Spectrum Sports Explained

Spectrum Sports
Launch Date:2003
Picture Format:480i (SDTV)
1080i (HDTV)
Owner:Charter Communications
Country:United States
Language:English
Area:California
Hawaii
Kansas
New York
Online Serv 1:Live Stream
Online Chan 1:Live Stream

Spectrum Sports (abbreviated as SPECTSN[1]), also known under the corporate names Spectrum Networks, or Charter Sports Regional Networks, is the collective name for a group of regional sports networks in the United States that are primarily owned and operated by Charter Communications through its acquisition of Time Warner Cable in May 2016. Charter also operates two other channels under the alternative name Spectrum SportsNet. The channels previously were branded as either Time Warner Cable Sports Channel or Time Warner Cable SportsNet.

Each of the networks carry regional broadcasts of sporting events from various professional, collegiate and high school sports teams (with broadcasts typically exclusive to each individual network, although some are shown on more than one Spectrum Sports network within a particular team's designated market area), along with regional and national sports discussion, documentary and analysis programs.

Depending on their individual team rights, some Spectrum Sports outlets maintain overflow feeds available via digital cable channels in their home markets, which may provide alternate programming when not used to carry game broadcasts that the main feed cannot carry due to scheduling conflicts. Spectrum Sports' business operations are based in New York City, New York and Los Angeles, California.

History

Time Warner Cable (TWC) launched its first regional sports network in Kansas City in 1996. The network then known as Metro Sports featured mostly college and high school games. The second of these networks was formed in 1998 as Central Ohio Sport! Television. That network began as a partnership with Insight Communications which Time Warner would later acquire. Other networks would soon follow under various names. It wasn't until Fall 2013 that TWC decided to unify these channels under one brand, Time Warner Cable Sports Channel. All of these channels were rebranded as Spectrum Sports after TWC was acquired by Charter in 2016. At that time, Bright House Sports Network was also rebranded Spectrum Sports Florida as Charter had acquired Bright House Networks in the same deal as TWC. With the exception of the Kansas City network (which is also carried by Comcast), all of these networks have exclusive carriage on Charter Spectrum systems only.

Time Warner Cable has also partnered with major league sports teams to form regional sports networks. The first of these was SportsNet New York in 2006 of which the New York Mets are the majority owners. In 2012, Time Warner Cable SportsNet (currently Spectrum SportsNet) was formed in a partnership with the Los Angeles Lakers. This was followed by the less successful Time Warner SportsNet LA (currently Spectrum SportsNet LA) as joint-venture with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Since taking over, Charter has shut down most of these networks. In some cases they have been replaced by Spectrum News.

Networks

Owned and operated

ChannelRegion servedTeam/conference broadcast rights Year launchedNotes
Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine sports
Hawaii High School Athletic Association sports
1976 Launched as Oceanic Sports
Kansas Jayhawks sports
Big 12 Conference sports
Missouri Valley Conference sports
Summit League sports
NAIA sports
1996 Launched as Metro Sports; rebranded as Time Warner Cable SportsChannel in 2013.

Partnerships

ChannelOwnerRegion servedTeam/conference broadcast rights Year launchedNotes
Los Angeles Lakers (50%)
Charter (50%)
Los Angeles Lakers (NBA)
Los Angeles Sparks (WNBA)
Los Angeles Chargers (NFL)
2012
Guggenheim Baseball Management (50%)
Charter (50%)
Greater Los Angeles Area,
Coachella Valley,
San Joaquin Valley
Las Vegas Valley,
Hawaii
Los Angeles Dodgers (MLB) 2014 Only regional sports network with separate Spanish feed. Network is also available on AT&T TV, U-verse, and DirecTV but currently not available on DISH and other cable systems.
New York Mets (65%)
Charter (27%)
NBC Sports Group (8%)
New York Metropolitan Area
Upstate New York
New York Mets (MLB)
New York Jets (NFL) (team related programming)
2006

Former networks

ChannelRegion servedTeam/conference broadcast rights Year launchedYear shutdownNotes
2014 2017 Subfeeds: Charlotte, Raleigh, Columbia.
2004 2017
Ohio,
parts of northern Kentucky,
western Pennsylvania
Columbus Crew (MLS)
Columbus Clippers (IL)
Toledo Mud Hens (IL)
Dayton Flyers basketball
Miami RedHawks hockey
Mid-American Conference college football and basketball
Ohio High School Athletic Association sports
1998 2019 Launched as Central Ohio Sport! Television. Rebranded as Time Warner Cable SportsChannel in 2012. Network maintains separate feeds for Cleveland, Akron-Canton and Youngstown, Columbus and Mid-Ohio, Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, and Dayton.
Buffalo Bisons (IL)
Rochester Knighthawks (NLL)
Rochester Razorsharks (PBL)
Rochester Red Wings (IL)
Rochester Rhinos (USL)
New York Mets (MLB)
Syracuse Chiefs (IL)
Syracuse Crunch (AHL)
New York Knicks (NBA)
Eastern College Athletic Conference hockey
Syracuse Orange football, basketball and lacrosse
Buffalo Bulls football (home games only)
Canisius Golden Griffins hockey and basketball
Niagara Purple Eagles hockey and basketball
RIT Tigers ice hockey
Colgate Raiders sports
2003 2017 Subfeeds: Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse,
FC Dallas (MLS)
Dallas Sidekicks (MASL)
High School Football (UIL)
2010 2017 Subfeeds: Dallas / Waco, Austin / San Antonio.
Milwaukee Panthers sports 2007 2018

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: TV Listings – San Diego Union-Tribune . . 29 July 2018.