Chicago Auto Show

Ending a 16-year run on NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5, official broadcast rights to the 2015 Chicago Auto Show have been picked up by ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7.

The agreement with the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, sponsor of the nine-day extravaganza at McCormick Place, marks a return to ABC 7, which had been “official station” of the nation’s largest auto show until 1999. The opening event is the First Look for Charity preview February 13.

“We are thrilled to partner with the Chicago Automobile Trade Association to bring the 2015 Chicago Auto Show home to ABC 7,” said John Idler, president and general manager of ABC 7. “CATA’s reputation for excellence, integrity and their commitment to Chicago through the generous support of local charities are core values we share. We look forward to a very long and mutually beneficial partnership that will enrich our steadfast commitment to the communities we both serve.”

Sources familiar with the deal said CATA will pay the station $130,000 to defray production costs of the live special.

Although ABC 7 alone has CATA’s official designation and underwriting, the arrangement does not preclude NBC 5 or any other station from producing its own special from the Chicago Auto Show. In recent years, Tribune Media WGN-Channel 9 and CLTV have aired specials independently.

NBC 5 and Telemundo Chicago sister station WSNS-Channel 44 won more than a dozen local Emmy Awards for their Chicago Auto Show coverage over the years. But not everyone there was sorry to lose the annual hourlong infomercial for the auto industry.

When NBC 5 beat out ABC 7 and CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 for the Chicago Auto Show broadcast rights in 2000, the head of the trade association acknowledged that his group had sought assurances from all three stations to provide favorable news coverage. “We were looking for the same thing with all three . . . in order to make us both look good for a longer period of time than just during the Auto Show,” the association president told me. “It might have to do with [coverage of] auto safety, driving habits and, yes, some with dealers.”

But nothing at NBC 5 came close to the ethical debacle nearly two decades ago when ABC 7 blacked out an investigation of auto safety on the eve of the 1996 Chicago Auto Show. Fearing that it might offend its auto dealer sponsors, ABC 7 refused to air an “Inside Edition” report on fire hazards involving ignition switches on Ford vehicles. Without explanation, the station substituted another installment of the syndicated newsmagazine.

A year earlier, ABC 7 killed an "Inside Edition" story about safety hazards with rear-door latches on Chrysler minivans. It was to have aired on the Auto Show's opening weekend.

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