Time Warner Tv Schedule

SYRACUSE - Time Warner Cable is moving ahead with plans for the launch of its 24-hour news channel later this year. The soon-to-be-named channel is preparing workspace, ordering equipment, and setting a hiring schedule.

The station will feature round-the-clock local news for Time Warner subscribers, as well as weather information. Workers are busy preparing the channel's studios in the former New York Central rail station in downtown Syracuse.

"This will be similar to a local news version of CNN Headline News," says Ron Lombard, general manager of Time Warner Cable's cable news channel.

Lombard formerly served as news director for Syracuse station WIXT-9.

With more than 325,000 subscribers across upstate New York, Time Warner Cable's Syracuse division is the second largest after its New York City territory. Time Warner joined with long-time Upstate cable-sytem owner Advance/ Newhouse in 1995 to rebrand the system as part of a partnership between the media companies. Approximately 700 employees help provide cable and high-speed Internet service to customers from Ithaca to the Mohawk Valley and up to Massena and towns along the Quebec border.

To cover such a large beat, Lombard will assemble a 90person staff composed of 50 news personnel and another 40 support personnel. In addition to its Syracuse headquarters, Time Warner reporters will operate from bureaus in the North Country and the Mohawk Valley, and from the company's existing news operation in Ithaca. Time Warner has produced a local newscast for Ithaca for a number of years, says Lombard. The Ithaca staff will contribute material for the 24hour channel, as well as gather material for their local newscast, he adds.

Time Warner Cable has identified local news as a valueadded service that can keep customers from seeking programming from home satellite dishes. The local news channel also "gives a face" to the cable company, as local news does for network affiliates, says Lombard. Time Warner has local news stations operating in Rochester, New York City, Tampa, Orlando, and Austin. This year, says Lombard, Time Warner is opening stations in Albany, Raleigh, Charlotte, Houston, and San Antonio, in addition to Syracuse.

Lombard is currently searching for department heads and plans mid-management hires during the summer. He expects to hire the bulk of the staff during the fall, drawing many from outside Central New York. The channel's proposed name and dial position are currently under wraps, says Lombard. The previously proposed "New York Central" name is already, in use by another news outlet, says Lombard.

Several Time Warner reporters will operate using Sony digital video cameras that can be used by a single person. The cameras feature a rotating video screen repotters can use to film themselves.

Time Warner also plans to use larger cameras as part of two-person news crews, says Lombard. The company has three remote trucks ready for broadcasting live news. Two of the news trucks use microwave transmitters that have a range of 50 miles from the receiving station. The third truck uses a satellite uplink to broadcast live from anywhere in the region. Live news will be a large component of the cable station's programming, says Lombard.

"We're prepared to go live wherever and whenever we need to," he says.

Time Warner Cable news crews will be covering stories ranging from education to government as well as other stories with relevance for subscribers. Lombard plans to have reporters cover some stories that competitors may not have the time to put on the air.

"Some stories get 30 seconds on the evening news," he says. "We'll have the ability to take some time developing a story." Time Warner is spending $8 million to renovate the former Greyhound bus station/former New York Central rail station that will be the news channel's home. Contractors have restored the building to its original configuration, reopening the station's high ceiling and removing other vestiges of the property's life as a Greyhound terminal.

Unlike CNN and other national cable news stations, Lombard plans to keep the screen relatively free of Times Square zippertype "crawls." The screen will feature a channel logo and the current time/temperature but crawls will be reserved for special notices, he says.

Copyright Central New York Business Journal May 03, 2002
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved

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