WNDY-TV scores Indiana Fever broadcasts

WNDY-TV Channel 23 has bolstered its local sports lineup, inking a deal to broadcast live Indiana Fever basketball games.

The sister station of WISH-TV Channel 8 will begin broadcasting Fever games on May 29 with a tip against the Connecticut Sun. WNDY will provide a live, over-the-air option to see games that have been broadcast over cable and satellite on Fox Sports Indiana.

In all, WNDY will broadcast six live games, five of which from Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The WNBA team now in its 15th season will remain on Fox Sports Indiana and will continue to receive national exposure on ESPN2, said Kelly Krauskopf, Fever president and general manager.

“We really wanted to create even more local awareness, through our broadcast partner here in Indianapolis,” Krauskopf said. “We think it’s a good variety” of broadcast venues.

Terms of the broadcast deal weren’t disclosed.

The announcers for the Fever this season are Chris Denari and former Fever player Tully Bevilaqua.

The Fever deal is the second feather in WNDY’s cap, lately. Earlier this year, the station landed broadcast rights for Indy Eleven soccer games, with coverage to begin at 7 p.m. April 26 with a game against the Carolina Railhawks.

WNDY/WISH has a long history in local sports-related broadcasts. They include Butler University basketball, the 500 Festival Mini Marathon and parade, and the Circle City Classic parade.

WNDY “gives us the opportunity to do a lot of great local programming,” said Jeff White, president and general manager of WNDY and WISH.

WISH has also been on a roll, lately.  This month, the Radio Television Digital News Association awarded WISH’s 24-Hour News 8 a regional Edward R. Murrow Award, for overall excellence. 

It was the second consecutive year WISH received the Murrow award, beating out stations in Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.

“To rise above that group of competitors, and two years in a row, means a lot to us,” said White.

The CBS affiliate also won several Indiana AP Broadcast Awards this month, including best spot news and best investigative reporting.

White said WISH has roughly doubled the size of its “I-Team 8” investigative team, which now includes three reporters, two photographers and an executive producer.