A partnership from Lafayette, Indiana is launching an NBC and Fox affiliate in the nation’s 187th largest market.
TVNewsCheck reports broadcast partners Bill Christian and Mike Reed launched low power WPBI-LD as part of a plan that includes three FM radio stations and an AM station.
Christian said the radio stations have “great tie-ins” with Purdue University. The metro area has a population of about 201,000, according to the 2010 census.
The current challenge is securing carriage on satellite and the market’s cable systems and that is going well, he said. The market has been getting its NBC and Fox stations in “spillover” from stations in Indianapolis, Chicago and Terre Haute, Ind.
Currently, the market is served by Media General-owned WLFI-TV, which is a primary CBS affiliate with subchannels of GetTV and Ion.