TW3 was a

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

network owned by

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...

. It was carried on Time Warner Cable systems in the

Capital District A capital district, capital region or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any poli ...

of New York and that area's suburbs including

Saratoga County Saratoga County is a county in the U.S. state of New York, and is the fastest-growing county in Upstate New York. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was enumerated at 235,509, representing a 7.2% increase from the 2010 popul ...

, the southern Adirondack region, the Mohawk Valley, and most of Berkshire County,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. TW3 was formed in October 2002 as the improved successor to Time Warner 9, a similar station that was succeeded on the Time Warner lineup by sister station

Capital News 9 Spectrum News 1 Capital Region (formerly Time Warner Cable News Capital Region) is an American cable news television channel owned by Charter Communications as an affiliate of its Spectrum News slate of regional news channels. The channel provide ...

and taking over the channel 3 position which had been pay-per-view previews. On most of Time Warner's Albany-area systems, TW3 occupied the channel 3 position though there were several exceptions, namely former Adelphia systems or systems where an "actual" channel 3 (

WCAX WCAX-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Burlington, Vermont, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Saranac Lake, New Yo ...

in Burlington, Vermont or

WFSB WFSB (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Hartford, Connecticut, United States, serving the Hartford–New Haven market as an affiliate of CBS. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios on Denise D'Ascenzo Way in Rocky ...

in Hartford, Connecticut) has that channel position. Those systems are: *

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...

: Channel 11 *

Ticonderoga, New York Ticonderoga (, moh, Tekaniataró:ken) is a town in Essex County, New York, United States. The population was 5,042 at the 2010 census. The name comes from the Mohawk ''tekontaró:ken'', meaning "it is at the junction of two waterways". The Tow ...

(

Port Henry Port Henry is a hamlet (and census-designated place) in Essex County, New York, United States. The population was 1,194 at the 2010 census. Port Henry lies on the eastern side of the town of Moriah and is approximately one hour's drive (52 miles ...

/ Crown Point) and Schroon Lake, New York: Channel 14 *

North Adams, Massachusetts North Adams is a city in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its population was 12,961 as of the 2020 census. Best known as the home of the largest contemporary ...

''(ex-Adelphia)'': Channel 21 * Canajoharie, New York,

Queensbury, New York Queensbury is a town in Warren County, New York, United States. The population was 27,901 at the 2010 census. It contains the county seat of Warren County, located at a municipal center complex on U.S. Route 9 south of the village of Lake George ...

, and Lee, Massachusetts ( Lenox/ Great Barrington) ''(all ex-Adelphia)'': Channel 96 It was never an over the air station, just a program source carried by Time Warner.

Programming

Much of TW3's programming was locally originated. The more notable series produced for the station were as follows: *A simulcast of

WAMC WAMC is a public radio network headquartered in Albany, New York. The network has 12 broadcast radio stations (transmitters) and 16 broadcast relay stations (translators, repeaters). The two flagship stations in the WAMC network are WAMC-FM 90. ...

's ''The Round Table'' (Weekdays 9 a.m.–noon) *''Saints Alive'': A magazine show profiling Siena College athletics, hosted by Capital News 9 sports director Damian Andrew. *''Hoop Games'': A magazine show on

University at Albany The State University of New York at Albany, commonly referred to as the University at Albany, UAlbany or SUNY Albany, is a public research university with campuses in Albany, Rensselaer, and Guilderland, New York. Founded in 1844, it is one ...

men's and women's basketball, hosted by UAlbany broadcaster and WNYT sports director Rodger Wyland. *'' Masterminds'': A

College Bowl ''College Bowl'' (which has carried a naming rights sponsor, initially General Electric and later Capital One) is a radio, television, and student quiz show. ''College Bowl'' first aired on the NBC Radio Network in 1953 as ''College Quiz Bowl'' ...

formatted quiz show produced in conjunction with BOCES. *''Tech Valley Report'': A local business program focusing on the technology sector, produced in part with the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. *''In & Around Our Towns'': A series of insertials that profile aspects of area towns which also airs as a monthly program. *''Capital Tonight'': TW3 airs replays of the week-in-review version of the Capital News 9-produced nightly political program. This arrangement dates back to when the show was a weekly program. TW3 also served as the Albany-area affiliate of the SUNY-owne
New York Network
the Educational-access television programming of which aired mostly during daytime hours though their Regents review specials often end up in primetime.

Sports coverage

TW3 produces and airs a sizeable slate of local sports coverage including high school athletics (football, basketball, baseball, and lacrosse), UAlbany and Siena athletics,

Albany Devils The Albany Devils were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). The top affiliate of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL), the A-Devils played their home games at the Times Union Center in Albany, ...

hockey,

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

men's hockey and RPI Men's Hockey. Regionally and beyond, TW3 was the Albany affiliate for

ESPN Plus ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, in partnership with ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between The Walt Disney Com ...

coverage of

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

football and basketball as well as

America East Conference The America East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I founded in 1979, whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference has nine core members including eight public research ...

network coverage alongside their UAlbany rights.

New Jersey Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

games which are seen on WWOR in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

air on TW3 as well. It also airs

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

games that do not air on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

or are not picked up by

WXXA WXXA-TV (channel 23) is a television station licensed to Albany, New York, United States, serving the Capital District as an affiliate of the Fox network. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting and operated under a shared services agreement (SSA ...

from New York City based channel

WWOR-TV WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area as the flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox flagship WNYW ...

. Outside of the Albany area, some TW3 sports programming is simulcast or rebroadcast on Time Warner Cable Sports.

Preemptions

The station picks up several preempted programs from local broadcast stations that are unable to air them: *In 2005 and 2006,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

' Labor Day coverage of

US Open Tennis The US Open Tennis Championships is a hardcourt tennis tournament held annually in Queens, New York. Since 1987, the US Open has been chronologically the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of the year. The other three, in chronological ord ...

aired on TW3 when

WRGB WRGB (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Schenectady, New York, United States, serving the Capital District as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside CW affiliate WCWN (channel 45, also licensed to Sc ...

aired the ''

Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon The ''MDA Labor Day Telethon'' was an annual telethon held on (starting the night before and throughout) Labor Day in the United States to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). The Muscular Dystrophy Association was founded in ...

'' and the WRGB-controlled WNYA was unavailable due to new syndication debuts on that date. *Limited

WMHT WMHT can refer to the following broadcasting stations in the Albany, New York area: *WMHT (TV), UHF channel 17 *WMHT-FM WMHT-FM (89.1 MHz) is a listener-supported, non-commercial radio station licensed to Schenectady, and serving the Capital D ...

programming (namely the

PBS Newshour ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS member stations. It airs seven nights a week, and is known for its in-depth coverage of issues and current events. Anchored by Judy Woodruff, the pro ...

) airs on TW3 at times when WMHT conducts their yearly auctions. *A small number of

games that usually would air on

(also originating from WWOR) air on TW3 in the cases of the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

network airing either original programming or preseason NFL football.

Time Warner 9

The predecessor to TW3, Time Warner 9, was on the air from 1997 (when Time Warner purchased the CVI and

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...

systems in the market) until 2002. Originally, the channel was primarily a barker channel for the then-new services of digital cable and Road Runner plus a clearinghouse for overflow sports programming, most notably WWOR-produced

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

games. After Time Warner purchased the former TCI systems in

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

in 1999, it evolved into a showcase for Time Warner's own programming as well as a home for local sports programming. Time Warner 9 was also the home for New York Yankees games in 1999 and from 2000 until 2002 aired a replay of

's 6:00 p.m. newscast at 6:30 p.m., the success of which was a catalyst for the establishment of its replacement,

External links

TW3 local programming page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tw3 (Albany, Ny) Defunct local cable stations in the United States Television channels and stations established in 1997 1997 establishments in New York (state) Television channels and stations disestablished in 2008 2008 disestablishments in New York (state) Television stations in Capital District (New York) Time Warner Cable Defunct mass media in New York (state)