New England Cable News (NECN) | |
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New England Cable News | |
Launched | March 2, 1992 |
Owned by | NBCUniversal |
Picture format | 480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
Slogan | Real News. Right Now. |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Broadcast area | Massachusetts eastern Connecticut central Connecticut Vermont Maine New Hampshire Rhode Island |
Headquarters | Newton, Massachusetts |
Sister channel(s) | Comcast SportsNet New England |
Website | New England Cable News |
Availability | |
Cable | |
Available on select cable systems | Check local listings for channels |
New England Cable News (NECN) is a regional 24-hour cable news television network owned and operated by NBCUniversal serving the New England region of the United States. It is very similar to CNN in structure and style, but focuses more on regional news. The channel is also similar to Northwest Cable News, which covers the Pacific Northwest. Its main studios are located in Newton, Massachusetts (near Boston), but operates several news bureaus in the New England area, including Manchester, New Hampshire; Hartford, Connecticut; Worcester, Massachusetts; Portland, Maine; and Burlington, Vermont. New England Cable News maintains a remote camera in the Boston Globe building in the Dorchester section of Boston as well as a camera in the television studio of Suffolk University in downtown Boston. New England Cable News is available across New England in 3.7 million homes and produces several original programs. The station launched its own website on January 1, 2008, although it still provides video to Boston.com, which had hosted the station's site.
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NECN was launched March 2, 1992, as a joint partnership between Continental Cablevision (now part of Comcast) and the Hearst Corporation.[1] On June 18, 2009, Hearst sold its stake in NECN to Comcast, which made NECN part of their Comcast SportsNet subsidiary.[2] Comcast's ownership of NECN was contributed to NBCUniversal following Comcast's purchase of a 51-percent stake in that company.
When Hearst owned a stake in NECN, it used the resources of several New England stations owned and operated by Hearst Television to assist in news coverage of the region. The Hearst stations include Boston ABC affiliate WCVB-TV (for a period early in NECN's existence, the network rebroadcast WCVB's 6 p.m. newscast at 8 p.m.[1]); New Hampshire's ABC affiliate WMUR-TV; ABC affiliate WMTW in Portland (NECN and WMTW both maintain bureaus in the Time and Temperature Building in downtown Portland, though the operations are physically separate, and NECN uses its own news vehicles in Maine); and WPTZ and WNNE, Vermont's two NBC affiliates.
NECN is a training ground for local news reporters. Some of the better-known reporters who got their start at NECN include ABC's Dan Harris, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, and CNBC's Maya Kulycky. Several of Boston's current television reporters and anchors also began at NECN. Conversely, NECN has also employed some of the long-lived veterans of the Boston television market, including R. D. Sahl and Chet Curtis.
In addition to its cable production operations, NECN began to produce an 10 p.m. newscast for Boston Fox affiliate WFXT, known as Fox 25 News at Ten, on September 7, 1993.[3] Shortly after Fox Television Stations bought WFXT from the Boston Celtics, it chose not to renew the contract with NECN upon its expiration on October 1, 1995 (the station would launch its own news operation a year later)[4]; the next day, the newscast moved to UPN affiliate WSBK-TV and was renamed UPN 38 Prime News.[5] The 10 p.m. newscast left the air on October 4, 1998, when WSBK canceled it to focus on sports and entertainment programming.[6] Currently, NECN helps produce Worcester News Tonight on Charter TV3 in Worcester.
Comcast systems generally carry NECN as part of the limited basic tier, usually on a VHF channel (channel 6 in most Metro Boston communities). It is also seen on Verizon FiOS on channel 115 as part of its Prime HD tier, and on RCN on channel 318 as part of its Signature package. Most other cable TV systems in New England carry it, with the exception of Cox. The service is not available on satellite.
On January 18, 2010, NECN launched an HD version on Comcast systems. Although NECN-SD is generally part of limited basic, it appears one needs to subscribe to the Digital Starter tier to get NECN-HD. Other systems that currently carry NECN-SD do not have NECN-HD. Most Boston area viewers that subscribe to Comcast's Digital Starter tier can get NECN-HD on Channel 810.
An early look at all the day's headlines, plus interviews with top news-makers, real-time Metro Traffic reports, and weather.
"Broadside" host Jim Braude is a regular contributor, offering opinion and analysis on the most important stories of the day.
Jim Braude explores all angles of the news that affects New Englanders. Also covered are topics relating to culture, business, education and technology.
A look at the news from a New England view.
NECN's signature and primary newscast is a 60-minute show exploring the latest from New England, the nation and the world.
Anchors R.D. Sahl, Beth Shelburne and Chet Curtis examine the state of the markets, news of New England businesses and the local economy. Personal finance, investing, consumer news, advertising, mutual funds, the web, high technology, bio-technology, emerging industries, and established New England companies will all be examined in the larger context of the national and international economic landscapes.
TV Diner reviews interesting restaurants in New England. Guest chefs and celebrities whip up goodies, and the Crusin' segment takes you into the field to visit restaurants and learn some tricks of the food trade. Plus, one lucky viewer each week becomes a "Diner for a Day", reviewing a restaurant and appearing on the show to tell all the delicious details.
Maryanne Kane hosts this half hour program which features interviews and discussion with New England’s key business leaders.
A sports news and daily wrap up program similar to ESPN's SportsCenter. The program is rebroadcast from sister network Comcast SportsNet New England.
This Week in Business examines the business stories affecting the region. Co-hosted by NECN anchor Mike Nikitas and Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce CEO Paul Guzzi, this program also showcases many of New England's most important and influential business, technology and government leaders.
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