on February 1, 1984. Originally operating as an independent station, channel 59 maintained a general entertainment programming format featuring cartoons, movies, classic sitcoms and drama series. Through Simon's part-ownership of the station, it also aired Indiana Pacers NBA games in the 1984–85 season. The station originally operated from studios located at 1440 North Meridian Street in Indianapolis' Television Row section, a facility that had previously been occupied by WFYI until it moved to a larger building across the street. WPDS' primary competitor was the market's established independent, WTTV (channel 4, now a CBS affiliate) in Bloomington; it would gain another competitor when WMCC (channel 23, now MyNetworkTV affiliate WNDY-TV) signed on November 1, 1987. Palamara, Duffy and Simon sold the station to Outlet Broadcasting (through its Atlin Communications subsidiary) in 1985. The station's call letters were then changed to the current WXIN on August 10 of that year, a decision not precipitated by the ownership change but by a desire to avoid confusion (particularly in ratings diaries) with the similar-sounding cable channel WTBS and PBS. The station lost the Pacers broadcast rights after the sale, with the telecasts returning to WTTV for the 1985-86 season. As a Fox affiliate (1986–present) WXIN became a charter affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company when the network launched on October 9, 1986, after WTTV—despite its status as one of the strongest independent stations in the country—turned down an offer to become an affiliate. As was the case with other Fox stations during the network's early years, channel 59 was still programmed as a de facto independent station, as Fox initially ran prime time programs only on weekends and would not offer nightly programming until September 1993. Until then, WXIN aired a movie at 8:00 p.m. on nights when network programs did not air. The station began identifying as "Fox WXIN 59" by 1988 (simply adding the Fox name to the "WXIN 59" branding in use since 1985), which was simplified to "Fox 59" in 1991; it also added more sitcoms to its inventory, and eventually began to overtake WTTV in the ratings. Outlet sold WXIN along with WATL in Atlanta to Chase Broadcasting in December 1989; Chase subsequently merged with Renaissance Broadcasting in 1993. Chicago-based Tribune Broadcasting bought Renaissance's television properties for $1.13 billion on July 7, 1996. Under Tribune ownership, WXIN gradually added more talk shows, reality series and court shows to its