Spectrum News


Spectrum 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, 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 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, and launched two more channels in Florida in 1997, Bay News 9 in Tampa and Central Florida News 13 in Orlando. These were followed by the launches of News 8 Austin in 1999, News 24 Houston in 2002 and News 9 San Antonio in 2003, 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 was later adopted that August on its Rochester news channel. 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. 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; 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.
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. 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.
With the acquisition of TWC by Charter Communications in 2016, the "Time Warner Cable News" branding was dropped from all networks in favor of "Spectrum News," after Charter's primary consumer brand, on September 20, 2016. Similarly, TWC's various regional sports networks have been rebranded under the umbrella of "Spectrum Sports".
On July 27, 2018, the New York State Public Service Commission announced that Charter must cease operations in New York by September 25, citing numerous violations of the agreed terms under which the Charter/Time Warner Cable merger was approved. However, the company continues to operate in the state as of December 2018 as the result of a settlement with the commission that month.

Programming

Each of the Spectrum News channels utilize a half-hour news "wheel" format and carry newscasts at least 20 hours daily. Almost every story is taped, except those dubbed as breaking news. Weather reports are broadcast every 10 minutes at all times ending in "1" ; a brief minute-long roundup of the hour's major headlines 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, 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. The networks occasionally sign-off in overnight periods at least once a month for one to two hours for routine maintenance.
Spectrum News operates on a model of not carrying news about violent crimes, common auto accidents and fires, unless a story involving one is so large and affecting, that coverage is effectively required to remain competitive. In Los Angeles specifically, it has stated that it will not carry coverage of live freeway car chases, a common feature of the broadcast news operations in Los Angeles. Spectrum News channels will also go off the wheel occasionally for live continuous breaking news coverage, such as press conferences for news and sports events, along with live segments or continuous coverage past scheduled live hours for severe weather coverage.
Franchise news segments are also syndicated to all of the Spectrum News channels.
In addition to sharing weather 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. The network also maintains a bureau in Washington, D.C. for national political news.
Charter also operated Spectrum Sports channels in the same markets as well as many others. In fall 2017, markets that had both Spectrum News and Spectrum Sports stations were consolidated, with Spectrum News stations taking on sports programming and the Spectrum Sports outlets being eliminated.

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" 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 the 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. 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 1 North Carolina

Spectrum News 1 North Carolina serves the entire state of North Carolina, with individual feeds for four regions within the state that are carried on Spectrum'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, 1987 as "WGRC" ; 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 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.

Spectrum News 1 (Kentucky/Southwestern Ohio/Southern Indiana)

serves Louisville, Lexington, Paducah, Owensboro/Evansville, Indiana, and all other Kentucky communities in which Spectrum provides cable television service, including the Northern Kentucky portion of the Cincinnati, Ohio market. Louisville, Lexington, Northern Kentucky and several other Kentucky cable markets were once served by legacy Insight Communications systems until the company was acquired by Time Warner Cable in 2012, and are now a part of Spectrum and Charter Communications. Spectrum News 1 is the only Spectrum News network not founded under Time Warner Cable or Charter ownership. The network dated back to the late 2000s as cn|2 under Insight Communications ownership, and aired limited news updates, along with rolling weather updates. The network's service has slowly expanded over time under Time Warner and Charter ownership, now featuring political programs covering the Commonwealth, sports coverage, along with continuous weather coverage. The cn|2 name was retained until Spectrum took control of Time Warner Cable.
On October 29, 2018, the network was re-launched under the current name, replacing looped weather forecasts with rolling news and weather coverage from studios based in Louisville. The relaunch also saw the channel move universally to channel 1, displacing Spectrum's video on demand service to a channel 999 shortcut.

Spectrum News 1 (Ohio)

On November 7, 2018, Spectrum News 1 Ohio was launched as a 24-hour, statewide news channel. It serves Ohio's 3 largest cities, Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, as well as the majority of the state with three regional feeds of news and localized weather forecasts. Positioning itself as "Always Ohio. Always Refreshing. Always On.", Spectrum News 1 focuses less on sensationalism and crime stories and more on in-depth journalism, community stories, and local weather coverage. Taking over the affiliation with the Ohio High School Athletic Association from Spectrum's now-defunct sports channel, Spectrum Sports, Charter's Spectrum News 1 is the home of the Ohio High School Football and Basketball championships, other live high school games, select Dayton Flyers basketball games, and Ohio State athletics coverage. The channel is only available to Spectrum subscribers on channel 1.

Spectrum News 1 (Southern California)

On November 16, 2018, Spectrum News 1 Southern California was launched as a 24-hour, all-local news channel to serve most of Southern California. The channel is only available to Charter Spectrum subscribers. It offers the morning news show The Beat on 1 as well as local newscasts throughout the day.

Spectrum News 1 (Wisconsin)

serves Milwaukee, Madison, and Green Bay and the Fox Cities with three separate feeds; one for Milwaukee, one for Green Bay, and the Madison feed serving the rest of Spectrum's service area in the western, central and northern part of the state, originating from studios in downtown Milwaukee within Spectrum's regional headquarters, along with bureaus throughout the state. The network launched on November 28, 2018, effectively serving as the de facto replacement for Spectrum Sports, which had wound down its sports rights due to many of its partners taking their rights in-house or to new digital-only partners. Some of the latter network's staff remains with Spectrum News 1, along with an existing content agreement with the Green Bay Packers.
The network is carried on channel 1 universally throughout the state on Spectrum; as above with Kentucky, it displaced Spectrum's on demand service to the channel 999 shortcut. For viewers without automatic HD tuning, the channel is carried in high definition on channel 1001 on legacy Time Warner systems, and channel 700 on legacy Charter systems.

Spectrum News Massachusetts

In December 2019, Spectrum News Massachusetts was launched, serving the provider's systems in Central and Western Massachusetts, as well as southwestern New Hampshire. It serves areas including Worcester and Pittsfield.

Related channels

NY1

NY1 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. The channel launched on September 8, 1992. Unlike the other Spectrum News channels, NY1 is carried on providers other than Charter prior to their acquisition by Charter. 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. It is also carried some in Spectrum markets outside of the New York Tri-State region as a higher-tier digital offering, with local advertising bedded over with public service announcements.

Spectrum Bay News 9

Bay News 9 is a cable news television network located in St. Petersburg, Florida and began operating on September 24, 1997. It currently serves the Tampa Bay area including Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee, Polk, Pasco, Hernando, and Citrus counties.

Spectrum News 13

News 13 is focused primarily on Central Florida, specifically Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties. The channel originally launched in October 29, 1997 as Central Florida News 13; it was originally partnered with the Orlando Sentinel to help with 24-hour newsgathering operations and the channel was originally operated by Time Warner Cable, which relinquished cable television franchise rights in the Orlando metropolitan area to Bright House Networks in 2001.