WIPX-TV (channel 63) is a

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

licensed to

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County, Indiana, Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the List of municipalities in Indiana, seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside ...

, United States, serving the

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

area as an affiliate of

Ion Television Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented enter ...

. It is owned by Inyo Broadcast Holdings alongside

Bounce TV Bounce TV is an American digital multicast television network owned by Katz Broadcasting, a subsidiary of E. W. Scripps Company. Promoted as "the first 24/7 digital multicast broadcast network created to target African Americans", the channel fe ...

affiliate

WCLJ-TV WCLJ-TV (channel 42) is a television station licensed to Bloomington, Indiana, United States, serving the Indianapolis area as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Bounce TV. It is owned by Inyo Broadcast Holdings alongside Ion Televisi ...

(channel 42, also licensed to Bloomington). WIPX-TV and WCLJ-TV share offices on Production Drive (near

I-74 } Interstate 74 (I-74) is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Its western end is at an interchange with I-80 in Davenport, Iowa (Quad Cities); the eastern end of its Midwest segment is at an interchange ...

/ I-465) in southwestern Indianapolis; through a channel sharing agreement, the two stations transmit using WIPX-TV's spectrum from an antenna on SR 252 in

Trafalgar, Indiana Trafalgar is a town in Nineveh and Hensley townships, Johnson County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,101 at the 2010 census. This town is south of Indianapolis. It is the home of the transmitters for WTTV, WTTS, WSOM and WHZN ...

History

The station first signed on the air on December 27, 1988 as WIIB. Founded by the

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...

as their fourth television station after

WTTE WTTE (channel 28) is a television station in Columbus, Ohio, United States, airing programming from the digital multicast network TBD. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Sinclair Broad ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

, WPTT-TV in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

and flagship station

WBFF WBFF (channel 45) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with Fox and MyNetworkTV. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (based in nearby Hunt Valley), alongside ABC affiliate WJLA-TV ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

and, to-date, the last station built and signed-on by Sinclair. It originally operated as an affiliate of the Home Shopping Network (

HSN HSN, an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Qurate Retail Group, which also owns catalog company Cornerstone Brands. Based in the Gateway area of St. Petersburg, Flo ...

). Sinclair had planned to eventually convert WIIB into a general entertainment

independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...

. However, those plans were halted when Sinclair acquired the much more popular and established Bloomington-licensed station,

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...

affiliate

WTTV WTTV (channel 4), licensed to Bloomington, Indiana, United States, and WTTK (channel 29), licensed to Kokomo, Indiana, are television stations affiliated with CBS and serving the Indianapolis area. They are owned by Nexstar Media Group alongsid ...

(channel 4, now a

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

affiliate), through its April 1996 merger with

River City Broadcasting River City Broadcasting L.P. was a major television and radio station operator in mid-sized markets in the United States, based in St. Louis, Missouri. Overview The firm was formed in 1989 as a partnership between Barry Baker and Larry Marcus, b ...

, with the company immediately focusing its efforts on that station and its Kokomo

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

WTTK (channel 29). In 1995, WIIB became an affiliate of the Infomall TV Network (inTV)

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...

service. As

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

(FCC) regulations at that time had forbidden the common ownership of two full-power commercial television stations in the same market, Sinclair had to obtain a cross-ownership waiver from the FCC to keep WTTV/WTTK and WIIB. Channel 63 was sold to DP Media, a company owned by Devon Paxson, son of

Paxson Communications Ion Media (formerly known as Paxson Communications Corporation and Ion Media Networks) was an American broadcasting company that owned and operated over 71 television stations in most major American markets (through its television stations group ...

and HSN founder Lowell "Bud" Paxson in 1998; around the same time, DP Media acquired low-power

ValueVision ShopHQ (formerly ValueVision, ShopNBC, Evine Live, and Evine) is an American cable, satellite and broadcast home shopping television network and multi-channel video retailer owned by iMedia Brands Inc., in which Comcast holds a 12.5% stake in th ...

affiliate W51BU and converted it into a translator of WIIB. On August 31 of that year, the station became a charter affiliate of Paxson's family-oriented network Pax TV (now Ion Television), changing its call letters to WIPX-TV to reflect its new affiliation. WIPX-TV and WIPX-LP became Pax

owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...

s, when DP Media merged with Paxson Communications in 2000 (Paxson had earlier attempted to purchase WB affiliate

WNDY-TV WNDY-TV (channel 23) is a television station licensed to Marion, Indiana, United States, serving the Indianapolis area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is locally owned by Circle City Broadcasting alongside Indianapolis-licensed CW affiliat ...

hannel_23,_now_a_

hannel_23,_now_a_MyNetworkTV_affiliate">MyNetworkTV.html"_;"title="hannel_23,_now_a_MyNetworkTV">hannel_23,_now_a_MyNetworkTV_affiliatefor_$28.4_million_in_1997,_before_it_was_outbid_by_a_$35_million_offer_from_the_CBS_Television_Stations">Paramount_Stations_Group_ Paramount_Stations_Group_(sometimes_abbreviated_as_PSG)_was_a_company_that_controlled_a_group_of_American_broadcast_television_stations._The_company_existed_from_1991_until_2001. _History _Paramount_Communications,_the_then-parent_company_of_Par_...

_that_October).

_Newscasts

In_September_2000,_in_conjunction_with_a_local_marketing_agreement.html" "title="CBS_Television_Stations.html" "title="MyNetworkTV_affiliate.html" ;"title="MyNetworkTV.html" ;"title="hannel 23, now a MyNetworkTV">hannel 23, now a MyNetworkTV affiliate">MyNetworkTV.html" ;"title="hannel 23, now a MyNetworkTV">hannel 23, now a MyNetworkTV affiliatefor $28.4 million in 1997, before it was outbid by a $35 million offer from the CBS Television Stations">Paramount Stations Group Paramount Stations Group (sometimes abbreviated as PSG) was a company that controlled a group of American broadcast television stations. The company existed from 1991 until 2001. History Paramount Communications, the then-parent company of Par ...

that October).

Newscasts

In September 2000, in conjunction with a local marketing agreement">joint sales agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or time ...

History

_Newscasts

Newscasts

Technical information

Subchannels

Analog-to-digital conversion

Former translator

References

External links