The Comcast Network (TCN) was an American
cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
television network
A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...
which was carried mostly on Comcast and
Xfinity cable systems in four states and 20 television markets in the
Eastern U.S. from
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
to
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
. The main focus of the network was on the
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
area, although the channel attempted to structure its programs as national shows. Key markets included
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
, the
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
cities of Philadelphia,
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
and
Harrisburg
Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...
,
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...
,
Washington, D.C., and
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...
.
History
The Comcast Network was first launched to around 400,000 homes on December 1, 1996, as CN8, 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 station
NJ 101.5's morning show, as well as local sports. The channel was added to Comcast's Baltimore-area systems in early 1998.
In November 1999, Comcast purchased rival Lenfest Communications, which operated in the area under the
Suburban Cable and
Garden 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 of
WCAU-TV
WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jersey–licensed Tel ...
(which would become a sister station to CN8 in 2011 when Comcast
acquired 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 in
New 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's
Center City neighborhood, and news bureaus/studios in
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...
,
Trenton and
Union, New Jersey. CN8 was now distributed across Comcast's systems from Maryland to northern New Jersey, providing regionalized coverage and shows for these areas.
In 2002, CN8 launched in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
when Comcast acquired
AT&T Broadband, which would be further expanded when Comcast acquired assets from
Adelphia Communications
Adelphia Communications Corporation was an American cable television company with headquarters in Coudersport, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1952 by brothers Gus and John Rigas after the pair purchased a cable television franchise for US$300. C ...
following their liquidation. (The two deals left the satellite TV companies and
Armstrong Cable as the only other pay-TV options in
Western Pennsylvania
Western Pennsylvania is a region in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the Unite ...
until the launch of
Verizon Fios.) However, CN8 never launched a standalone Pittsburgh feed; Comcast acquired a stake in
PCNC from the AT&T Broadband deal (a remnant of their predecessor
TCI prior to
AT&T
AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...
acquiring TCI) and to this day continues to serve as a
silent partner to that channel's other owner, local
NBC affiliate
WPXI.
In May 2003, CN8 further expanded into New England. Replacing ''AT&T 3'', operated by Comcast's regional predecessor
AT&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 by ''NiteBeat'', covering politics and analysis of regional news, hosted by
Barry Nolan (formerly of
WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent WSBK-TV (channel 38). Bo ...
's ''
Evening Magazine''), while the 10pm news was replaced in New England with ''Sports Pulse'', a one-hour nightly program of regional sports talk, highlights, and analysis. This was done to avoid redundancy with
New 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.
That same year, Philadelphia news veteran
Larry 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. 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 the
East Coast.
The CN8 brand was discontinued on January 6, 2009, as part of a larger restructuring of the network in order to respond to low
ratings as well as closing down in the
New England
New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
market, where its primary markets were
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
and Hartford/New Haven. Some CN8 New England programming migrated to
New England Cable News, with some sports properties picked up by
Comcast 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.
It is not clear what network, if any, replaced the channel in the Pittsburgh market.
Programs
As CN8
See also
*
Broadcasting of sports events
The broadcasting of sports events (also known as a sportscast) is the live coverage of sports as a television program, on radio, and other broadcasting media. It usually involves one and more sports commentators describing events as they happen ...
*
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comcast Network
NBCUniversal networks
NBC Sports Regional Networks
Television stations in New Jersey
Television channels and stations established in 1996
1996 establishments in the United States
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2017
2017 disestablishments in the United States
Defunct local cable stations in the United States
Defunct mass media in Connecticut
Defunct mass media in Delaware
Defunct mass media in Maryland
Defunct mass media in Massachusetts
Defunct mass media in New Jersey
Defunct mass media in Pennsylvania
Defunct mass media in Virginia
Defunct mass media in Washington, D.C.
Defunct mass media in Rhode Island