Tompkins County Time Warner Cable residents can expect a change on Channel 12 to start the New Year.
For the rest of the year Channel 12 will show WBNG-TV, a CBS affiliate out of Binghamton, but beginning Jan. 1, it will be covered by WENY-DT, a smaller CBS affiliate broadcasting from outside Elmira.
Time Warner is required to provide news from WTVH, the primary CBS affiliate, but is not obligated to provide a second affiliate, said Joe Unaitis, vice president of public affairs for Time Warner.
“We have no reason to carry WBNG-TV at all in Ithaca, and it was just probably more a matter of history that it had been carried for years. But in looking at our lineups we figured that we could just as well serve you with the second affiliate. Maybe it's a little bit more in tune, or offers better coverage, in Tompkins County.”
Service from WENY-DT is a digital signal.
Ithaca is served by a number of network affiliates because of its regional positioning. Ithaca Time Warner services are the same as the Syracuse television market, but the southern positioning means more stations than those specific to Syracuse.
“Many communities only have one network affiliate,” Unaitis said. “Because Ithaca sort of straddles the Elmira-Binghamton-Syracuse market, you folks have always benefited from having duplicate network affiliates, but there's no reason for us to offer more than one network affiliate.”
Unaitis did not give a specific reason for the upcoming switch from WBNG-TV to WENY-DT.
No other changes are anticipated in the Ithaca-area, but Unaitis said there will be additional high-definition channels around the end of the year.
In Candor, Time Warner will cut cable Channel 4, which is WCNY-24 — an affiliate of PBS. Customers can still find PBS on Channel 6, WSKG. Candor will also begin receiving WBNG-TV on Channel 4.
