Channel 38's situation grew even more dire when Indianapolis' longtime NBC affiliate, WRTV, switched to ABC in June 1979. WRTV's former analog signal, due to its position on VHF channel 6, covered most of the eastern half of the market, including most of Terre Haute itself. Like WTVW, WRTV's signal penetrated further into Terre Haute than would have been the case in more rugged terrain. When cable television franchises arrived in the Terre Haute market in the late 1970s, most cable systems piped in either WRTV, WTVW or WAND out of Decatur, Illinois in addition to WBAK.