TWC to Launch Buffalo News Channel

[dmott3]

Time Warner Cable, the parent company of R News, is launching a new local 24-hour news channel covering Buffalo and western New York.

The new channel is expected to begin operations late in the first quarter of 2009. It will be the company's 11th 24-hour news channel and only available for Time Warner Cable customers;

 

[BobRoss]

And this is according to who? Please cite your source information if this is factual. (Not just to prove you're right, but it's proper to give credit where credit is due, and also to help anyone else who may be interested in reading the the full article from wherever you found this.) Or, if this is rumor, please state such.

If it is indeed fact, I wonder how long before the have some sort of merger or resource-sharing with R-News, much like TWC has between News 10 Now in Syracuse, and Capital News 9 in Albany.

 

[Sxottlan]

And this is according to who? Please cite your source information if this is factual.

It's legit. I did not work today and therefore didn't see the internal email until tonight. I was shocked when I saw the R News web story here. There's been talk for years, but it sounded like the money just wasn't there. I guess now it is.

If it is indeed fact, I wonder how long before the have some sort of merger or resource-sharing with R-News, much like TWC has between News 10 Now in Syracuse, and Capital News 9 in Albany.

That's a given. We all fall under the New York News division. We routinely share content with Syracuse, Albany, New York and we also have a station in Jamestown. This will be a big help in covering the western edges of Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming counties.

 

[fybush]

And this is according to who? Please cite your source information if this is factual.

It's legit. I did not work today and therefore didn't see the internal email until tonight. I was shocked when I saw the R News web story here. There's been talk for years, but it sounded like the money just wasn't there. I guess now it is.

If it is indeed fact, I wonder how long before the have some sort of merger or resource-sharing with R-News, much like TWC has between News 10 Now in Syracuse, and Capital News 9 in Albany.

That's a given. We all fall under the New York News division. We routinely share content with Syracuse, Albany, New York and we also have a station in Jamestown. This will be a big help in covering the western edges of Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming counties.

I haven't worked there in seven years, and have absolutely zilch when it comes to inside information, but here's my guess as to how it goes down: Jamestown, which produces just one nightly newscast last I checked, will probably be rolled into the new Buffalo operation, much as Ithaca's nightly newscast was folded into News 10 Now when it launched in Syracuse. Weather hubbed from Syracuse, of course. And just as Syracuse uses anchors from Albany, might Buffalo be anchored from Rochester?

And could this finally be the prod that TWC needs to move its system in Alden, Erie County over to the Buffalo side of things? That system is still run out of Rochester, a legacy of the days when it was part of Tri-County, which was then folded into TWC Rochester, while the rest of Erie County was served by Adelphia, now TWC Buffalo. Customers there get R News and Time Warner Sports from Rochester, and I think one or two of the Rochester locals (WXXI and WROC?), but they get all the Buffalo local channels, of course.

 

[Mark Giardina]

I saw the promo on R News last night.

The first question that came to mind is will TW make room on their existing channels here in Rochester so that some of us Buffalo-born natives can see this new news product?

When cable first came to Rochester back in the 1980s, Buffalo and Syracuse stations were featured. However they were later replaced with french and spanish speaking channels.

IMHO having a Buffalo news channel airing on Rochester cable would also be better than the number of informercials which currently blanket local cable TV.

 

[fybush]

I saw the promo on R News last night.

The first question that came to mind is will TW make room on their existing channels here in Rochester so that some of us Buffalo-born natives can see this new news product?

When cable first came to Rochester back in the 1980s, Buffalo and Syracuse stations were featured. However they were later replaced with french and spanish speaking channels.

IMHO having a Buffalo news channel airing on Rochester cable would also be better than the number of informercials which currently blanket local cable TV.

The infomercials are paying to be there...so ignore them in peace, knowing they're actually lowering your cable bill in a way.

TWC already provides its flagship channel, New York 1, on digital cable. It would be nice to see Syracuse and Albany and Buffalo there, too...but I wonder if there would be an issue with the syndicated features that run on all those channels. Assuming TWC is buying them on a market-exclusive basis, that may prevent them from offering each local channel outside its home market.

(Or maybe they just figure, probably correctly, that very few of us out here in cable-land really care...)

 

[dustintv]

Any guesses as to what the name of it will be? Such as giving it a channel number like say "Buffalo's News 5" or "News 13 Now"? Or perhaps either simply "The Buffalo News Channel" or maybe just "B News"

 

[rocktv]

As news stations go, I doubt this will be a very expensive venture for TW. The upstate TWs can work together to fill the wheel. Weather is already centralized.

 

[BobRoss]

With Buffalo being higher-ranked than Rochester, I would expect Buffalo to anchor for itself. At least for now. Perhaps there will be a "talent merger" after the first couple years -- just as Syracuse and Albany were independent for awhile before they merged their talent. But out of the gate, the channel needs its own anchors... or else the competition will easily make a laughing stock out of them before they even have a chance to get going.

With non-competes now banned in NYS, it could be interesting to see if TWC manages to steal "notable" talent away from 2, 4 or 7.

I don't think it will be called "The Buffalo News Channel" because the city's daily newspaper is called "The Buffalo News." R-News is an exception to the rule, in terms of NOT having the channel number as part of the name. I'd bet on the Buffalo channel having a number somewhere.

I also agree with Fybush - I know NY1 is carried on cable in Syracuse and Albany (and I assume Rochester since you mentioned it). It would be nice to see some of the other TWC local newschannels from other parts of the state. But in addition to the syndicated content issue - they may not allow Syracuse/Albany to carry each other because they are essentially identical (same graphics, same anchors, etc.). Even though it isn't exactly a big secret, if I were TWC, I don't know if I'd want to make it that much easier for regular viewers to see their news or weather is coming from out-of-town talent -- who is obviously not live if they're appearing on 2 different channels, doing 2 different things, at the same time.