David Lindquist

david.lindquist@indystar.com

Anyone who watches Indianapolis Colts games on television's WISH-8 is familiar with promotional ads that trumpet the popularity of CBS.

It's the network with the most viewers overall. "Big Bang Theory" is the No. 1 sitcom. "Scorpion" is the new drama pulling in big ratings. And don't forget long-running hits "NCIS" and "60 Minutes."

But in 2015, these shows — and the Colts, too — will no longer be seen on WISH-8.

CBS is ending its 58-year affiliation with WISH, owned by LIN Media, on Dec. 31. WTTV-4, owned by Tribune Broadcasting, will be the new home for CBS programming.

WISH General Manager Les Vann, even with his station stripped of major-network entertainment and sports, is keeping his sights set on the top. For starters, the strategy is to expand news programming by four hours each weekday.

"We want to ultimately be the No. 1 independent television station in the country," Vann said. "With our rich heritage, we can build to that point. We're not starting from scratch here. This has been a very good television station for six decades."

Other stations have survived after losing network affiliation, leaning on a similar strategy of pumping up news. But with the Indianapolis market crowded with local TV news and Internet alternatives drawing viewers away from broadcast TV, the future appears challenging for WISH, which was long assured with CBS at its side.

It's that 60-year heritage that made the CBS switch, announced in August, such an unexpected jolt in the realm of local TV. It's the first local shift in network affiliations since 1979, when WTHR and WRTV traded NBC and ABC affiliations.

WISH-8 debuted on July 1, 1954, and it aired programs from the ABC, NBC and bygone DuMont networks for two years.

The station became a CBS affiliate in 1956, when iconic programs "I Love Lucy," "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "Lassie" were part of the lineup. In subsequent decades, WISH carried CBS events that still stand among the most-watched in TV history: the "M*A*S*H" series finale (105.9 million viewers in 1983) and the "Dallas" episode that resolved the question, "Who shot J.R.?" (90 million viewers in 1980).

For sports fans, WISH aired Super Bowls the Colts won and lost, the NCAA men's basketball tournament since 1982 and The Masters golf tournament since 1956.

Two pillars of WISH history, news anchor Mike Ahern and news director Lee Giles, talked to The Star about the importance of popular CBS programming.

"They just delivered huge audiences," said Ahern, a WISH anchor from 1967 until his retirement in 2004. "You fed off that audience in your local news. When it gets down to it, that's what it's all about."

Giles, who worked at WISH from 1963 until his retirement in 2003, said sports programming provided "an amazing exclusivity in terms of what CBS and WISH had to offer to the audience — that certainly was very valuable."

The price tag for exclusive content is the reason WISH is losing CBS.

For decades, networks paid local stations to carry national programming.

In 1993, CBS attempted to become the first network to flip the relationship and charge affiliates for programming, promotion costs and news coverage. Affiliates balked, and CBS withdrew its plan.

Eventually, however, "reverse compensation" became common practice for major networks ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.

"Networks decided that what they offer is the distinguishing product, other than local news, that attracts an audience," said Phil Bremen, associate professor of telecommunications at Ball State University.

LIN Media had been renegotiating its WISH contract with CBS but apparently was unwilling to ante up for reverse compensation or "program fees," in the terminology of CBS President Les Moonves.

"Retransmission consent" is another way networks collect money from affiliates. Retransmission consent originated with the 1992 Cable Act, which required companies such as Comcast and Time Warner to get an OK before carrying a TV station's programming.

Payments from cable companies to local stations became the method of securing permission, which prompted networks to demand a share of the money.

Meanwhile, broadcast networks are losing ground to TV alternatives such as Netflix, Amazon.com's Instant Video, Hulu Plus and YouTube. According to Bernstein Research, the average time watching TV in the United States dipped by about 13 minutes per day in 2014. Viewing time for Netflix subscribers increased by 12 minutes per day.

Industry observers say CBS sent a message to all of the network's affiliates when it dropped WISH: Pay what we're asking for the right to broadcast "Big Bang Theory," "NCIS" and other popular shows.

"Les Moonves knew he was playing a winning hand," said Bremen, who previously worked as an overseas correspondent for NBC News, as well as an anchor/reporter for Indianapolis stations WTHR-13 and WRTV-6. "He knew he could extract maximum pound of flesh from the affiliates. Their affiliation was of enormous value."

The financial impact of WISH's loss is so significant that it caused a re-valuation of the pending sale of Texas-based LIN Media to Virginia-based Media General.

Originally a $1.6 billion merger, the deal was trimmed by about $100 million after CBS announced its new affiliate in Indianapolis. Shareholders approved the Media General-LIN merger in October, but it requires approval by the Federal Communications Commission.

"I never thought in my lifetime, in my wildest dreams, that there would come a time when WISH and CBS wouldn't be affiliated with each other," said former sportscaster Chet Coppock, who with Jane Pauley, weather forecasters Stan Wood and Angela Buchman, and fellow sportscaster Mark Patrick stand among the station's former notable personalities.

Coppock worked as the national TV voice of roller derby before coming to Indianapolis, and his WISH tenure included three instances when he wrestled a bear as part of Indiana Pacers halftime shows.

"Part of the attraction about going to WISH was, in no small measure, the tie to CBS," Coppock said. "At that time, it was Walter Cronkite, '60 Minutes' and the No. 1 network in prime. That played very much into my thinking."

In Cronkite, the "CBS Evening News" anchor from 1962 to 1981, the network boasted a journalist billed as "the most trusted man in America."

At WISH, Ahern was viewed as the Indianapolis equivalent of Cronkite.

"He's the greatest newscaster in the city's history," Coppock said. "(Ahern) could have worked in any market in America and made a bundle."

Ahern said WISH's connection to CBS made it easier to do his job.

"The brand of a CBS station is important," Ahern said. "When you identified yourself as being affiliated with the network, it brought a certain panache."

Current WISH General Manager Vann took the job on Aug. 25, two weeks after CBS announced the de-affiliation. Vann, who succeeded Jeff White at the station, said he is not dwelling on the circumstances that will make WISH an independent station in 2015.

"Don't look backward," Vann said. "I only look forward because, as Satchel Paige said, somebody may be gaining on you. This is a great opportunity for me, and it's a great opportunity for the television station."

Beginning on Jan. 1, WISH will adjust to life after CBS by expanding its news programming by four hours to 9 hours each weekday. That translates into news from 4:30 to 9 a.m., from noon to 1 p.m., from 5 to 7 p.m. and from 10 to 11:30 p.m.

According to Nielsen Media Research estimates for October, WISH ranks second in local news ratings. WTHR is No. 1 by a large margin for morning and evening news telecasts, while WISH is more competitive at midday.

In other cities, stations that lost network affiliations survive on local news and syndicated reruns:

• San Francisco station KRON-4, which lost its NBC affiliation in 2001, airs "Bones" and "The Mentalist" in prime time. Serving the No. 6 TV market in the country, KRON devotes 9 1/2 hours per weekday to local news programming.

• Phoenix station KTVK-3, which lost its ABC affiliation in 1995, airs sitcoms "Hot in Cleveland" and "Cougar Town" in prime time. Serving the 11th-largest TV market in the country, KTVK devotes 9 1/2 hours per weekday to local news programming.

• Jacksonville, Fla., station WJXT-4, which lost its CBS affiliation in 2002, airs sitcoms "The Big Bang Theory" and "Rules of Engagement." Serving the 48th-largest TV market in the country, WJXT devotes 9 hours per weekday to local news programming.

Ball State's Bremen said the formation of a news team at WTTV signals an era of unprecedented competition in the country's 26th-largest TV market. WISH, Fox59, RTV6 and WTHR now all offer local TV news.

"It's going to be a tussle," Bremen said. "I cannot think of another market this size that has five highly competitive TV stations."

Veteran WISH news staffers include anchor Eric Halvorson, investigative reporter Karen Hensel, political reporter Jim Shella, sports director Anthony Calhoun and meteorologist Randy Ollis. On Nov. 29, meteorologist Pamela Gardner wrapped up a three-year stint at WISH to take a job at Boston's CBS affiliate, WBZ-4.

"I'm very encouraged by what I'm hearing from the employees, and I talk to them every day," Vann said. "That doesn't mean there aren't questions, and we all wonder what the road ahead is going to look like. But this is a great group of television broadcasters that I'm really enjoying working with."

WISH has yet to unveil its plans for non-news programming during the day or prime time.

Marion Garmel, who reported on local television for The Indianapolis News from 1989 to 1994, points to an earlier incarnation of WTTV as a model for possible success for WISH.

During the 1970s and '80s, WTTV connected with young viewers thanks to shows hosted by "Cowboy Bob" Glaze, Janie Woods Hodge and Bob "Sammy Terry" Carter.

"I think an independent station, especially now, can build its own platform," Garmel said. "WTTV stuck to local personalities and local people, which was good."

In some ways, the new WTTV will resemble the 1990s version of WISH. Recently announced hires at WTTV include news anchor Debby Knox (a WISH fixture from 1980 until her retirement in 2013) and meteorologist Chris Wright (who worked at WISH from 1996 until 1999, as well as at WTHR from 1999 to 2013).

Knox will team with anchor Bob Donaldson, who will split time between WTTV and WXIN-59. Both stations are owned by Tribune Broadcasting.

As the big switch at WISH approaches, Vann said the station is working on plans to educate viewers, including an hourlong special that will air multiple times before the new year.

But because changes in network affiliations are so rare, Ahern predicts some amount of viewer confusion.

"For almost 60 years, people have been used to, 'OK, I get my CBS show on this channel. I'm going to sit down and watch it,' " Ahern said. "I imagine their switchboard is going to light up."

Call Star reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.