Hate to tell you this...but other than the noon & 9PM news, (WGN-9 has 11AM news, while WGN-A has "In the Heat of the Night" for that hour) & Cubs/White Sox games, they are VERY different!
(I have both, so I know this all too well)
Just go to zap2it.com, put in zip code 60601, then select DirecTV Chicago for your lineup & you'll immediately see just how different they are.
(I tried to copy & paste the schedules, but it wouldn't paste properly)
Because Syndex does NOT just apply to CW Network prog...it applies to EVERY, SINGLE, syndicated show that WGN-Chicago shows in the Chicago DMA. As I mentioned above...that IS the reason why their 2 schedules are completely different - if you look at WGN-Chicago's daytime schedule alone...every syndicated show (Maury, Live w/Kelly, Racheal Ray, Bill Cunningham, Dr. Drew, etc.) would have to be blacked out in pretty much EVERY DMA in the US. (since obviously, all those shows are played on a local station in all but EVERY DMA as well) It would be a given that most, if not all of those local channels WOULD in fact, invoke Syndex on all those syndicated shows. Since NO cable co is going to go thru the hassle of that much blacking out - that's why the WGN-A feed exists.
Correct, WGN-Chicago NO longer has SS status, just like the WTBS-Atlanta feed (now renamed WPCH) lost SS status even before it changed call letters.
And, WGN-A & TBS (even before the local version was changed to WPCH) are considered basic cable channels, equivalent to a USA or TNT cable channel - & have NO SS status at all.