| WIPX: Bloomington, Indiana WIPX-LP: Indianapolis, Indiana |
|
|---|---|
| Branding | ION Television |
| Channels | Analog: WIPX-LP: 51 (UHF) WIPX-TV: none Digital: WIPX-LP: none; CP to 34 (UHF) WIPX-TV: 27 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | Ion Television |
| Owner | Ion Media Networks, Inc. (Ion Media Indianapolis License, Inc.) |
| First air date | WIPX-LP: October 30, 1990 WIPX-TV: December 27, 1988 |
| Call letters' meaning | Indianapolis PaX |
| Former callsigns | WIPX-LP: W51BU (1990-1998) WIPX: WIIB (1988-1998) |
| Former channel number(s) | WIPX-TV: 63 (UHF analog, 1988-2009) |
| Former affiliations | WIPX-LP: ValueVision Network (until 1998) WIPX-TV: HSN (1988-1995) inTV (1995-1998) WIPX-LP/WIPX: Pax TV (1998-2005) i (2005-2007) |
| Transmitter power | WIPX-TV: 165 kW (digital) WIPX-LP: 6.49 kw |
| Height | WIPX-TV: 310 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | WIPX-TV: 10253 WIPX-LP: 65121 |
| Transmitter coordinates | WIPX-TV: |
| Website | www.ionline.tv |
WIPX-TV is a commercial television station in Bloomington, Indiana, serving the Indianapolis market on digital channel 63. Owned-and-operated by ION Media Networks, the station runs primarily infomercials along with shows and movies during the late afternoon and nighttime hours. Additionally, Ion owns a low power repeater station in Indianapolis, WIPX-LP channel 51, to improve WIPX' signal in the northern part of the city.
The station's over-the-air digital channel is multiplexed:
| Channel | Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|
| 63.1 | WIPX-DT | Main WIPX-TV programming (Ion Television) |
| 63.2 | WIPX-DT2 | qubo |
| 63.3 | WIPX-DT3 | ION Life |
The station signed on in December 1988 as WIIB. It was a Home Shopping Network (HSN) station owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. There were plans to eventually switch WIIB to a general entertainment format. However, those plans ended when acquired WTTV (ironically, also licensed to Bloomington) in 1995 as a result of a merger. WIIB continued to air HSN programming until 1998, when it was sold to DP Media, owned by Devon Paxson, son of Pax founder Bud Paxson, and affiliated with Pax TV. WIIB changed its call sign to WIPX to reflect its new affiliation. DP Media merged with Paxson Communications in 2000. WIPX showed rebroadcasts of WTHR's 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts from 2000 to 2005; many Pax stations aired repeats of NBC affiliates newscasts during this time. Also for a brief time, in 2005, WTHR produced a 10 p.m. newscast live every night.
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||||||||