![]() This marked the second time that WTTV has taken a network affiliation away from WISH, the first being when it took the ABC affiliation in 1956. This led to CBS reaching a deal with WTTV, which Tribune was eager to land since the network holds the broadcast television rights to the AFC, which includes rights to most of the Indianapolis Colts' regular season games. ![]() The deal, which was part of an agreement that also renewed the CBS affiliations on Tribune-owned stations in four other markets, including WTKR, which was owned by Dreamcatcher Broadcasting and operated by Tribune through a shared services agreement (SSA), was driven by CBS' desire for reverse retransmission consent compensation from its affiliates WISH-TV had been in negotiations to renew its agreement with the network, but station management reportedly balked at CBS' demands. On August 11, 2014, CBS and Tribune Broadcasting announced that WTTV would become Indianapolis' CBS affiliate beginning on January 1, 2015. WTTV then replaced WNDY as the market's WB affiliate on April 6, and changed its on-air branding to "WB 4 Indiana" channel 23 then became a full-time UPN affiliate. WTTV temporarily returned to being an independent station when its contract with UPN expired on January 16, 1998, filling its primetime schedule with movies on January 22, WNDY began to carry UPN programming in addition to The WB. While WTTV was not included in the original deal, Sinclair subsequently notified UPN that it was not interested in renewing the station's affiliation, leading network sister company Paramount Stations Group to strike a deal to buy WB charter affiliate WNDY-TV (UHF channel 23), though Paramount pledged at the time to keep WNDY a WB affiliate through the expiration of its contract in January 1999. In 1997, Sinclair signed a deal with The WB to affiliate with several UPN-affiliated and independent stations that the company either managed or owned outright. Capitol sold the two stations to River City Broadcasting in 1991, who would later be acquired by the Hunt Valley, Maryland–based Sinclair Broadcast Group (owner of fellow Bloomington-licensed inTV affiliate WIIB on UHF channel 63, now an Ion affiliate owned by Inyo Broadcast Holdings). This logo resembles what WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh currently uses. Tel-Am filed for bankruptcy in 1987 Raleigh, North Carolina-based Capitol Broadcasting Company purchased WTTV and WTTK in July 1988, after an attempt to sell the station to locally based Emmis Communications fell through. On May 1, 1988, Tel-Am signed channel 29 on as WTTK, a full-time satellite of WTTV, to improve its over-the-air coverage in northern portions of the market that could not receive the WTTV signal. B.G.S., who also owned WWKI radio (100.5 FM) until 1986, had concluded that there were not nearly enough viewers in north-central Indiana for WWKI-TV to be viable as a standalone station, and its merger with WTTV allowed channel 29 to come on the air. In 1987, Tel-Am purchased the construction permit for WWKI-TV (channel 29) in Kokomo, 52 miles (84 km) north of Indianapolis, from B.G.S. ![]() Although WTTV was Indianapolis' strongest independent station at the time, the station declined an offer to affiliate with the upstart Fox network, who later chose eventual sister station WXIN (UHF channel 59) on October 9, 1986. ![]()
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