Charter Communications and NBC Universal have entered into an agreement that involves the sale of regional cable news channel New England Cable News (NECN) to Spectrum News.
As part of the acquisition, Charter says its Spectrum News newsrooms in Maine and Massachusetts will consolidate into a single operation called Spectrum News NECN. The consolidated channel will reach viewers in several states, including Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.
“This agreement represents a significant milestone for Spectrum News as we grow our operation in New England and expand our viewership to additional markets across the country,” said Mike Bair, the Executive Vice President of Spectrum Networks. “We look forward to building on a storied local news brand and honoring the importance of local news that serves communities throughout New England.”
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction comes at a time when Comcast is parting ways with many of its non-critical linear cable networks — the company spun out many of its national networks into Versant last month — while Charter increases its investments in regional cable news through the Spectrum News brand.
Charter and Comcast have also inked distribution agreements over the past few months that make certain Spectrum News channels available to customers of Comcast’s Xfinity TV service in several states, including California, New Jersey and Florida.
In New England, customers who currently receive NECN through Xfinity TV will still have access to the channel when it rebrands as Spectrum News NECN. Spectrum TV subscribers who don’t already receive a regional news channel will gain access to Spectrum News NECN if they live in the appropriate region.
Nationally, Spectrum News content is available through the free streaming channel Spectrum News Plus, which is distributed on Xumo Play.
