An arms race of sorts among Indianapolis television stations to offer the most hours of local news reached a new zenith in late April, when WXIN-TV Channel 59 said it would add 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts in June.

WXIN already produces 47-1/2 hours of news Monday through Friday each week. Competitors WRTV-TV Channel 6, WISHTV Channel 8 and WTHR-TV Channel 13 each offer between 27 and 30 hours of local news per week on weekdays.

Both the 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts will be a half hour. One obvious challenge for Fox 59 is filling its new time slots with compelling content.

"If you end up repeating the same material, the viewer becomes aware of that. They're going to tend to tune out and not check back in," said Rick Gevers, a former television news director and principal of TV talent firm Rick Gevers & Associates.

Countered Phil Bremen, an associate professor of telecommunications at Ball State University: "Ever watched TV news...