Branding Fox 16
NBC 16 (DT2) Affiliations Fox | Subchannels 16.1 Fox
16.2 NBC Founded February 22, 2011 | |
Channels Digital: 16 (UHF)
Virtual: 16 (PSIP) Owner Waypoint Media
(Star City Broadcasting, LLC) | ||
WPBI-LD is a digital low-powered television station that is licensed to and serving Lafayette, Indiana. The station is a dual Fox and NBC affiliate owned by Waypoint Media subsidiary Star City Broadcasting, LLC. The station broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 16, and it originates in a directional transmitter on the east side of Lafayette on McCarty Lane. The signal is oriented to the northwest.
History
The station’s construction permit was issued by the FCC on February 22, 2011, under the callsign of W16DB-D. The station’s callsign was changed to the current WPBI-LD in August 2016. The station signed on in late October as the Lafayette area’s Fox affiliate, with NBC being launched on the WPBI-LD2 subchannel. Prior to the launch of WPBI-LD, Waypoint Media also purchased Lafayette-area radio stations WSHY, WBPE, WYCM, and WAZY-FM.
WPBI-LD and WPBI-LD2 are the first Fox and NBC affiliates ever based in the market. Prior to its launch, the default Fox and NBC affiliates for Lafayette were WXIN and WTHR, respectively, both of which are based in nearby Indianapolis. Cable television providers Comcast Xfinity and Metronet began carrying WPBI in November 2016. Satellite television provider Dish Network is carrying WPBI's Fox and NBC channels, although only in standard definition. Despite discontinuing carriage of Indianapolis-based Fox and NBC affiliates, satellite television provider DirecTV has said it plans to carry WPBI-LD and WPBI-LD2 but has not announced its timetable for doing so.
The station began local weather coverage on January 1, 2017, and it plans to broadcast full newscasts in mid-April 2017. The newscasts will have radio tie-ins on WSHY, WBPE, WYCM, and WAZY-FM.
WPBI's launch in 2016 ended WLFI-TV's reign as the only "Big Three" (ABC, CBS and NBC—or, including Fox, "big four") network television broadcaster in the Lafayette market, an exclusivity which dated to 1953. ABC is now the only major commercial television network without an over-the-air broadcast originating in Lafayette, but affiliate WRTV remains available locally to homeowners via a large antenna or a cable or satellite subscription. Other "big four" Indianapolis affiliates WTHR, WTTV, and WXIN also remain available in the Lafayette area via an over-the-air antenna.