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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Upstate New York |
| Network | Spectrum Sports |
| Headquarters | West Seneca,New York |
| Programming | |
| Language | American English |
| Picture format | 1080i (HDTV) 480i (SDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Charter Communications |
| Sister channels | Spectrum Sports (Ohio), Spectrum Sports (Wisconsin), Spectrum Sports (Kansas City), Spectrum SportsNet (Los Angeles), Spectrum Sports (Texas) |
| History | |
| Launched | 2003; 23 years ago (2003) |
| Replaced | Empire Sports Network, Time Warner Cable SportsChannel |
| Closed | October 5, 2017; 8 years ago (2017-10-05) |
| Replaced by | MSG Western New York |
| Former names |
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| Links | |
| Website | |
Spectrum Sports was a network ofregional sports cable television stations serving much of theupstate New York area. The stations, which wereowned and operated byCharter Communications through its acquisition ofTime Warner Cable in May 2016, were available inRochester,Binghamton,Syracuse andBuffalo. The network broadcast a variety of local college and minor league sports games and was the de facto successor to the Buffalo-basedEmpire Sports Network. Unlike most regional sports networks, Spectrum Sports was never available on satellite television, nor was it available in areas of upstate that are served by companies other than Charter Spectrum/Time Warner Cable (such asAtlantic Broadband in Cattaraugus County orZito Media in Cayuga County).
The network was formed in 2003 as budget cuts at the now-defunctEmpire Sports Network, the area's previous regional sports network, forced severe cutbacks in the network's ability to cover sports outside ofBuffalo. As a result,Syracuse University dropped Empire and instead signed a contract with Time Warner to carry their games on a separate channel, which became Time Warner Sports. Time Warner added some other sports events from local college and minor league sports teams to create the channel, which was initially only offered in theSyracuse area. In December 2006, Time Warner Sports expanded southward into theBinghamton market.
Also in December 2006, Time Warner SportsNet (TWSN) was established by Time Warner Cable inRochester by acquiring rights to teams owned by theRochester Sports Group: namely theAmericans (ice hockey),Knighthawks (indoor lacrosse),Rattlers (outdoor lacrosse) andRaging Rhinos (soccer). Some of those teams had previously aired on other Time Warner channels, such asWRWB (the cable-only WB affiliate on channel 16 which has since has been sold toWHAM-TV) and Time Warner's overflow channel, channel 98. In June 2007, TWSN obtained the rights to televise the games of theRochester Red Wings baseball team. TWSN also obtained the rights to air theRochester Razorsharks basketball team, replays of theRochester Raiders indoor football team, and some collegiate sports. The channel serves the entire Greater Rochester area, including theFinger Lakes region and Genesee County (Batavia).
Time Warner Cable established a Buffalo version of TWSN on November 19, 2007, on channel 13 on Buffalo-area TWC systems, operating out of the former Empire studios on Indian Church Road inWest Seneca. The channel replaced former local-interest channel "Time Warner 13." TWSN hired former Empire host Jim Brinson in the spring of 2008; Brinson returned to Western New York after a stint as the morning co-anchor atKOHD in Bend, Oregon and hosts programs as well as handles play-by-play duties.
In March 2009, after parent companyTime Warner spun offTime Warner Cable as a separate company, all three stations were correspondingly re-branded to begin with "Time Warner Cable" instead of just "Time Warner". The Buffalo and Rochester stations were rebranded as Time Warner Cable SportsChannel in fall 2012, adopting a logo similar to the newly establishedTime Warner Cable SportsNet in Los Angeles. Likewise, the channels were rebranded "Spectrum Sports" in September 2016 whenCharter Communications purchased Time Warner Cable.
Spectrum Sports ceased operations on October 5, 2017. Locally originated programming mostly ended in June; the network waited until October to cease operations to fulfill its commitment to professional baseball coverage.[1] Existing programming on the network was merged intoSpectrum News and migrated to online platforms.[2]
Spectrum Sports aired a wide variety of local sports programming. To suit local interests, and because of rights issues, some events were carried only on the Buffalo, Rochester and/or Syracuse feeds. Binghamton, Utica, and North Country viewers received the Syracuse (Central New York) feed.
In addition to local sports (listed below), Time Warner Sports was also affiliated withESPNEWS, which was usually carried during the midday period while that network was provided to regional sports networks for filler programming. Paid programming aired on the channel during the overnight hours.
Most first-choiceBig East basketball and football games produced byESPN Plus aired exclusively on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel in its broadcast territory, including any that involve Syracuse University. Additionally, Spectrum Sports rebroadcast Syracuse University games televised by other ESPN networks.SNY (which is part-owned by Charter) generally only had rights to the same games in theNew York City metropolitan area.
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