Spectrum News
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2010) |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Charter Communications |
Spectrum News (formerly Time Warner Cable News) is the brand for a slate of American cable news television channels that are owned by Charter Communications through its acquisition of Time Warner Cable in May 2016. Each of the six regional channels primarily focus on local news, weather and sports coverage in their given areas (most are located in upstate New York), in addition to national and international news stories. With the exception of NY1, none of the six channels are available on other pay television providers in their respective markets, including Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-verse, DirecTV or Dish Network.
Background
Time Warner Cable (at the time, a subsidiary of media conglomerate Time Warner) launched its first regional cable news channel on September 8, 1992, with the rollout of the New York City-based NY1. The provider later acquired GRC9News in Rochester, New York in 1995 (the result of Time Warner Cable assuming franchise rights in the area), and launched two more channels in Florida in 1997, Bay News 9 in Tampa and Central Florida News 13 in Orlando (which were both spun off to Bright House Networks in 2001). These were followed by the launches of News 8 Austin in 1999, News 24 Houston in 2002 and News 9 San Antonio in 2003 (the latter two channels would shut down in 2004), Capital News 9 in 2002, News 10 Now in 2003 and News 14 Carolina in 2006.
In August 2009, TWC launched YNN Buffalo on its Buffalo, New York area systems; the "YNN" brand (which stood for "Your News Now") was later adopted that August on its Rochester news channel (then known as "R News"). On February 12, 2010, Time Warner Cable announced plans to have the remainder of its New York-based news channels – with the exception of NY1 – adopt the "YNN" brand that March. In March 2010, Time Warner Cable announced plans to expand the brand to News 8 Austin and News 14 Carolina.[1] News 8 gradually made the transition first, beginning with the adoption of the "YNN Austin" brand on its Facebook and Twitter accounts. The branding change was implemented on that channel on January 10, 2011;[2] however, News 14 would ultimately retain its name for another two years.
On March 14, 2013, Time Warner Cable announced plans to rebrand NY1, News 14 Carolina and the Your News Now networks under the uniform brand TWC News by the end of the year, along with the adoption of new on-air logos and a standardized graphics and music package for each of the channels. The reasoning for the name change was due to the perception by the company that Time Warner Cable subscribers did not know that the provider owns its regional news channels and are largely exclusive to its systems (NY1 is an exception, as it is also carried by the other major cable provider in the New York City market, Cablevision).[3]
On November 20, after objections from Time Warner Cable subscribers over the planned rebranding, the provider announced that it would append the "Time Warner Cable News" brand to the beginning of the NY1 name, while "NY1" would continue to be used on-air as a primary brand.[4] The revised branding as well as the new graphics and music package went into effect on all of TWC's regional news channels on December 16, 2013 (NY1 utilized a modified version of the logo used by the channel since 2001, amended alongside the "Time Warner Cable News" logo).[5]
With the acquisition of TWC by Charter Communications in 2016, the "Time Warner Cable News" branding has been dropped from all networks in favor of "Spectrum News", after Charter's primary consumer brand on September 20th, 2016 (except for NY1 which also incorporates the "Spectrum News" brand into its name though still continuing to use the NY1 brand on air). Similarly, TWC's various regional sports networks have been rebranded under the umbrella of "Spectrum Sports".
Programming
Each of the Spectrum News channels utilize a half-hour news "wheel" format. Weather reports are broadcast every 10 minutes "on the 1's" (for example, 7:01 a.m. or 5:31 p.m.); a brief minute-long roundup of the day's major headlines (titled either "Top Stories" or "Your News in a Minute") airs at the top and bottom of each hour. Each channel also carries live traffic reports based out of their local newsrooms and each maintains its own local assignment desk, on-air staff (anchors, reporters/videojournalists and sports staff), producers and news management. SN's channels in Upstate New York have their weather forecast segments produced out of Spectrum News Central New York's studios in Syracuse, whereas the other channels produce their own weather segments using separate staffs of meteorologists (Spectrum News North Carolina similarly regionalizes its weather coverage, but maintains individual staffs of meteorologists for the Research Triangle, Piedmont Triad and Charlotte areas that appear on the channel's respective subfeeds in each area).
Franchise news segments are also syndicated to all of the Spectrum News channels (these include Cooking at Home, a daily cooking segment hosted by Dan Eaton; The Getaway Guy, a travel segment hosted by Mike O'Brian, who also provides traffic reports for Spectrum News' channels in Upstate New York; From the Floor, a weekday financial news segment from the New York Stock Exchange; and Tech Talk, a technology news segment hosted by Adam Balkin).
In addition to sharing weather (and in some cases, sports) content, Spectrum News' four regional news channels in upstate New York – Spectrum News Buffalo, Spectrum News Rochester, Spectrum News Central New York and Spectrum News Capital Region – share content with New York City sister channel NY1, which operates separately from the other Spectrum News channels in the state. The four channels also simulcast the political program Capital Tonight, which is hosted by former New York Daily News blogger Liz Benjamin and is produced out of Spectrum News Capital Region's studios in Albany, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Channels
Spectrum News Austin
Spectrum News Austin serves portions of central and south-central Texas. Headquartered in the state capital of Austin, it was launched on September 13, 1999 as News 8 Austin. On January 10, 2011, the channel was renamed as YNN Austin, becoming the last of Time Warner Cable's news channels to adopt the "YNN" brand. The channel adopted its name, Time Warner Cable News Austin, on December 16, 2013. It then changed its name to Spectrum News Austin on September 20, 2016.
Spectrum News Buffalo
Spectrum News Buffalo serves the Buffalo region of upstate New York. The channel launched at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time on March 25, 2009 as YNN Buffalo, becoming the first news channel owned by TWC to use the now-former "YNN" ("Your News Now") brand. The channel is available in almost all of western New York except for portions of Cattaraugus County that are served by Atlantic Broadband. The channel adopted its current name, Time Warner Cable News Buffalo, on December 16, 2013. It then changed its name to Spectrum News Buffalo on September 20, 2016.
Spectrum News Capital Region/Hudson Valley
Spectrum News Capital Region primarily serves the Capital District region of upstate New York, and maintains a subfeed for the Hudson Valley region. The channel launched on October 11, 2002 as Capital News 9 (launching nearly a year behind schedule due to various infrastructure and staffing delays). In August 2006, Capital News 9 expanded its reach to systems within eastern New York that Time Warner Cable had recently acquired from Adelphia Communications. In March 2010, as part of a rebranding of Time Warner Cable's regional news channels statewide, Capital News 9 adopted the "YNN" brand, rebranding as YNN Capital Region. The channel adopted its current name, Time Warner Cable News Capital Region, on December 16, 2013; its subfeed, YNN Hudson Valley, accordingly rebranded as Time Warner Cable News Hudson Valley on that date. It then changed its name to Spectrum News Capital region/Hudson Valley on September 20, 2016.
Spectrum News Central New York/Southern Tier/North Country
Spectrum News Central New York serves the central portions of upstate New York. Headquartered in Syracuse, it also operates subfeeds for the Southern Tier and the North Country regions of the state, encompassing the western and northern Adirondacks. The channel launched in November 2003 as News 10 Now. In February 2007, the channel launched a separate feed focused on Binghamton, Elmira, Corning and surrounding areas.
Due to the presence of ABC affiliate WSYR-TV, which broadcasts on VHF channel 9, it is the only one of Spectrum's news channels in upstate New York that is not carried on channel 9 in its primary markets; it is instead carried on either channel 10 or channel 14. In March 2010, as part of a rebranding of Time Warner Cable's regional news channels statewide, News 10 Now adopted the "YNN" brand, rebranding as YNN Central New York. The channel adopted its current name, Time Warner Cable News Central New York, on December 16, 2013; its subfeed, YNN Southern Tier and YNN North Country, were accordingly and respectively rebranded as Time Warner Cable News Southern Tier and Time Warner Cable News North Country on that date. It then changed its name to Spectrum News Central New York/Southern Tier/North Country on September 20, 2016.
Spectrum News North Carolina
Spectrum News North Carolina serves the entire state of North Carolina, with individual feeds for four regions within the state (the Research Triangle, the Piedmont Triad, Charlotte and Wilmington) that are carried on Time Warner Cable's systems in the respective markets. The channel originally launched as News 14 Carolina on March 22, 2002 in Raleigh; this was followed two months later on June 14 by the launch of its Charlotte feed, and later by sub-feeds for the Piedmont Triad on September 25, 2006 and Wilmington on August 18, 2008. The channel adopted the name Time Warner Cable News North Carolina on December 16, 2013, and changed its name to Spectrum News North Carolina on September 20, 2016.
Spectrum News Rochester
Spectrum News Rochester serves Rochester, New York and surrounding areas. The channel launched on April 22, 1990 as "WGRC" (for the city's cable provider at the time, Greater Rochester Cablevision); as such, it is the oldest channel among the Time Warner Cable News networks and the only one that was not launched by the provider. In 1992, Greater Rochester Cablevision moved "WGRC" to channel 9 and rebranded it as GRC9News. In April 1995, after Time Warner Cable acquired the cable television franchise rights for the area, the channel was renamed R News and was converted into a 24-hour news channel.
In 2005, some of R News' operations were merged with two of its sister news networks in other parts of New York, Syracuse-based News 10 Now and Albany-based Capital News 9. On August 4, 2009, the channel rebranded as YNN Rochester, becoming the second TWC-owned news channel (after Buffalo-based sister channel YNN Buffalo) to adopt the "YNN" brand. The channel adopted its' newest former name, Time Warner Cable News Rochester, on December 16, 2013. It then changed its name to Spectrum News Rochester on September 20, 2016.
Related channels
NY1
NY1 (also known as Spectrum News NY1 and spoken as "New York One") serves the New York City metropolitan area, and is the only channel that restricts the "Spectrum News" name to a sub-brand. Although it shares content with the other Spectrum News channels, it maintains different programming than Charter's other New York-based news channels; it is the only such channel that does not carry Capital Tonight, but does produce its own specialty programs such as Inside City Hall (which is renamed Road to City Hall during New York City mayoral elections). The channel launched on September 8, 1992. Unlike the other Spectrum News channels, NY1 is carried on providers other than Charter (including Cablevision's New York City area systems and the Orlando and Tampa, Florida systems operated by Bright House Networks (which is/was managed by Time Warner Cable)). It also operates NY1 Noticias for Spanish-speaking Hispanic American viewers along with NY1 Rail and Road for traffic and mass transit conditions around New York City.
See also
- News 12 Networks - a similar group of 24-hour regional cable news channels operated by Altice USA.
- FiOS1 - a similar group of 24-hour regional cable news channels operated by Verizon FiOS.
References
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/business/media/03cable.html?_r=1
- ^ http://www.news8austin.com/content/275590/news-8-austin-becomes-ynn
- ^ Time Warner Cable makes move to rename NY1 so viewers know it's an exclusive news channel, New York Daily News, March 14, 2013.
- ^ TWC Settles On New Name for NY1 Outlets, Multichannel News, November 20, 2013.
- ^ Kaplan, Don (November 20, 2013). "NY1 changing name to Time Warner Cable News NY1". Daily News. Retrieved December 22, 2013.