Charter Launching Spectrum News Channel In L-A Market

At a time when other local news outlets are cutting resources, Cable TV giant Charter Communications is launching a 24-hour local news channel in November that will be available in the 1.5 million homes in greater Los Angeles that receive the company’s Spectrum pay-TV service.

According to the LA Times, the channel would be the first of its kind in L.A., representing a bold effort to challenge decades of dominance by such broadcast stations as KABC-TV Channel 7, KTLA-TV Channel 5 and Spanish-language KMEX-TV Channel 34.

And, in what may be heresy in local TV circles, Charter executives say they don’t plan to fill news programs with two-minute stories about crime or those ubiquitous police pursuits throughout L.A.

“White Broncos? That’s not us,” Mike Bair, executive vice president for Spectrum Networks, who will oversee the channel, said in a recent interview.

The company’s journalists will explore community issues and happenings that typically fly below the media radar, such as beach cleanups, charity events and high school sports.

But the new venture faces hurdles, analysts say. Already, there is a glut of TV news, with round-the-clock presence from cable networks Fox News, MSNBC and CNN and an expansion of local news at network-affiliated broadcast stations. In L.A., local news runs morning, noon and night, leaving just one daylight hour — 2 to 3 p.m. — without a newscast.

Charter plans to hire about 125 employees to staff the channel, which will be based in El Segundo, where the company already manages two sports channels, Spectrum SportsNet and the Dodgers-owned SportsNet LA. Charter executives won’t disclose details just yet, including the name of the channel, its budget or its launch date.

Charter has had an expanded profile in Los Angeles since 2016 when it acquired Time Warner Cable, the largest pay-TV provider in the region. That same year, Charter rebranded its pay-TV and internet service as Spectrum to mark a fresh start after years of Time Warner Cable foibles.

Only Spectrum customers will have access to the channel, which limits its distribution to a little more than a quarter of the estimated 5.5 million TV homes in the Los Angeles region. But the channel will be prominently featured in Spectrum homes because it will automatically appear as soon as the TV is first switched on.