| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Kansas City metropolitan area Lincoln, Nebraska |
| Network | Spectrum News |
| Headquarters | Kansas City, Missouri |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Picture format | 1080i (HDTV) 480i (SDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Charter Communications |
| History | |
| Launched | December 12, 1996; 28 years ago (1996-12-12) |
| Former names | Metro Sports (1996–2013) Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (2013–2016) Spectrum Sports Kansas City (2016–2023) |
| Links | |
| Website | https://spectrumnews1.com/mo/kansas-city |
Spectrum News 1 Kansas City is an Americanregional sports and newscable andsatellitetelevision network owned byCharter Communications. The channel mainly serves theKansas City metropolitan area;Lawrence, Kansas; and the state ofNebraska. In addition to being carried on Charter Spectrum systems in the Kansas City area, it is currently available on cable providers such asComcast andMIDCO in metropolitan Kansas City, Lawrence, and areas of Nebraska.
The channel was launched on December 12, 1996 asMetro Sports, and was founded byTime Warner Cable. It has produced live sporting events for collegiate athletic conferences such as theBig 12 Conference,Missouri Valley Conference, theSummit League, theNational Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and their individual members. The channel's other hallmark programming is its coverage of local Kansas City high school athletics, including its "HyVee High School Game of The Week" featuring top local teams infootball,basketball,wrestling,volleyball,baseball,soccer and other sports.[1]
Metro Sports also broadcast five games of theMissouri Mavericks of theCentral Hockey League during the2010–2011 Central Hockey League season.[2] In March 2009, Metro Sports produced and televised live all 31 games of the2009 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament, which was held in Kansas City, Missouri.
Metro Sports formerly produced live sporting events for professional sports teams such asMajor League Soccer'sKansas City Wizards (including aSpanish language audio simulcast transmitted over asecondary audio program channel during its final two seasons of coverage, before the Wizards declined to renew their broadcasting contract), and theKansas City Brigade of theArena Football League, before the league was liquidated and reincarnated. Metro Sports also produced and televisedKansas City Royals games from2003 to2007, after which it lost the rights toFSN Midwest.
Metro Sports has published a book,More Than The Score: Kansas City Sports Memories. On March 1, 2010, Metro Sports launched Metro Sports HD, ahigh definition simulcast feed of Metro Sports, and a secondary channel, Metro Sports 2.[3]
In September 2013, the channel was renamed as theTime Warner Cable SportsChannel, with its spin-off channel becoming known asTime Warner Cable SportsChannel 2; at that time, it adopted a logo similar to that implemented byTime Warner Cable SportsNet inLos Angeles when it launched the year prior.
Following the provider's acquisition of Time Warner Cable in May 2016, the Time Warner Cable SportsChannel services were rebranded under theSpectrum Sports banner in September 2016, as part of Charter's phaseout of the TWC brand.
The channel's weeklyfantasy football programFantasy Huddle is also distributed to other Charter Spectrum systems formerly operated by Time Warner Cable systems nationwide.[4]
In September 2023, the channel was relaunched as Spectrum News 1 Kansas City, adding local and national news programming to the existing sports coverage.[5] During the day, local news headlines are aired every 30 minutes supplemented by news fromSpectrum News+, Spectrum's national channel offering curated coverage from its local news channels.
On June 26, 2013,KU Athletics,IMG College andTime Warner Cable Sports announced that TWC would broadcast live coverage of theUniversity of Kansas events. This includes thefootball,men's basketball,women's basketball, volleyball,baseball,softball, soccer and the track and field events.[6]