Spectrum Sports was a regional sports network serving Ohio and parts of northern Kentucky, southern Michigan and western Pennsylvania operated by Charter Communications through its acquisition of Time Warner Cable in May 2016. It was broadcast on Channel 311 and 1311 exclusively on Time Warner Cable/Charter systems.
History
The channel began in September 1998 [1] in Columbus, Ohio as a partnership between Insight Communications and Time Warner Inc. (now WarnerMedia) through its then-owned Time Warner Cable unit called "Central Ohio Sport! Television." Similar channels debuted in February 2004 to Dayton and in 2006 to Cincinnati[2] as TWTV and in Cleveland and Akron/Canton, Ohio as NEON. In August 2012 the service replaced four regional part-time sports channels (Central Ohio Sport! Television, TWTV, Time Warner Cable Sports 24, and NE Ohio Network) into a three-zoned statewide sports network that serves 83 of Ohio's 88 counties.
On November 17 and 18, 2015, the network aired Before The League, a documentary series on the history of professional American football in Ohio.[3]
It was the broadcaster of the Columbus Crew, one of the original Major League Soccer franchises; Mid-American Conference college football and basketball including University of Akron, Bowling Green State University, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Kent State University, Miami University, Ohio University, Ball State University, Central Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University, Northern Illinois University, University of Toledo, and Western Michigan University; Wright State Raiders, Dayton Flyers basketball; and the Ohio High School Athletic Association. The channel airs supplemental local shows, smaller collegiate sports, and other minor professional sports within the Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania franchise areas of Time Warner Cable.
In January 2019, the channel was shut down, as part of a larger effort to divert their resources to the new Spectrum News 1 channels.[4][5][6] Ohio High School Athletic Association football championships will move to the new channel, which launched November 2018.[7]
Programming
The network held the rights to:
- Columbus Crew SC Major League Soccer
- Mid-American Conference basketball and football
- Ohio High School Athletic Association high school games weekly, playoffs and championships
- Miami Redhawks hockey
- Dayton Flyers men's basketball
- Columbus Clippers and Toledo Mud Hens (International League baseball)
References
- ^ "No one covers Central Ohio like Central Ohio Sport! TV" (Press release). Northwest Columbus News. May 31, 2000. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
- ^ "Sports games a boost for Time Warner". Dayton Business Journal (Press release). January 16, 2006. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
- ^ "'Before the League' documentary targets pre-NFL era". Ironton Tribune. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
- ^ "Spectrum Networks' new all-Ohio news channel aims to focus on 'issues-based' coverage". Columbus Business First. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
- ^ Ferree, Ben (2018-11-16). "Columbus Crew TV partner changes channels with Spectrum Networks' new direction". Pro Soccer USA. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
- ^ "Charter pulls the plug on Spectrum Sports Wisconsin channel". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
- ^ "Spectrum News 1 to Televise All Seven OHSAA State Football Championships". spectrumnews1.com. Retrieved 2019-03-14.