IMS Productions, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s video production arm, has agreed to be one of the primary content providers
for The Venice Project, a collaboration of big-name Internet entrepreneurs intent on shaking up the television industry by
launching a 30-plus-channel, TV-like network online.
Heading into Super Bowl XLI, WISHTV Channel 8 is in the catbird’s seat among local broadcasters. With WISH’s affiliate network, CBS, carrying the Feb. 4 game, the local station is set to rake in a seven-figure sum in advertising revenue-in addition to what it would have made on the Super Bowl if the Colts weren’t in it, industry experts said. “With the Colts in the Super Bowl for the first time since moving to Indianapolis, WISH’s opportunities are immense,” said…
Last September, when tragic errors led to the deaths of three infants at Indianapolis’ Methodist Hospital, the hospital did something that, just a few years ago, might have seemed unthinkable: It acknowledged the tragedy and admitted that mistakes were made. “We are all saddened by this news and our hearts are with this family and all the families who have been affected,” a hospital spokesman told The Indianapolis Star. Added Methodist President and CEO Sam Odle, “Ultimately, the blame for…
CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary Snowstorms make you wonder Television weatherpeople are weird creatures, and I mean that in the nicest way. I know a few of them, and they are very fine individuals. But while most folks get anxious over “weather events” like Feb. 13’s snowstorm, TV weatherpeople get excited, downright giddy. Their eyes gleam with intensity. They become more animated. Their nervous systems crank to high alert. They are like the veritable kid in the candy store. Weather events are…
Tribune Co., the Chicago media company that owns Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN-TV Channel 59 and the local CW network affiliate, WTTV-TV Channel 4, said it has accepted an $8.2 billion acquisition offer from cross-town real estate magnate Sam Zell. The Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times are Tribune’s flagship properties. Zell said he would put Tribune’s […]
When IBJ newsgathering partner WISH-TV Channel 8 and cross-town rival WTHR-TV Channel 13 each won a Peabody award last week, it was a rare event for any television market, let alone Indianapolis, the 25th-largest television market. Only New York, Boston and Chicago also have seen two local stations win the prestigious award in the same […]
Though she’s stirred a ripple of interest in several markets, most Indy Racing League fans don’t know Milka Duno-yet. Many sports business experts think the first Hispanic woman to race in the openwheel series will turn heads, as much for her ability to drive and her unusual professional and academic background as anything else. Duno also becomes part of a fascinating story involving established IRL drivers Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher. “The Indy Racing League is becoming the one place…
For the first time, two Indianapolis television stations nabbed coveted Peabody Awards-among the highest honor given for TV productions worldwide-in the same year. WTHR-TV Channel 13 and WISH-TV Channel 8 were notified of their awards this month and will accept them June 4 at a ceremony in New York City. The Peabody certainly polishes the image of both stations, but it’s less clear how it will affect the bottom line of WISH or WTHR. The Peabody has been presented by…
Emmis Communications Corp. today reported that revenue in its fiscal fourth quarter fell 4.6 percent, to $78.6 million. The Indianapolis media company blamed weakness in its New York and Los Angeles radio operations for the problems and cautioned that the softness would continue into the near future. For the quarter, the company lost $12.7 million. […]
As Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications Corp. announced dismal fourth-quarter results today, rumors heated up about Chairman Jeff Smulyan reviving a bid to take the company private. Smulyan said in a conference call this morning that he will reconsider taking the media company private “from time to time,” but will not comment on rumors or speculation. Meanwhile […]
PROFILE MINDY WINKLER Entertainer makes learning lessons ‘fun’Former kids’ club host and current traffic reporter juggles career, family and growing musical company Fans of the 1980s comedy show “In Living Color” will remember the Headleys, whose family members were “lazy” if they didn’t hold multiple jobs. By that score, Mindy Winkler certainly can’t be called a slacker. As the on-air traffic reporter for several local FM and AM radio stations, Winkler works a split shift keeping us informed of traffic…
WXIN-TV Channel 59 has become the provider of general news and weather for IBJ Daily, the free news e-mail sent to more than 25,000 subscribers each weekday. The arrangement is part of a new newsgathering partnership between IBJ and the local Fox affiliate. “We are looking forward to an ongoing relationship with Fox 59. In our discussions, we were impressed by management of the organization and their commitment to news,” IBJ Publisher Chris Katterjohn said. “One of the reasons we…
After years languishing as a ratings bottom feeder, WEDJ-FM 107.1 is quickly moving up the radio charts with its Hispanic format and is positioned to crack the market’s top 10 stations. Since local radio veteran Russ Dodge was hired as general manager in late April 2006, WEDJ’s rating for area listeners 12 and older has more than doubled, from 1.0 to 2.1, according to New York-based Arbitron Co. WEDJ’s morning show is ranked No. 3 with listeners ages 18 to…
Production companies here say advertisements they’ve produced using high-definition technology are being held hostage by local television affiliates that have no way of showing them. The TV stations counter that they’re working as fast as they can to get up to speed.
With the pending arrival of two new lead anchors, WRTV-TV Channel 6 is preparing to embark on a big marketing campaign that station management hopes will lift it out of third place in the local ratings. The campaign, which is set to begin next month to promote changes within WRTV’s news division, will be marked by a flurry of billboard, radio, newspaper and, of course, television advertising, said WRTV General Manager Don Lundy. But the centerpiece of the campaign takes…
At a time when many print publishers are wringing their hands at the prospect of losing readers to the Internet, Emmis Communications Corp. is experiencing surprising growth in its magazine division. With the acquisition of Orange Coast last month, Emmis owns seven city-based magazines and one nationally distributed magazine. And the publishing division, with 406 of Emmis’ 1,300 employees, is the company’s fastest-growing. “City magazines like the ones Emmis has are doing quite well,” said Abe Peck, chairman of journalism…
WRTV-TV Channel 6 will launch a 7 p.m. newscast Sept. 10 to coincide with the first day of the station’s new anchors, Todd Wallace and Trisha Shepherd. WRTV will be the only local station with a 7 p.m. newscast. WRTV will continue to air newscasts at 5 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. The 7 […]
Whitfield, owner of Indianapolis-based Fletcher Communications Inc., was a freelance television news producer working for CNN, Reuters News and the Christian Broadcasting Network’s news division in Washington, D.C., when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. Four years later, Whitfield crashed emotionally and was hospitalized suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder. The daughter of a retired Army officer, Whitfield, 39, had moved many times as a child before settling in Columbia, S.C. She graduated from high school in 1986, but…
It’s a hovercraft, the M200G from the fine folks at Moller International of Davis, Calif. It has eight rotary engines that create enough oomph to lift the thing about 10 feet in the air, just high enough to zoom over traffic and crack your head on a stoplight. Which, let’s face it, would add a much-needed element of comedy to the average morning commute. But anyway, about the car: It’s about time. I’ve been waiting for this thing since I…
The new Big Ten Network and some of the nation’s largest cable television systems are fighting over how consumers will be charged for the network’s programming. Hundreds of sporting events could be blacked out in local markets, including scores of Indiana and Purdue university football and basketball games, if the two sides don’t reach an agreement.
