Mission Broadcasting’s WFXW will debut new call letters and an expanded newscast as the station undergoes a switch from the Fox affiliate to the ABC affiliate in Terre Haute on September 1.
The station, which is operated by Nexstar Broadcasting under a shared services agreement with WTWO, the market NBC affiliate, will be rebranded as WAWV. The planned changes in the programming lineup include an additional broadcast at 5 p.m., which will be anchored by Tom McClanahan. ABC’s primetime lineup will also displace the station’s 10 p.m. newscast, which WAWV plans to make available to viewers streaming on the web. According to the station, this will be the first online newscast in Terre Haute.
The station’s Fox affiliation was dropped in June after Nexstar and Fox failed to come to an agreement over the programming fees Fox is demanding from its affiliates; shortly thereafter, Nexstar announced the station would become an ABC affiliate. Terre Haute has not had an ABC affiliate for more than 16 years. The Terre Haute station becomes the second Nexstar-operated station, after KOZL in Springfield, MO, that will undergo a rebranding effort after losing its Fox affiliation.