Among the broadcast networks, the top five trip off the tongue, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and the CW, then come the Spanish-language networks Univision and Telemundo.

There's another out there, now called ION Television, formerly Pax and long an afterthought in the ratings. The only attention the network seemed to get was the unwanted kind: stories over this or that squabble involving former owner Bud Paxson.

That's about to change.

Starting Monday, ION will rebrand itself into a general-interest network with reruns of ongoing network programs like NBC’s “ER,” CBS’s “NCIS” and ABC’s “Boston Legal,” shedding its identity as a family-friendly network airing old shows.

ION will roll out a new logo and a new tagline: “Positively Entertaining.”

The network's aim: to pump up its ratings closer to those of top-tier cable networks like USA and TNT.

It’s doing that by moving closer in tone to general-interest cable networks that pull far bigger audiences with edgier programming than ION has had in the past.

Media people think it's a solid strategy.

“If they can get their rating up to a 0.5 on an average night, I think they’d be happy,” says Michael Parent, vice president and associate director of national broadcast at New York agency TargetCast.

“Are they going to be a top 10 network in fourth quarter? Probably not, but they might get there in 2009.”

But ION has a long way to go.

Last season it pulled a scant 0.4 household rating, despite having stations reaching about 94 million homes, and averaged 520,000 viewers.

By comparison, USA had 2.7 million viewers in second quarter and TNT had 2.4 million.

News Corp.’s upstart MyNetworkTV had a 0.8 household rating last season and the struggling CW had a 1.5 rating.

Still, media buyers point out several things they like about ION.

Its coverage rivals that of the other broadcast networks, even if its ratings don’t, and its new programming has far wider appeal than its old lineup, as repeats of shows that are still airing as originals on the big networks.

Also, ION is one of the few broadcast networks that is likely to see improved ratings in coming years, albeit from a tiny base.

In 2009, ION will add other ongoing network shows like CBS’s “Ghost Whisperer” and “Criminal Minds.”

ION has been gradually changing from an outlet for old shows into a general-interest network since late 2005, when Paxson, who built up ION’s dozens of local TV stations, was bought out by Citadel and NBC.

It was Paxson who insisted that the network stick with family-friendly programming. That carried over into ION, which in 2006 replaced Pax after briefly going by i.

More recently, ION has been adding network shows like “ER” and on Monday will begin rebroadcasting CBS’s military drama “NCIS.”

“NCIS” will air on Mondays and Tuesdays at 9.

ION will announce its fall lineup on Monday, along with its rebranding.

In addition to “ER” and “NCIS,” ION will continue to air a few older reruns like “M*A*S*H,” “Baywatch” and the “Drew Carey Show,” plus about a dozen original weekend movies.

“They’ve really stepped up their programming,” says Parent. “It hasn’t helped their ratings but the real change will come with this [rebranding] they’ve been telling us about.”