 | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Connecticut Delaware Maine Maryland Massachusetts New Hampshire New Jersey Pennsylvania Rhode Island Vermont Virginia Washington, D.C. |
| History | |
| Launched | December 1, 1996; 28 years ago (1996-12-01) |
| Closed | October 2, 2017; 8 years ago (2017-10-02) |
| Replaced by | NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus NBC Sports Washington Plus |
| Former names | CN8, The Comcast Network (1996–2009) Comcast Network (2009–2017) |
The Comcast Network (TCN) was an Americancabletelevision network which was carried mostly on Comcast andXfinity cable systems in four states and 20 television markets in theEastern U.S. fromNew Jersey toVirginia. The main focus of the network was on thePhiladelphia area, although the channel attempted to structure its programs as national shows. Key markets includedNew Jersey, thePennsylvania cities of Philadelphia,Pittsburgh andHarrisburg,Baltimore, Maryland,Washington, D.C., andRichmond, Virginia.
The Comcast Network was first launched to around 400,000 homes on December 1, 1996, asCN8, The Comcast Network (though it was often abbreviated to simply "CN8.") This largely constituted Comcast's Philadelphia-area cable systems. CN8 carried a mix of public affairs and call-in shows upon launch, including a television simulcast of radio stationNJ 101.5's morning show, as well as local sports. The channel was added to Comcast's Baltimore-area systems in early 1998.[1]
In November 1999, Comcast purchased rival Lenfest Communications, which operated in the area under theSuburban Cable andGarden State Cable names. They had launched their own regional cable channel,TSM News (TSM standing for "Tri-State Media"), that April, with live newscasts airing from 9 am to 8 pm every day; Janet Zappala, formerly ofWCAU-TV (which would become a sister station to CN8 in 2011 when Comcastacquired NBCUniversal), served as one of TSM's lead anchors. This resulted in TSM's shutdown, and many of its staffers were re-hired by Comcast to create CN8's news department, which launched in April 2000 from TSM's former studio facility inNew Castle, DE. CN8 News originally had two hour-long nightly newscasts, at 7PM and 11PM, co-anchored by another ex-WCAU personality, Arthur Fennell; eventually, the 11PM edition moved to 10PM. In addition to this facility, CN8 operated studios in Philadelphia'sCenter City neighborhood, and news bureaus/studios inBaltimore, Maryland,Trenton andUnion, New Jersey. CN8 was now distributed across Comcast's systems from Maryland to northern New Jersey, providing regionalized coverage and shows for these areas.[2]
In 2002, CN8 launched inPittsburgh when Comcast acquiredAT&T Broadband, which would be further expanded when Comcast acquired assets fromAdelphia Communications following their liquidation. (The two deals left the satellite TV companies andArmstrong Cable as the only other pay-TV options inWestern Pennsylvania until the launch ofVerizon Fios.) However, CN8 never launched a standalone Pittsburgh feed; Comcast acquired a stake inPCNC from the AT&T Broadband deal (a remnant of their predecessorTCI prior toAT&T acquiring TCI) and to this day continues to serve as asilent partner to that channel's other owner, localNBC affiliateWPXI.
In May 2003, CN8 further expanded into New England. ReplacingAT&T 3, operated by Comcast's regional predecessorAT&T Broadband, this version of CN8 largely carried the same programming as the Philadelphia-area feed, only with their newscasts replaced by new regional shows; the 7PM news was replaced byNiteBeat, covering politics and analysis of regional news, hosted byBarry Nolan (formerly ofWBZ-TV'sEvening Magazine), while the 10pm news was replaced in New England withSports Pulse, a one-hour nightly program of regional sports talk, highlights, and analysis. This was done to avoid redundancy withNew England Cable News, already partly owned by Comcast at the time. CN8 also produced a wide range of live sports in New England, including Division I college football, hockey and basketball, minor-league baseball, professional boxing, figure skating, high school sports, World Team Tennis, and a popular weekly candlepin bowling series. The New England feed was available to 2.2 million viewers across the region.[3][4][5]
That same year, Philadelphia news veteranLarry Kane joined CN8 as a consultant, and had his own show,Larry Kane: Voice of Reason. However, due to low viewership, CN8 ended their newscasts in 2006.[6] By 2008, CN8 was staffed by approximately 450 employees and was reaching more than 9 million viewers in 12 states and 20 television markets along theEast Coast.[7] The CN8 brand was discontinued on January 6, 2009, as part of a larger restructuring of the network in order to respond to lowratings as well as closing down in theNew England market, where its primary markets wereBoston and Hartford/New Haven. Some CN8 New England programming migrated toNew England Cable News, with some sports properties picked up byComcast SportsNet New England.
On August 23, 2017,NBC Sports Regional Networks announced that the TCN branding would be dropped on October 2, 2017; TCN Philadelphia was rebranded as NBC Sports Philadelphia +, and TCN Mid-Atlantic was to be rebranded as NBC Sports Washington +. The rebranding was concurrent with the renaming of the Comcast SportsNet networks under the NBC Sports brand.[8] It is not clear what network, if any, replaced the channel in the Pittsburgh market.
| Show title |
|---|
| American Builder[9] |
| Backstage with Barry Nolan[9] |
| Christina Cooks![9] |
| CN8 Candlepin Challenge[9] |
| CN8 News[9] |
| CN8 Presents: Comcast in Concert[9] |
| CN8 Sports[9] |
| Gymnastics 360 withShannon Miller[9] |
| It's Your Call with Lynn Doyle[9] |
| Larry Kane: Voice of Reason[9] |
| Let's Cook with Paul Dillon[9] |
| Lou Tilley's Sports Connection[9] |
| Money Matters Today[9] |
| Nancy Kerrigan's World of Skating[9] |
| Nitebeat[9] |
| One on One with Steve Adubato[9] |
| Out of Bounds[9] |
| Real Life with Mary Amoroso[9] |
| Seeking Solutions with Suzanne[9] |
| Sports Pulse[9] |
| Your Morning[9] |
| Art Fennell Reports[10] |
| Roll Call[11] |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Media related toThe Comcast Network at Wikimedia Commons
