Monday, October 01, 2007

BREAKING NEWS: TBS-HD Added To Time Warner Northeast Ohio

As speculated in the item just below this one, Northeast Ohio's Time Warner Cable systems have added the HD feed of the TBS cable network, just in time for the one-game pre-National League Divisional Series baseball contest between the San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies.

TBS-HD has made its mark on Time Warner Cable's channel 778 on the Cleveland-area system formerly owned by Adelphia.

We don't know what channel numbers are used elsewhere, but we believe it is also now available on the other local TWC systems, including the Akron/Canton(/presumably Youngstown) "legacy" Time Warner system, and the one formerly owned by Comcast.

While we're not sure what, if any, other HD programming TBS will feature, the reason for "urgency" is the fact that TBS is the exclusive carrier of the MLB Divisional Series games.

That means Cleveland Indians fans will only be able to watch the team's series with the Yankees on TBS (and now, TBS-HD). The network has the exclusive rights to the games, and local RSNs like SportsTime Ohio are not able to run the games.

If the Indians/Yankees series gets bumped off of TBS, it'll air on sister network TNT - which is conveniently located right next to TBS-HD on the Time Warner/Cleveland lineup - cable channel 779.

As far as we know, the alternative WOW Cable system in Cuyahoga County is not yet carrying the HD version of the TBS network.

In case you're wondering, TBS-HD is NOT an HD feed of Atlanta local TV station WTBS/17, like the national TBS feed was (mostly) for many years.

Just today, WTBS's local feed split from the national TBS network, and became Atlanta-oriented "Peachtree TV"...ending the long-running days of the local station feeding national cable systems.

Well, technically, it's mostly been the other way around recently, with WTBS-TV effectively acting as a repeater for the cable network - give or take some weekend public affairs programs...

2 comments:

Gary Sway said...

TBS-HD being added to TW in N.E. Ohio is welcomed news. Now, if they would just get The CW (local WBNX) HD added to TW I'd be very happy. They've been broadcasting in HD since spring so I don't know why it's taking so long for TW to get it on a channel in Northeast Ohio. Anyone know what the holdup is?

Anonymous said...

Forget about Time Warner. AT&T reps were canvasing my neighborhood last night letting everyone know that they are now offering their digital TV and they include all the local HD channels including WBNX the CW network. Seems they are expanding fast in Stow. Don't know about other areas yet. I'll be switched from Warner to AT&T by November. Save money and get all the local HD stations.