Spectrum News is acquiring New England Cable News from NBCUniversal, pulling the onetime regional staple back toward center stage and plugging its brand into Spectrum’s growing local news footprint across New England. After years of NECN programming being folded into a more Boston-centric schedule, the move revives the prospect of a standalone New England news service. For now, details on staffing, timelines and the purchase price remain scarce as the networks start the integration process.
According to The Boston Globe, the agreement covers NECN’s assets only and does not include NBC employees, and Spectrum has declined to disclose what it is paying. Over the next few months, NECN will be combined with Spectrum News operations in Maine and Massachusetts and rebranded as “Spectrum News NECN,” operating out of the NBCUniversal Boston Media Center in Needham. The Globe reports that the rebranded channel will be available to Spectrum customers in Maine and Massachusetts and to Comcast Xfinity TV customers in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, and that Spectrum expects to hire for new roles as it integrates the operation.
In a company statement quoted by The Boston Globe, Mike Bair, executive vice president of Spectrum Networks, said, “This agreement represents a significant milestone for Spectrum News as we grow our operation in New England and expand our viewership to additional markets.” He added that the company looks forward to “building on a storied local news brand.”
What This Means for Viewers and Distribution
Spectrum has been steadily expanding its local news reach and distribution. The company now runs more than 30 local news networks and has launched Spectrum News+, a national streaming feed built from those local operations. Per Spectrum Networks, Spectrum News+ and other platform moves are part of an effort to reach viewers beyond traditional cable bundles. Charter has also pursued carriage deals that put Spectrum channels on Xfinity in select markets, a distribution strategy that helps make a revived NECN more commercially viable. Charter’s filings show the company had roughly 12.6 million total video customers at the end of 2025, giving Spectrum a sizable potential audience for a regional relaunch.
NECN’s Decline and Why Buyers Were Interested
NECN launched as a 24/7 regional news network in the early 1990s and became fully owned by Comcast in 2009. Its independent footprint shrank after NBC launched NBC10 Boston and began weaving NECN content into the station’s output. The channel’s standalone website now redirects to NBC10’s site, a clear signal that NECN had largely been absorbed into NBC10 before the sale…