primarily chose its original affiliates based on the highest overall viewership in each market among the pool of existing WB and UPN affiliates, WGN-TV was chosen as its Chicago affiliate over WPWR-TV, as Channel 9 had been the higher-rated of the two stations dating to WPWR's sign-on. On February 22, Fox announced that WPWR and nine other non-Fox-O&O stations (eight UPN stations, consisting of four [[KCOP-TV|in other]] [[KTXH|major]] [[WDCA|markets]] where The CW chose to align with a Tribune station and [[KUTP|four]] [[WUTB|based]] [[WRBW|in non]]-[[WFTC|Tribune markets]], and [[KDFI|one independent]] station) would become the initial charter outlets of [[MyNetworkTV]], a joint venture between [[Fox Television Stations]] and [[Twentieth Television]] meant to fill the two weeknight prime time hours that would be opened up on UPN- and WB-affiliated stations that were not chosen to become CW charter outlets.<ref>{{cite news |title=News Corp. to launch new mini-network for UPN stations |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-02-22-fox-my-network_x.htm |newspaper=[[USA Today]] |date=February 22, 2006 |access-date=January 21, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=News Corp. Unveils MyNetworkTV |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/news-articles/news-corp-unveils-my-network-tv/78935 |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |date=February 22, 2006}}</ref> The CW did not commission the WGN national feed—which became known as Superstation WGN in November 2002 and then as WGN America in August 2008—to act as a national default feed for the network, as it was able to maintain sufficient national coverage at launch through conventional over-the-air and digital multicast affiliates in the 100 largest markets as well as supplementary coverage in the remaining 110 markets through [[The CW Plus]], a small-market feed comprising primary and subchannel-only over-the-air affiliates as well as cable-only affiliates that were part of the predecessor WB 100+ service.
[[Image:WGN9 Chicago (2002-2017).svg|210px|thumb|Former logo, used from November 11, 2002, to May 15, 2017; as a network affiliate, the logos of The WB and The CW, respectively, appeared next to the boxed "9" (which was originally rendered in blue until 2016).]]
Channel 9 remained an affiliate of The WB until the network ceased operations on September 17, 2006; it became a charter affiliate of The CW when that network debuted the following day on September 18. WPWR, meanwhile, had disaffiliated from UPN on September 4 and began carrying MyNetworkTV programming upon that network's September 5 launch. As a CW affiliate, WGN-TV had been one of the network's higher-rated affiliates in terms of overall viewership, often drawing more viewers than Fox-owned WFLD—even in prime time, despite the latter's Fox programming. Channel 9 carried the entire CW schedule from the network's launch, including its children's program blocks (Kids' WB, [[Toonzai|The CW4Kids/Toonzai]], [[Vortexx]] and [[One Magnificent Morning]]); however, from September 2013 to September 2016, WGN had aired the network's [[The CW Daytime|daytime talk show block]]—which had been reduced to one hour (from two) in September 2011—one hour earlier (at 2&nbsp;p.m.) than other CW affiliates in the [[Central Time Zone]], aligning with the block's East Coast airtime. WGN-TV gradually evolved its programming slate during the late 2000s and 2010s, adopting a news-intensive format (expanding its newscast production to 70 hours per week by 2016), and shifting its weekday daytime lineup towards mainly first-run [[talk show|talk]] and game shows during the daytime hours; as fewer film packages were offered on the syndication market, its weekend schedule also began relying less on feature films and shifted to incorporate local lifestyle and tourism programs as well as additional first-run and off-network syndicated shows.

On April 1, 2007, Chicago-based real estate investor [[Sam Zell]] announced plans to purchase the Tribune Company in an $8.2-billion [[leveraged buyout]] that gave Tribune employees stock and effective ownership of the company. The transaction and concurring privatization of the company was completed upon termination of Tribune stock at the close of trading on December 20, 2007. Prior to the sale's closure, WGN-TV was one of two commercial television stations in the Chicago market, not counting network-owned stations, to have never been involved in an ownership transaction (along with WCIU-TV, which has been owned by Weigel Broadcasting since its February 1964 sign-on).<ref>{{cite news |title=Zell to acquire Tribune Co. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/02/business/worldbusiness/02iht-zell.3.5113686.html |author=Katharine Q. Seelye |author2=Andrew Ross Sorkin |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 2, 2007 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Zell buys Tribune Co., Cubs to be sold |url=https://money.cnn.com/2007/04/02/news/companies/tribune_zell/index.htm |author=Chris Zappone |website=CNNMoney.com |date=April 3, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Zell completes Tribune buyout |url=https://variety.com/2007/biz/news/zell-completes-tribune-buyout-1117978038/ |author=Cynthia Littleton |periodical=Variety |date=December 20, 2007 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> On December 8, 2008, Tribune filed for [[Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection]], citing a debt load of around $13 billion—making it the largest media bankruptcy in American corporate history—that it accrued from the Zell buyout and related privatization costs as well as a sharp downturn in revenue from newspaper advertising. After a protracted four-year process, on December 31, 2012, Tribune formally exited from bankruptcy under the control of its senior debt holders, [[Oaktree Capital Management]], [[JPMorgan Chase]] and [[Angelo, Gordon & Co.]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Tribune Co. to emerge from bankruptcy Monday |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-a-new-era-dawning-for-tribune-co-20121230,0,2026865.story |author=Robert Channick |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 30, 2012 |access-date=March 20, 2019 |archive-date=January 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122233124/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-a-new-era-dawning-for-tribune-co-20121230,0,2026865.story |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Tribune Company Seeks Bankruptcy Protection |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/business/media/09tribune.html |author=Richard Pérez-Peña |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 8, 2008 |access-date=August 24, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Bankruptcy-Exit Plan Gets OK |url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/60776/tribune-bankruptcyexit-plan-gets-ok |author=Randall Chase |agency=Associated Press |website=TVNewsCheck |date=July 13, 2012}}</ref> On July 10, 2013, Tribune announced plans to [[Corporate spin-off|split off]] its broadcasting and newspaper interests into two separate companies. WGN-TV and WGN Radio would remain with the original entity, which was renamed Tribune Media and was restructured to focus on the company's broadcasting, digital and real estate properties; the newspaper division—which, in addition to the ''Chicago Tribune'', included publications such as the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', the ''[[South Florida Sun-Sentinel]]'' and the ''[[Baltimore Sun]]''—was spun off into the standalone entity Tribune Publishing (known as Tronc from June 2016 until the company reverted to its former name in October 2018). The split was completed on August 4, 2014, ending the ''Tribune''{{'}}s joint ownership with WGN-TV and WGN Radio after 66 and 94 years, respectively. However, WGN-TV continues to maintain a content partnership with the ''Tribune''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Tribune Co. to Split in Two |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/11/business/media/tribune-co-to-split-in-two.html?_r=0 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 10, 2013 |access-date=July 11, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tribune Publishing targets Aug. 4 for spinoff |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-tribune-spinoff-date-aug-4-20140623-story.html |author=Robert Channick |website=Chicago Tribune |date=June 23, 2014}}</ref>

On December 13, 2014, Tribune converted the WGN America national feed into a conventional cable channel that would focus on acquired and original programs, containing significantly more domestic and internationally acquired programming than the channel did prior to its separation from WGN-TV, and switched from a royalty to a [[retransmission consent]] revenue model. As a result, WGN America immediately ceased simulcasts of WGN-TV's Chicago-originated local programming (which was limited to its weekday noon and [until that simulcast was dropped the previous February] nightly 9&nbsp;p.m. newscasts, select news specials, public affairs programs, special events and sports telecasts, alongside a limited number of off-network syndicated reruns, religious programs and feature films acquired for the Chicago feed). Starting with its addition to [[Comcast Xfinity]]'s Chicago-area systems on December 16, the changeover allowed cable and IPTV subscribers within the market—as local satellite viewers had been able to do for about two decades—to receive WGN America for the first time. (As a result of the October 2007 separation of [[TBS (American TV channel)|TBS]] from its Atlanta parent WTBS, WGN America had been the last remaining national superstation to be distributed to cable, IPTV, fiber optic ''and'' satellite television providers, whereas the other six remaining superstations are distributed outside their home regions mainly on satellite.)<ref>{{cite web |title=WGN news loses national platform |url=http://www.robertfeder.com/2014/02/05/wgn-9-p-m-news-loses-national-platform/ |author=Robert Feder |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=February 5, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN America comes home to Chicago |url=http://www.robertfeder.com/2014/12/15/wgn-america-comes-home-to-chicago/ |author=Robert Feder |author-link=Robert Feder |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 15, 2014 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN America Converts to Cable in Five Markets |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/programming/wgn-america-converts-cable-five-markets/136444 |author=Kent Gibbons |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |date=December 16, 2014 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> Due to the separation of the local and national feeds, WGN-TV did not carry WGN America's original drama series (such as ''[[Salem (TV series)|Salem]]'' and ''[[Manhattan (TV series)|Manhattan]]'') outside of preview promotions, limiting the local availability of these programs to subscribers of [[DirecTV]] and [[Dish Network]] and through WGN America's streaming agreement with [[Hulu]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Hulu Nabs Streaming Rights to WGN America's 'Manhattan' |url=https://variety.com/2014/digital/news/hulu-nabs-streaming-rights-to-wgn-americas-manhattan-1201269951/ |author=Alex Stedman |periodical=Variety |date=July 28, 2014 |access-date=August 12, 2014}}</ref> WGN-TV would regain national availability in the spring of 2015, when [[Channel Master]] included the Chicago feed among the initial offerings of its LinearTV [[over-the-top media services|over-the-top streaming]] service.<ref>{{cite web |title=CES: Channel Master DVR to Pipe in Linear OTT |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/technology/ces-channel-master-dvr-pipe-linear-ott/136765 |author=Jeff Baumgartner |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |date=January 6, 2015 |access-date=September 9, 2015}}</ref>