WIIH-CD
 | |
| Indianapolis, Indiana United States | |
|---|---|
| Branding |
WISH-TV 8 (general) 24-Hour News 8 (newscasts) |
| Slogan | Today, Tomorrow, Always |
| Channels |
Digital: 17 (VHF) Virtual: 8 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels |
8.1 Simulcast of WISH-TV/The CW 8.2/17.1 GetTV 8.3 Justice Network |
| Affiliations | The CW (as a WISH-TV translator) |
| Owner |
Media General (Indiana Broadcasting, LLC) |
| First air date | January 29, 1988 |
| Call letters' meaning | Visual disambiguation of former W11BV translator calls with look-alike characters, H from WISH-TV calls |
| Sister station(s) | WISH-TV, WNDY-TV |
| Former callsigns |
W11BV (1988–1995) WIIH-LP (1995–2002) WIIH-CA (2002–2009) WIIH-LD (2009–2011) |
| Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 11 (UHF, 1988–2002) 17 (UHF, 2002–2011) |
| Former affiliations |
Primary: Independent (1988–2003) Univision (2003–2008) Weather forecast service (2009–2011) CBS via WISH-TV (2011-2014) Secondary: CBS via WISH-TV (1988-2003 & 2009-2011) |
| Transmitter power | 0.3 kW |
| Height | 144 m |
| Class | DC |
| Facility ID | 167765 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 39°53′25″N 86°12′20″W / 39.89028°N 86.20556°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | wishtv.com |
WIIH-CD, virtual channel 17 (VHF digital channel 8), is a low-powered television station located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The station is owned by Media General, and is operated as a sister station to CW affiliate WISH-TV (channel 8) and MyNetworkTV affiliate WNDY-TV (channel 23). WIIH-CD currently serves as a translator station to WISH-TV. All three stations share studio facilities located on North Meridian Street (at the north end of Television Row) in northwestern Indianapolis; WIIH-CD maintains transmitter facilities located on Walnut Drive, also on the city's northwest side (near Meridian Hills).
History
Early history
The station first signed on the air on January 29, 1988 as W11BV, broadcasting on VHF channel 11. Its original owner, White River Corporation, sold the station to Indiana Broadcasting Corporation, the subsidiary of LIN Broadcasting Corporation (predecessor to LIN Media) that held the license for WISH-TV, on December 21, 1992.[1] The station changed its call letters to WIIH-LP in 1995. In 2002, WIIH moved its allocation to UHF channel 17 and received approval from the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify its license to Class A status, modifying its calls to WIIH-CA in the process. In 2003, the station became the market's Univision affiliate, branding as "Univision Indiana". Soon afterward, WISH-TV began producing a nightly Spanish-language newscast for WIIH-CA (titled WIIH Noticias), which was cancelled in 2008. On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives that could result in the sale of the company.[2]
On September 15, 2008, LIN and Time Warner Cable entered into an impasse during negotiations for new retransmission consent deals for some of the group's television stations. Bright House Networks, a major cable provider for Indianapolis, negotiates carriage contracts through Time Warner Cable. LIN TV requested compensation for carriage in a manner similar to cable networks, as other broadcast station owners began to seek compensation from pay television providers for their programming. The agreement with Bright House expired on October 2.[3] By 12:35 a.m. on October 3, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks substituted WIIH, WISH and MyNetworkTV affiliate WNDY-TV (channel 23) as well as LIN's other television stations around the country with other cable channels in markets where the group owns or manages stations and both providers maintain systems. Locally, WISH and WNDY were restored 23 days later on October 26 after LIN reached a groupwide carriage agreement with TWC/Bright House, however WIIH-CA was excluded from the deal. By 2008, Indianapolis had grown to become the 57th largest media market based on the local Hispanic population in the United States.[4]
On January 1, 2009, the station dropped Univision programming after LIN failed to renew its contract with the network (which expired the day before on December 31, 2008), and adopted a weather-focused programming format, branded as "LWS: Local Weather Station". As a result, two other pay television providers in the Indianapolis market, Comcast and AT&T U-verse secured carriage agreements with Univision to receive its programming from the network's national feed; however, Bright House decided not to pursue a contract with the network at that time.[4]
As a WISH-TV translator
On January 29, 2010, LIN TV filed an application to the FCC to operate a fill-in translator station for WISH-TV using WIIH-LD's UHF channel 17 signal,[5] to serve areas of Indianapolis that experienced problems receiving the WISH-TV signal after the transition. The Commission granted a construction permit to build transmitter facilities for this purpose on June 16, 2010.[6] The transmitter was relocated to the tower site used by WISH-TV on 7619 Walnut Drive (though the City of Indianapolis lists the address as 2500 Westlane Road[7]) in northwestern Indianapolis, and was installed on the tower at 144 metres (472 ft) above average terrain.
The FCC cancelled WIIH-CA's analog license on January 13, 2011, when WIIH-LD was converted into a fill-in translator of WISH-TV[8] (LWS programming remained on digital subchannel 8.2 on WISH-TV and was moved to that same mapped subchannel on both WIIH-CD with the translator conversion). In September 2011, LIN Media filed an application to the FCC to upgrade the WIIH-LD license to Class A status. After the move was approved by the FCC, WIIH's call letters were modified to WIIH-CD.
On March 21, 2014, Media General announced that it would merge with LIN Media in a $1.6 billion deal.[9] The merger was completed on December 19.[10]
WISH-TV affiliation switch with WTTV
Prior to January 1, 2015, WISH-TV (and therefore WIIH-CD from January 13, 2011) was the CBS affiliate for the Indianapolis market. However, on August 11, 2014, Tribune Broadcasting announced that CW affiliate WTTV would become the market's CBS affiliate on January 1, 2015, as part of an agreement that also renewed the CBS affiliations on Tribune-owned stations in five other markets.[11] The deal, which would end WISH-TV's 58-year relationship with CBS, was reportedly struck as a result of WISH station management balking at the network's demands for reverse retransmission consent compensation from its affiliates.[12] This will mark the second time in Indianapolis television history that WTTV took an affiliation from WISH, the first being ABC in 1956. As the other major broadcast networks had existing affiliation deals with other area stations (WRTV's ABC affiliation was up for renewal around this time, though the E. W. Scripps Company reached a deal to allow ten of its stations to remain with that network the day prior to the announcement[13]), WISH announced on December 11, 2014 that it would become an independent station upon losing CBS, filling timeslots previously occupied by network shows with additional newscasts and an expanded inventory of syndicated talk shows, newsmagazines and sitcoms.[14] However, on December 22, Tribune announced that it would sell the CW affiliation in the market to Media General; as a result, WISH (and therefore WIIH-CD) will become a CW affiliate, in effect switching affiliations with WTTV and preventing a situation where the CW on WTTV-DT2 would be relegated to the lower digital subchannel tier on local cable systems and probable non-carriage by satellite systems for months.[15] The loss of WISH's CBS affiliation also affected the Media General-LIN merger, with the purchase price being lowered by $110 million in stock, though no other factors were affected.[16]
Digital television
Digital channels
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
| Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP Short Name | Programming[17] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WISH-HD | Simulcast of WISH-TV / The CW |
| 8.2/17.1 | 480i | 4:3 | GetTV | GetTV |
| 8.3 | JustNet | Justice Network |
Analog-to-digital conversion
WIIH-CA terminated its analog signal on September 9, 2009 and flash cut its digital signal into operation on VHF channel 8 (the former analog and current virtual channel allocation of WISH-TV, which it vacated upon the June 12 digital television transition).
References
- ↑ "http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=175810". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved December 24, 2014. External link in
|title=(help) - ↑ http://www.lintv.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=298&Itemid=114
- ↑ http://indiana.mybrighthouse.com/products_and_pricing/digital_cable/programming/programming_status.aspx
- 1 2 http://www.indystar.com/article/20081229/LOCAL18/812290361
- ↑ http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1354342&Service=LD&Form_id=346&Facility_id=39269
- ↑ http://licensing.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/pubacc/Auth_Files/1364690.pdf
- ↑ IMAGIS (http://imaps.indygov.org/newimagis/) database inquiry
- ↑ http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=23788
- ↑ "Media General to buy WISH-TV parent in deal worth $1.6B". Indianapolis Business Journal. Associated Press. March 21, 2014. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
- ↑ Media General Completes Merger With LIN Media, Press Release, Media General, Retrieved 19 December 2014
- ↑ "cbs-moving-indianapolis-affiliation-to WTTV". TVNewsCheck. August 11, 2014. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
- ↑ Variety http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/cbs-switches-indianapolis-affiliation-in-tribune-pact-bumping-cw-to-digital-channel-1201279881/. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "Scripps, ABC Sign New Affiliation Deal". TVNewsCheck. December 10, 2014. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
- ↑ Lindquist, David (December 11, 2014). "WISH-8 lining up celebrity talk, syndicated sitcoms". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
- ↑ Malone, Michael (December 22, 2014). "Tribune Sells Indianapolis CW Affiliation to Media General". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
- ↑ Palazzo, Anthony (20 August 2014). "Media General Cuts Lin TV Price After CBS Drops Affiliate". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
- ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WIIH
External links
- wishtv.com - WISH-TV official website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WIIH
- Listing 1030817 in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Antenna Structure Registration database
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||