Why cable TV is the big winner in 2012 election in Illinois

Although many of Illinois' hotly contested races won't be settled until late this evening, there's already one clear winner: cable TV.

President Barack Obama is counting on an easy win in his home state, and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has Indiana sewn up. As a result, they have focused their ad spending anywhere but here, reducing the take for Chicago's broadcast stations. The lack of any statewide contests also reduces the appetite for the wide reach of the broadcast stations. But the unusually large number of local races and competitive congressional races mean the region's dominant cable provider, Comcast Corp., is seeing a much larger share of Chicago's political ad market this year as local candidates embrace cable TV's ability to focus ads on their own districts instead of buying ads seen from Wisconsin to Indiana.