see wxin fm . wxin indianapolis indiana united states branding fox 59 general indiana s fox occasionally fox 59 news newscasts slogan indiana s fox general indiana s 1 news source newscasts channels digital 45 uhf virtual 59 psip affiliations .1 fox .2 antenna tv .3 this tv owner tribune broadcasting tribune broadcasting indianapolis llc founded july 12 1983 1983 07 12 first air date february 1 1984 ; 32 years ago 1984 02 01 call letters meaning xin across indiana sister station s wttv wttk former callsigns wpds tv 1984 1985 former channel number s analog 59 uhf 1984 2009 former affiliations independent 1984 1986 transmitter power 700 kw height 777 m facility id 146 transmitter coordinates 39 53 20 n 86 12 7 w 39.88889 n 86.20194 w 39.88889 ; 86.20194 wxin licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website fox59.com wxin virtual channel 59 uhf digital channel 45 is a fox affiliated television station located in indianapolis indiana united states . the station is owned by the tribune broadcasting subsidiary of tribune media as part of a duopoly with cbs affiliate wttv channel 4 . the two stations share studio facilities located on network place near 71st street & i 465 at the intech park office development in northwestern indianapolis ; wxin maintains transmitter facilities located on west 73rd street or westlane road on the northern outskirts of the city west of meridian hills . on cable wxin is available on comcast xfinity bright house networks and at & t u verse channel 11 in standard definition and in high definition on xfinity bright house networks and at & t u verse channel 1011 . contents 1 history 1.1 prior history of uhf channel 59 in central indiana 1.2 wxin station history 1.2.1 as an independent station 1.2.2 as a fox affiliate 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 on air staff 4.1.1 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit prior history of uhf channel 59 in central indiana edit the uhf channel 59 allocation in central indiana was originally assigned to lafayette located approximately 63 miles 101 km northwest of indianapolis . the allocation would become occupied by cbs affiliate wfam tv now wlfi tv which original owner sarkes tarzian the founding owners of wxin s present day sister station wttv signed on in june 1953 . after that station moved its allocation to uhf channel 18 in 1957 uhf channel 59 would remain dormant until the federal communications commission later reassigned the allotment to indianapolis . wxin station history edit as an independent station edit channel 59 as an indianapolis station first signed on the air on february 1 1984 as wpds tv . it was founded locally by usa communications operated by ron palamara founder of locally based anacomp inc. chris duffy who formerly served as station manager at nbc affiliate wthr channel 13 and melvin simon co founder of shopping mall owner simon property group and co owner of the indiana pacers nba franchise whose last initials served as the basis for the wpds callsign . originally operating as an independent station channel 59 maintained a general entertainment programming format featuring cartoons movies classic sitcoms and drama series . through simon s part ownership of the station it also aired indiana pacers nba games in the 1984 85 season . the station originally operated from studio facilities located on north meridian street in indianapolis television row section . its primary competitor was rival independent wttv channel 4 now a cbs affiliate in bloomington ; wpds would gain another competitor when wmcc channel 23 now mynetworktv affiliate wndy tv signed on november 1 1987 . palamara duffy and simon sold the station to outlet broadcasting through its atlin communications subsidiary in 1985 ; the station s call letters were then changed to wxin on august 10 of that year . the station lost the pacers broadcast rights after the sale with the telecasts returning to wttv for the 1985 86 season . as a fox affiliate edit wxin became a charter affiliate of the fox broadcasting company when the network launched on october 9 1986 after wttv despite its status as one of the strongest independent stations in the country turned down an offer to become an affiliate . as was the case with other fox stations during the network s early years channel 59 was for essential intents and purposes programmed as a de facto independent station as fox initially ran primetime programs only on weekends and would not carry seven nights a week of programming until september 1993 . until fox began airing programming on a nightly basis wxin aired a movie at 8 00 p.m. on nights when network programs did not air . the station began identifying as fox wxin 59 by 1988 simply adding the fox name to the wxin 59 branding in use since 1985 which was simplified to fox 59 in 1991 ; it also added more sitcoms to its inventory and eventually began to overtake wttv in the ratings . outlet sold wxin to chase broadcasting in december 1989 ; 1 chase subsequently merged with renaissance broadcasting in 1993 . chicago based tribune broadcasting bought renaissance s television properties for 1.13 billion on july 7 1996 . 2 under tribune ownership wxin gradually added more talk shows reality series and court shows to its schedule . tribune acquired wttv and its kokomo satellite wttk channel 29 from the sinclair broadcast group on april 29 2002 ; 3 this created the market s first television duopoly under current fcc regulations with wxin when the purchase was finalized on july 24 4 sinclair which had ironically considered acquiring wxin and the other renaissance stations in 1996 5 had briefly owned wttv and wiib channel 63 now ion television owned and operated station wipx tv from 1996 to 1998 under a crossownership waiver as the fcc had prohibited duopolies at the time . while an affiliation swap should have been expected given that wttv was a vhf station that had been on the air much longer than uhf outlet wxin and wxin had an established news department whereas wttv had been outsourcing its newscasts since 1990 tribune kept the wb affiliation on wttv and fox programming on wxin due to the fact that wttv had a weaker signal in the northern parts of the market as its transmitter was located farther south than other area stations requiring wttk to relay its programming . additionally since fox holds the broadcast television rights to the national football conference the network only airs indianapolis colts regular season games up to two per season in which the nfl team plays against an nfc opponent with most other games airing on wish tv channel 8 at the time through american football conference rightsholder cbs so fox did not consider indianapolis an important market for getting a vhf affiliate incidentally wxin carried colts related analysis programs including head coach bill polian s discussion program from 2006 to 2008 assuming the rights from and later losing them to wish tv and wndy tv . 6 in 2004 wxin relocated its operations from its meridian street studio to a new facility at 6910 network place at the intech park office development on the city s northwest side as a result both it and wttv are the only major network affiliates in indianapolis whose studios are not located within the television row section . 7 in 2011 wxin and wsjv in south bend became the only full power fox affiliates in indiana to carry the network s programming on their primary channels after fox programming was relegated to digital subchannels of big three affiliated stations in three markets due to a dispute between the network and the nexstar broadcasting group over reverse compensation of retransmission consent fees that led to nexstar s evansville and fort wayne stations wtvw and wfft tv being stripped of their fox affiliations 8 9 and its terre haute station wfxw now wawv tv dropping the network to rejoin abc 10 wfft tv rejoined fox on march 1 2013 after nexstar settled a 2011 lawsuit against granite broadcasting citing undue control of five major network affiliations on granite s virtual duopoly in fort wayne at the time abc and the cw on wpta and nbc fox and mynetworktv on wise tv . as a result of fellow charter affiliate wfft tv losing its fox affiliation wxin became the longest tenured fox affiliate in the state of indiana . on january 1 2015 wxin became the second largest fox affiliate behind wraz in raleigh north carolina owned in a duopoly with a big three station when wttv switched from the cw to cbs ; it is also the only station in indianapolis to have never changed its network affiliation . citation needed digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 11 59.1 720p 16 9 wxin dt main wxin programming fox 59.2 480i 4 3 anttv antenna tv 59.3 this this tv analog to digital conversion edit wxin shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 59 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 45 . 12 13 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 59 which was among the high band uhf channels 52 69 that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition . programming edit outside of the fox network schedule some syndicated programs include steve wilkos maury celebrity name game tmz on tv and dish nation . in september 2013 wxin became the flagship station for the hoosier lottery whose daily 3 and daily 4 evening drawings are held at the station s network place studios and air nightly at 10 58 after the 10 00 p.m. newscast the station had already been airing drawings for powerball on wednesdays and saturdays and mega millions on tuesdays and fridays which now air after the hoosier lottery telecasts on those nights . 14 ironically sister station wttv which carried the drawings since 1998 through a deal with then rightsholder abc affiliate wrtv channel 6 had lost the rights to the televised drawings after the indiana state lottery commission discontinued them due to budget cuts and began conducting the drawings at its offices using a random number generator in 2001 . 15 channel 59 also airs select indianapolis colts telecasts as part of fox s national football conference package . shortly before wttv switched to cbs the team announced a deal with tribune broadcasting that made wxin and wttv official broadcast partners . this means both stations will air colts preseason games team programming and coach s show beginning in the summer of 2015 though a majority of the games will air on wttv owing to cbs afc rights . advertising within lucas oil stadium is also included in the deal . additionally both stations will carry the super bowl for two out of every three years starting in 2016 with wttv carrying cbs coverage of super bowl 50 in 2016 and wxin fox s coverage of super bowl li in 2017 . the only time the colts would not play on a tribune station would be if they were scheduled for an nbc sunday night football telecast which would air on wthr or espn monday night football which has traditionally aired on wrtv . 16 news operation edit wxin presently broadcasts 61 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with 10 hours 5 minutes on weekdays 5 hours on saturday and 5 hours 5 minutes on sunday