Comcast Network

The Comcast Network (TCN) was an American cable television network owned by the Comcast Corporation, through NBCUniversal; it was carried mostly on Comcast cable systems in four states and 20 television markets in the Eastern U.S. from New Jersey to Virginia. The main focus of the network was on the Philadelphia area, although the channel attempted to structure its programs as national shows. Key markets included New Jersey, the Pennsylvania cities of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, Baltimore, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Richmond, Virginia.

Not to be confused with Cranial nerve 8.
Comcast Network
CountryUnited States
Broadcast areaConnecticut
Maryland
Massachusetts
Pennsylvania
New Jersey
Rhode Island
Virginia
Washington, D.C.
Ownership
OwnerNBCUniversal
History
LaunchedDecember 1, 1996 (1996-12-01)
ClosedOctober 2, 2017 (2017-10-02)
Replaced byNBC Sports Philadelphia Plus
NBC Sports Washington Plus
Former namesCN8, The Comcast Network (1996–2009)
Comcast Network (2009–2017)

History

The Comcast Network was first launched to around 400,000 homes on December 1, 1996 as CN8, The Comcast Network (though it was often abbreviated to simply "CN8.") This largely constituted Comcast's Philadelphia-area cable systems. CN8 carried a mix of public affairs and call-in shows upon launch, including a television simulcast of radio station NJ 101.5's morning show, as well as local sports. The channel was added to Comcast's Baltimore-area systems in early 1998.[1]

In November 1999, Comcast purchased rival Lenfest Communications, which operated in the area under the Suburban Cable and Garden State Cable names. They had launched their own regional cable channel, TSM News (TSM standing for "Tri-State Media"), that April, with live newscasts airing from 9 AM to 8 PM every day; Janet Zappala, formerly of WCAU-TV, served as one of TSM's lead anchors. This resulted in TSM's shutdown, and many of its staffers were re-hired by Comcast to create CN8's news department, which launched in April 2000 from TSM's former studio facility in New Castle, DE. CN8 News originally had two hour-long nightly newscasts, at 7PM and 11PM, co-anchored by another ex-WCAU personality, Arthur Fennell; eventually, the 11PM edition moved to 10PM. In addition to this facility, CN8 operated studios in Philadelphia's Center City neighborhood, and news bureaus/studios in Baltimore, MD, Trenton and Union, NJ. CN8 was now distributed across Comcast's systems from Maryland to northern New Jersey, providing regionalized coverage and shows for these areas.[2]

In May 2003, CN8 further expanded into New England. Replacing AT&T 3, operated by Comcast's regional predecessor AT&T Broadband, this version of CN8 largely carried the same programming as the Philadelphia-area feed, only with their newscasts replaced by new regional shows; the 7PM news was replaced by NiteBeat, covering politics and analysis of regional news, hosted by Barry Nolan (formerly of WBZ-TV's Evening Magazine), while the 10PM bulletin was substituted with Sports Pulse, a regional sports highlights show. This was done to avoid redundancy with New England Cable News, already partly-owned by Comcast at the time. The New England feed was available to 2.2 million viewers across the region.[3][4][5]

That same year, Philadelphia news veteran Larry Kane joined CN8 as a consultant, and had his own show, Larry Kane: Voice of Reason. However, due to low viewership, CN8 ended their newscasts in 2006.[6] By 2008, CN8 staffed approximately 450 employees and was reaching over 9 million viewers in 20 television markets along the East Coast.[7] The CN8 brand was discontinued on January 6, 2009, as part of a larger restructuring of the network in order to respond to low ratings as well as closing down in the New England market, where its primary market was Boston. CN8 New England programming largely migrated to NECN.

On August 23, 2017, NBC Sports Regional Networks announced that the TCN branding would be dropped on October 2, 2017; TCN Philadelphia was rebranded as NBC Sports Philadelphia +, and TCN Mid-Atlantic was to be rebranded as NBC Sports Washington +. The rebranding was concurrent with the renaming of the Comcast SportsNet networks under the NBC Sports brand.[8] It is not clear what network, if any, replaced the channel in the Pittsburgh market.

Programs

As CN8
Show title
American Builder[9]
Backstage with Barry Nolan[9]
CN8 News[9]
CN8 Presents: Comcast in Concert[9]
It's Your Call with Lynn Doyle[9]
Larry Kane: Voice of Reason[9]
Let's Cook with Paul Dillon[9]
Money Matters Today[9]
Nitebeat[9]
One on One with Steve Adubato[9]
Out of Bounds[9]
Real Life with Mary Amoroso[9]
Your Morning[9]
Art Fennell Reports[10]
Roll Call[11]

Dish Network

The Chase Jackson Show Champ Newman Unknown!

See also

References
  1. "CN8, The Comcast Network Debuts In Baltimore". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2020-11-23.
  2. Moss, Linda (21 February 2000). "Comcast's CN8 Absorbs TSM". Multichannel News. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  3. March 2003, Simon Applebaum 31. "CN8 Expands North Into New England". Multichannel News. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  4. "Channel CN8 spreading to New England". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  5. "Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Living / Arts / Channel has its own program for success". archive.boston.com. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  6. Fernandez, Bob; Klein, Michael. "Comcast to ax CN8 name, restructure cable channel". inquirer.com. Retrieved 2020-11-23.
  7. "Network Overview". Archived from the original on 12 September 2008. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  8. "NBC SPORTS REGIONAL NETWORKS TO ALIGN CSN & TCN PROPERTIES UNDER 'NBC SPORTS' BRAND" (Press release). Stamford, Conn.: NBC Sports Group. August 23, 2017. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  9. "What's On CN8". Archived from the original on 30 September 2005. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  10. "What's On CN8". Archived from the original on 3 February 2007. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  11. "CN8 Shows". Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
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