SYRACUSE -- There's a new local broadcast option for local country music lovers: it's "The Country Network" airing on local Fox affiliate WSYT's digital subchannel 68.2. WSYT is among a dozen new affiliates nationwide to join the network.
According to a press release issued by Nashville-based TCN this morning, WSYT is one of a dozen new affiliates for the network, joining an earlier list of ten affiliates. So far, all 22 affiliates are owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. TCN touts itself as the only "free over-the-air ... television network dedicated exclusively to airing country music videos."
Time Warner Cable's Syracuse lineup currently does not include 68.2 -- as the subchannel was previously just a "fullscreen" simulcast of 68.1's widescreen HD programming. But the press release from TCN says, as part of the network affiliation deal, Sinclair will get its TCN stations "carried by the majority of the cable systems" within 90 days. (The release didn't specify if Syracuse would be among those markets where TCN would be on cable within 90 days; we presume such an addition may have to wait until whenever WSYT's must-carry agreements with Time Warner and Verizon come up for renewal.)
TCN says it will add another 6 Sinclair stations to its affiliate list "shortly," but it hasn't named those stations. When the additions are online, TCN will be on the air in 28 out of the 35 markets where Sinclair owns television stations.
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