The channel was launched on September 13, 1999 as News 8 Austin. The channel changed its name to YNN Austin on January 10, 2011, as part of gradual transition to a uniform brand for most of Time Warner Cable's other regional news channels that originated the year prior on its Buffalo and Rochester news channels in New York. On December 16, 2013, the channel once again rebranded, this time as Time Warner Cable News Austin as part of a new rebranding attempt to standardize channels across the provider's news channels that included the introduction of a new graphics and music package. On March 11, 2014, Time Warner Cable announced a second attempt to launch a regional news channel for the San Antonio market by launching a subfeed, Time Warner Cable News San Antonio. It would operate out of TWCN Austin's headquarters and share managerial staff, with reports being filed for cablecast by San Antonio-based mutli-platform reporters in a separate bureau that was established in that city. It was soft-launched on April 8, with a series of weeknight preview broadcasts of two programs airing on the channel that began. The feed formally launched on June 2, 2014. Plans call for the future hirings of additional journalists based in San Antonio. On September 20, 2016, it was announced that all TWC News channels would be rebranded as Spectrum News months after Charter acquired Time Warner Cable earlier in the year.
Programming
The channel operates on a news "wheel" format, offering a mix of live and taped news segments heavily focused on the Austin metropolitan area. It also provides traffic reports on weekday mornings and afternoons; as well as sports segments nightly. Producers update the wheel throughout the day, inserting new material as stories are filed and updated information becomes available. In addition to running regular weather segments every 10 minutes "on the 1's", the channel also provides wall-to-wall severe weather coverage whenever tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings are in effect for any part of viewing area of Spectrum News Austin or its subfeeds. Without different limitations faced by broadcast television stations due to network and programming commitments, Spectrum News Austin is known in the area for its taped coverage of community news. The channel typically does not report on stories or events relating to crime and scandal. The channel is also distinct from traditional television news operations in that its cablecasts are traditionally anchored by a single presenter. Its reporters occasionally set up, shoot and edit their own stories without the assistance of a photojournalist. Spectrum News Austin also operates several other video and information services, including:
