Carson Wentz, the Indianapolis Colts quarterback who has been placed on the team's reserve/COVID-19 list after coming into contact with an infected person, has signed to comment on the team for WISH-TV Indianapolis.

Starting Sept. 8, Wentz will provide analysis exclusively for the station, and throughout the 2021-22 season, it said.

Also Read: WISH-TV Betting on Sports Eyeballs

No other station in Indiana provides more Colts coverage than WISH-TV and with Carson Wentz on our team, Colts fans will get even more insight every week,” said station owner DuJuan McCoy.

While WISH-TV does not have rights to the Colts games, it does an hour pre-game show and a post-game show and has the Monday Night Football national game Oct. 11 between rivals Colts and the Baltimore Ravens--the Colts were formerly in Baltimore.

Also Read: COVID Still Tough Opponent For TV Sports Industry

The fact that Wentz was put on reserve signals he was not vaccinated, which earned him some boos from some in the local media.

The NFL has said that games that have to be cancelled because of COVID-19 outbreaks among unvaccinated players, and the NFL can't find a place in the schedule for a makeup game, the team with the outbreak will have to forfeit.

WXIN Indianapolis debuts a daily 10 a.m. lifestyle show Monday, Sept. 13. The hour program is titled Indy Now. Jillian Deam and Ryan Ahlwardt host. It leads out of WXIN's 4-10 a.m. morning news block. 

“The launch of Indy Now is a great opportunity to showcase all the great events and exciting businesses in Indianapolis,” said Dominic Mancuso, VP and general manager of WXIN-WTTV. “We’re proud of our community and are excited to give the viewers this entertaining look at everything that makes Indy great.”

Deam was a morning reporter for WXIN, known as Fox59, and is an on-court emcee for the NBA.  

“This job is a dream come true for me,” said Deam. “I’ve always had a passion for telling positive stories, and now I have the privilege of bringing uplifting content to our area every day. On top of that, I’m returning to the Fox59 family and working alongside an incredible team. I know Ryan and I are going to have a blast working on this show!”

Ahlwardt is a singer and songwriter from Indianapolis. He was part of the band Straight No Chaser. “I’ve been proud to call Indiana home for 30 years and am excited to be part of the Fox59 family as a host on Indy Now. Jillian and I are ready to bring you our best every morning, Indy!”

WXIN is part of Nexstar.

WISH bears “All Indiana” branding, and holds true to the motto in its mission to spread its news product statewide. The station seeks affiliates to run WISH news, and has WRJK Chicago and WHME South Bend on board. 

DuJuan McCoy, president and CEO of WISH parent Circle City Broadcasting, focuses on border residents — Indiana people based in the DMAs of other states. He estimates that 1.2 million Indiana residents get local news from non-Indiana stations. Gary, Indiana residents, for one, get Chicago news. 

Also Read: Indianapolis Stations Court New Viewers

“We’re working on Cincinnati, Louisville and Evansville,” said McCoy. “Once we get those, we’ll have full statewide coverage.” 

In September, WRJK began airing 80-plus hours of WISH news weekly. Last April, WHME started airing more than 60 hours of WISH news each week. 

Circle City acquired low-power stations in Fort Wayne and Terre Haute and plans to put WISH news product on in those markets. “My news can go anywhere I want it to, because I own it,” said McCoy.

WISH will also offer All Indiana Bets, a weekly sports betting show it aims to launch in the fall, to affiliate partners. 

The syndicated news strategy drives traffic and on demand viewing on WISHTV.com. “It’s a brand extension for WISH-TV and my news brand,” McCoy said. “It’s not a moneymaker at this point, but it will be.” 

The whole of March Madness was consolidated in one market, and there may not have been a more logical home than Indianapolis. Beloved basketball movie Hoosiers was, of course, set in Indiana, and the state capital loves its hoops. 

“Indiana is one of those places where basketball is king,” said Dominic Mancuso, VP and general manager, WXIN-WTTV. 

Besides turning out for games, Indianapolis residents were eager to help with putting on the show and showing off their home city. “So many people are volunteering for things to help make the area look good,” said Lana Durban Scott, WRTV VP and general manager, in late March. 

Baylor won the tournament, and Fox affiliate WXIN wins many of the news races. In February, WXIN easily won the 6-7 a.m. battle in both households and viewers 25-54. WTHR, an NBC affiliate, won the household race at 5 and 6 p.m., and WXIN took both titles in 25-54. At 11 p.m. in February, WTHR scored a 3.5 in households. WXIN and WTTV were at 2.2, WRTV at 1.7 and WISH at 0.8. In the 25-54 demo at 11, WXIN posted a 1.4, just ahead of WTHR’s 1.3. WTTV scored a 0.9, WRTV a 0.5 and WISH a 0.2. 

Nexstar owns WXIN and CBS affiliate WTTV, closing on the pair in 2019. Tegna has WTHR, acquiring it from Dispatch Broadcast Group in 2019. Scripps owns ABC affiliate WRTV and DuJuan McCoy’s Circle City Broadcasting has CW affiliate WISH and MyNetworkTV outlet WNDY. WDNI airs Telemundo. 

Comcast (Xfinity) is the market’s major pay TV operator. 

WTHR is the legacy station, and Indianapolis insiders say the NBC affiliate does not dominate the way it used to. Budgets have tightened since Tegna acquired the station, they note. WTHR did not respond to requests for comment. 

Tighter Local Race

WXIN has gathered momentum with a tireless approach to news. “Local, local, local” is how Mancuso sums up the WXIN-WTTV philosophy, mentioning nearly 90 hours a week of local news. The stations share a newsroom but go head to head in several time slots, including 5 and 6 a.m., 5 and 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. 

“We have legacy talent that’s done very well,” said Mancuso. “We also have new talent that’s done very well too.”

WXIN’s morning show goes from 4 to 10 a.m. and is a beast. Morning anchor Ray Cortopassi departed in September, joining WGN Chicago. “We’ve been very happy with our replacement,” said Mancuso of anchor Daniel Miller, who came from WFXT Boston, and previously worked at WISH. 

WTTV became the CBS affiliate in DMA No. 25 in 2015, taking it from WISH, which shifted to The CW. WTTV anchors Debby Knox and Bob Donaldson anchored CBS Weekend News last May when the CBS Broadcast Center in Manhattan was shuttered due to the pandemic. 

Also Read: WISH News Tackles All of Indiana

WISH is all in on local news. McCoy was born and raised in Indianapolis, and graduated from Butler University. He jumped at the chance to own a station in his hometown. He said the station’s 82 hours of news a week may be tops in the nation. 

All Indiana is the WISH branding. Last year, the Sunday program All Indiana Politics launched. A 4 p.m. daily show, offering a mix of light news and lifestyle content, bears the All Indiana name, as does a local podcast network that launched during the pandemic. With some 250 podcasts, the network hosts local businesses’ programs. WISH retains the rights, and the podcasts boost traffic on WISHTV.com. 

“It brings in new media consumers, and gives them a sample of what WISH TV has to offer,” said McCoy. 

One hit podcast is homegrown. Year-old Daily 8 is hosted by WISH anchor Kylie Conway. “It cuts through the noise and gives people the facts they need to know right away,” said McCoy, calling the host “a true journalist.”

The 69,000-square-foot WISH headquarters will be home to Multicultural News Network, a venture involving Circle City and Cox Media Group. McCoy is aiming for a fourth quarter launch, hiring around 150 staffers for the 24-hour network. “We’ll aggregate all the multicultural groups in one network,” said McCoy, who stressed that MNN will be a network with affiliates and not a channel. 

Al Carl runs the “News 8” newsroom at WISH. There’s currently no general manager, but McCoy plans to hire one down the road. 

Sister WNDY airs an array of live, local sports. 

WRTV has launched an over-the-top channel that offers users a mix of station content and Scripps programming. Durban Scott aims to evolve it to more local and less corporate. “It’s an opportunity to get content in front of more eyeballs, to get your storytelling in front of more faces,” she said. 

Getting Hoosiers to Work

WRTV pushes a “Hiring Hoosiers” franchise that appears on air and online. The initiative “works to connect Hoosiers to employment opportunities, career development resources, training programs and educational paths,” according to the station. 

“The company urged each station to come up with a franchise topic,” said Durban Scott. “It can be hard to get buy-in in a cynical world, but the staff is all in.”

Pharma colossus Eli Lilly is based in Indianapolis, as is healthcare giant Anthem. Residents describe the market as having a classic Midwestern sensibility — affordable, not much traffic, low crime and loads of decent people. “It’s a great Middle American market,” Mancuso said. 

In terms of news content, they suggest Indy punches a bit harder than its weight. “This is a hard-working, humble town, a little bit rural, a little bit city,” said Durban Scott. “It’s market No. 25, but I don’t know that it feels like market No. 25.” 

Updated 10/29/2020: Locast announced additional deployments in Wilkes Barre and Scranton, Pennsylvania, reaching an additional 1.5 million potential users. 

Original story starts here:

Locast, the non-profit streaming service focused on local broadcast TV stations, announced Wednesday that it has debuted in its 24th U.S. market, Indianapolis. 

The streaming service also said it now has 1.7 million users. 

Also Read: Locast Founder David Goodfriend: On the Five Spot (Q&A)

Locast didn’t define what a user is, in this case. Is it a “monthly active user” (MAU), as defined by AVOD platforms like Tubi and Pluto TV? Is a “user” someone who pays the recommended $5-a-month “donation” to Locast? 

Again, unclear. But the audience performance disclosure does indicate growth for Locast, which reported 700,000 users in late-September of 2019. 

As for the expansion to Indianapolis, Locast is now delivering 42 local broadcast channels to residents in 32 counties within the Indy designated marketing area (DMA), upping the overall reach of the streaming service to 148 million people across the U.S.

Also Read: Locast: Everything You Need to Know

“For the first time, more than 3 million residents in Indianapolis and surrounding cities will be able to watch their local TV stations on their phones, tablets, laptops or streaming media devices,” said Locast Founder and Chairman David Goodfriend, in a statement. “When dealing with health, safety, or participation in our democracy through voting, Locast performs a critical public service by increasing access to local broadcast TV channels.”

Comcast and Charter are bracing for what will be an immediately competitive fixed 5G market in Indianapolis, with AT&T joining rival Verizon in announcing that the city will be among its initial deployment spots for the technology starting later this year.

According to a recent S&P Global Market Intelligence report, Comcast has around 362,000 broadband customers in the Indianapolis region, while Charter has about 132,000

Related: Charter Most Impacted by Verizon’s Initial 5G Rollout, Report Says

In its announcement Thursday, AT&T said it has invested nearly $425 million in Indianapolis area wireless and wired networks during 2015-2017, making what it said were 525 wireless network upgrades.

Last year, AT&T also made Indy one of its 5G Evolution markets, in which it deploys technologies that enable peak theoretical wireless speeds of at least 400 Mbps. Indianapolis was also one of the first cities to see deployment of LTE-LAA, which is capable of peak theatrical speed of 1 Gbps.

"Whether you're a retailer, car wash owner, hospital, manufacturer, public safety entity or a bank, we expect 5G will eventually change the customer experience and provide new economic opportunities for your business,” said Bill Soards, president of AT&T’s Indiana operation, in a statement. “It was a natural choice for AT&T to name Indy as one of the twelve introductory 5G cities.”

In early August, Verizon announced that Indianapolis would join Los Angeles, Houston and Sacramento/Stockton in its initial 5G rollout later this year. AT&T has previously said it would start deploying fixed 5G services in Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Raleigh, N.C. and Waco, Texas.

Telecom investment analysts are concerned for the cable industry.

“Going forward, we continue to believe cable MSOs will be seen as home connectivity companies in which video will simply ride as an app (of many apps) to the home. To that point, we see 5G fixed wireless broadband as the biggest existential threat to broadband providers (by far),” equity research firm Cowen told investors in a telecom-focused report last week.