Charter Communications has relaunched its recently-acquired regional channel New England Cable News (NECN) under the Spectrum News brand.
The move comes about six months after Charter announced its intention to acquire NECN from peer telecom services provider Comcast, which operated it as part of NBC Universal.
The network is available to existing NECN distributors and will feature reporting from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Charter said availability will expand to additional viewers in the coming months.
Matt Reed, a veteran New England journalist, will serve as the network’s primary anchor at launch. Reed will also anchor a new morning show scheduled to debut later this year.
“For the past 10 years, I’ve had the opportunity to wake up New Englanders and deliver the news they need to start their day,” Reed said in a statement on Wednesday. “I’ve covered stories that have been shaping our region, including nor’easters, the 2020 and 2024 New Hampshire primaries, duck parades for three Patriots Super Bowl wins, one Red Sox World Series and one Celtics NBA Championship.”
Reed said it was an honor to help launch “this next chapter” for Spectrum News NECN and continue covering issues affecting New Englanders.
The network is led by Senior News Director Teisha Parker. Spectrum News said it is hiring additional staff throughout New England, with those employees expected to join the operation over the coming months.
NECN first launched in 1992 and built a regional news presence across New England. The rebranded Spectrum News NECN will feature local headlines every 15 minutes and weather forecasts every 10 minutes on the 1s.
“As a native Mainer, I was a longtime viewer of the earlier iteration of NECN,” Sam Singal, the Group Vice President of Spectrum News, said on Wednesday. “I’m excited to be involved in revitalizing and expanding the network for today’s audiences, bringing award-winning Spectrum News journalism to viewers around the region.”
Spectrum customers can access Spectrum News NECN through the Spectrum News App on mobile devices, Xumo Stream Box, Roku and Apple TV.
The launch continues a broader expansion by Spectrum News, which has added local linear television news networks in several markets in recent years; it recently announced a statewide news initiative in California and the launch of local bureaus in Sacramento and San Francisco.
Charter also distributes news through its streaming channel Spectrum News Plus and Spanish-language outlet Spectrum Noticias.
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