WGN-TV would enter into a programming arrangement with independent station WCIU-TV (channel 26) in July 1999 for that station to carry select White Sox, Chicago Bulls and Chicago Cubs games within the Chicago market that WGN is under contract to produce and air; the agreement was the result of network affiliation contracts with WGN-TV (first with The WB at the time the WCIU deal was made, and now with The CW) limit the number of programming preemptions allowed each year, as well as due to rights restrictions put in place by the National Basketball Association which limit the number of Bulls telecasts aired on WGN's national superstation feed (now known as WGN America) to only fifteen games per season.