After Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert left the series to do Siskel & Ebert (1986), Siskel was suspended by the Chicago Tribune, the newspaper for which he wrote. The series was produced by Tribune Entertainment which, like the newspaper, was owned by the Tribune Company. Siskel began negotiations with the Chicago Sun-Times, the newspaper for which Ebert wrote. When the Chicago Tribune learned of this, they rehired Siskel.
By 1986, Siskel and Ebert's contract with Tribune Broadcasting had expired, and the syndicate refused to agree to a new contract to continue their show, apparently presuming the critic duo had nowhere else to go. However, when the team went to the TV syndication trade show that year to promote their series, they intended to indicate to competing media companies that they were available subtly. Gene Siskel struck up a conversation with an old friend who had gone to work for Walt Disney Picture's TV syndication business, Buena Vista Entertainment. That friend learned that the critics were working without a contract and he quickly contacted his corporate superiors of the opportunity. Those superiors immediately gave their orders to sign the critics to their syndication business, which led to the creation of Siskel & Ebert (1986), with the firm condition that the critics would have full editorial independence for their reviews.
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