Spectrum Sports was a network of regional sports cable television stations serving much of the

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York (state), New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upsta ...

area. The stations, which were owned and operated by

Charter Communications Charter Communications, Inc., is an American telecommunications and mass media company with services branded as Spectrum. With over 32 million customers in 41 states, it is the second-largest cable operator in the United States by subscribe ...

through its acquisition of

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, opera ...

in May 2016, were available in Rochester,

Binghamton Binghamton () is a City (New York), city in the United States, U.S. state of New York (state), New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County, New York, Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier reg ...

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy * Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' * Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

and Buffalo. The network broadcast a variety of local college and minor league sports games and was the de facto successor to the Buffalo-based

Empire Sports Network Empire Sports Network was an American regional sports network that was owned by the Adelphia Communications Corporation. The network was available on cable providers in much of upstate New York (stretching from Buffalo to Albany), as well as p ...

. 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 as Atlantic Broadband in Cattaraugus County or Zito Media in Cayuga County).

History

The network was formed in 2003 as budget cuts at the now-defunct

, the area's previous regional sports network, forced severe cutbacks in the network's ability to cover sports outside of Buffalo. As a result,

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

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 the

area. In December 2006, Time Warner Sports expanded southward into the

market. Also in December 2006, Time Warner SportsNet (TWSN) was established by Time Warner Cable in Rochester by acquiring rights to teams owned by the Rochester Sports Group: namely the

Americans Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents could also legally claim Ame ...

(ice hockey), Knighthawks (indoor lacrosse), Rattlers (outdoor lacrosse) and Raging Rhinos (soccer). Some of those teams had previously aired on other Time Warner channels, such as WRWB (the cable-only WB affiliate on channel 16 which has since has been sold to WHAM-TV) and Time Warner's overflow channel, channel 98. In June 2007, TWSN obtained the rights to televise the games of the

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Field, located in downt ...

baseball team. TWSN also obtained the rights to air the Rochester Razorsharks basketball team, replays of the Rochester Raiders indoor football team, and some collegiate sports. The channel serves the entire Greater Rochester area, including the

Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York, in the United States. This region straddles the northern and transitional ...

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 in West 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 at

KOHD KOHD (channel 18) is a television station in Bend, Oregon, United States, serving as the American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate for Central Oregon. It is owned by local cable television, cable company BendBroadband alongside low-power broad ...

in Bend, Oregon and hosts programs as well as handles play-by-play duties. In March 2009, after parent company

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

spun off

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 established Time Warner Cable SportsNet in Los Angeles. Likewise, the channels were rebranded "Spectrum Sports" in September 2016 when

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. Existing programming on the network was merged into Spectrum News and migrated to online platforms.

Programming

Spectrum Sports aired a wide variety of local sports programming. To suit local interests, and because of rights issues, some events are carried only on the Buffalo, Rochester and/or Syracuse feeds. Binghamton, Utica, and North Country viewers receive the Syracuse (Central New York) feed. In addition to local sports (listed below), Time Warner Sports was also affiliated with

ESPNEWS ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News", stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns ...

, which was usually carried during the midday period while that network was provided to regional sports networks for filler programming. Paid programming airs on the channel in the overnight hours. Most first-choice Big East basketball and football games produced by ESPN Plus aired exclusively on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel in its broadcast territory, including any that involve Syracuse University. Additionally, Spectrum Sports rebroadcasts Syracuse University games televised by other ESPN networks. SNY (which is part-owned by Charter) generally only has rights to the same games in the

New York City metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, at , and one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The vast metropolitan are ...

. However, it may have access to other Big East games to show across the full viewing area, particularly in basketball.

All stations

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major lea ...

baseball (simulcast of games on

WPIX WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship of ...

) *

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

baseball (simulcast of games on

WWOR-TV WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area as the flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox flagship WNYW ...

) (2009-2010) *

ECAC Hockey ECAC Hockey is one of the six conferences that compete in NCAA Division I college ice hockey, ice hockey. The conference used to be affiliated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a consortium of over 300 colleges in the eastern United ...

, especially involving

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theolog ...

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

, and

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

, in addition to the conference tournament. *

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, a ...

hockey (moved to

MSG Western New York MSG Western New York (MSG WNY) is an American regional sports network that is a joint venture between MSG Entertainment and Pegula Sports and Entertainment. The channel (also on occasion credited as ''Pegula Sports Network'' or ''MSG Buffalo'') ...

as part of a deal between MSG and team ownership) * Rochester Knighthawks indoor lacrosse (most games were carried in Rochester but some were broadcast across the entire system) * Select

Oswego State Lakers State University of New York at Oswego (SUNY Oswego or Oswego State) is a public college in the City of Oswego and Town of Oswego, New York. It has two campuses: historic lakeside campus in Oswego and Metro Center in Syracuse, New York. SUN ...

games * Select

football, basketball, and lacrosse, plus coach's show * High school sports, with coverage separated by market.

Buffalo only

* ''Bengal Magazine'', the

Buffalo State College The State University of New York College at Buffalo (colloquially referred to as Buffalo State College, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo State, or simply Buff State) is a public college in Buffalo, New York. It is part of the State University of New ...

weekly athletics recap program *

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen F ...

baseball *

Canisius College Canisius College is a private Jesuit college in Buffalo, New York. It was founded in 1870 by Jesuits from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. Canisius offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and minors, and around 34 master' ...

hockey and basketball *

Niagara University Niagara University (NU) is a private Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition in Lewiston in Niagara County, New York. It is run by the Congregation of the Mission and has 3,300 undergraduate students in 50 academic programs. App ...

hockey and basketball *

Portland Pirates The Portland Pirates were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). Their home arena was the Cross Insurance Arena in downtown Portland, Maine. The franchise was previously known as the Baltimore Skipjacks fr ...

hockey (2008–11) *

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 18 ...

home football games (excluding

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

family of networks broadcasts) and select feeds from road game broadcasts, men's and women's basketball, baseball (select games carries in other markets) * ''The Enforcers'', an opinion show hosted by

Rob Ray Robert John Ray (born June 8, 1968) is a Canadian sports broadcaster and former professional ice hockey player for the Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators. He was awarded the King Clancy Memorial Trophy by the National Hockey League in 1999 for ...

and

Ruben Brown Ruben Parnell Brown (born February 13, 1972) is a former American football guard who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills 14th overall in the 1995 NFL Draft. He played college football ...

Rochester only

Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private research university in the town of Henrietta in the Rochester, New York, metropolitan area. The university offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional ...

men's ice hockey and occasionally women's ice hockey * Rochester Rattlers outdoor lacrosse * Rochester RazorSharks basketball *

baseball * Rochester Rhinos soccer

Buffalo and Rochester only

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

basketball (simulcast of games on MSG when the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, alon ...

are playing at the same time) * ''BullsEye'', the

weekly athletics recap program

Syracuse only

home football games, basketball, hockey, and lacrosse (select games aired in other markets) *

Syracuse Chiefs Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

baseball * Syracuse Crunch hockey

References

External links

Spectrum Sports

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spectrum Sports (New York)

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Television channels and stations established in 2003 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2017 Rochester Red Wings Syracuse Mets Sports in Syracuse, New York Sports in Rochester, New York Sports in Buffalo, New York 2003 establishments in New York City 2017 disestablishments in New York (state) Defunct local cable stations in the United States Defunct mass media in New York (state)