YNN provides 24/7 local news coverage on individual channels in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany.

Time Warner Cable has placed its owned and operated news channels – including YNN, NY1 News, NY1 Noticias, and News 14 Carolina – behind a TV Everywhere pay wall, requiring a video subscription with the cable operator to access anything beyond the latest news headlines:

The expanded video content includes a new web-only weather forecast, plus expanded long-form news interviews and extended on-location footage. In the future, Time Warner Cable TV subscribers will also be able to comment on our articles and receive e-mail alerts for top news stories.

In order to access our full, enhanced site, Time Warner Cable customers must sign in to YNN.com using their Time Warner Cable username and password – the same ID used to access TWC’s online bill pay service, stream TV shows from WatchESPN and HBO GO, access the TWC TV mobile apps, and use Remote DVR manager, Phone Manager and other TWC services.

This ID is free of charge to all TWC TV subscribers, and there is no additional charge for the enhanced website content. However, TWC subscribers with only high-speed data or phone service will need to upgrade to a video subscription to be able to fully access the upgraded site.

Customers can find their current account number on their latest Time Warner Cable paper or online bill. Viewing first requires an online account (available on TWC’s Registration Page by entering your e-mail address and following the registration instructions.)

YNN and other Time Warner Cable news sites used to offer video content for all site visitors. The change is part of Time Warner’s TV Everywhere project, designed to enhance the value of cable television subscriptions by offering accompanying enhanced web content — streamed video, live access, and on-demand video — over the company’s broadband service.

Time Warner Cable has expanded its national and regional sports lineup on its TV Everywhere online streaming app TWC TV in at least three large cities, with more to follow.

Among the national networks most customers can now access: ESPN, ESPN 2, MLB Network, NBA TV, NHL Network, TBS and TNT.

Also added to the lineup: Fox Sports regional cable networks.

• New York City (except for Hudson Valley) – ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, YES, SNY, MSG, MSG+, MLB Network, NBA TV, NHL Network
• Dallas – ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, Fox Sports Southwest, MLB Network, NBA TV, NHL Network
• Charlotte – ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, Fox Sports Carolinas, SportSouth, MLB Network, NBA TV, NHL Network

The new channels are available on the iPad, iPhone, Android 4.0 smartphones and tablets, and TWCTV.com to cable customers with at least an expanded basic subscription and the company’s broadband service.

Found more new customers than AT&T

If you are among the handful of people with an Android phone or tablet running Android v.4 (also known as ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’), Time Warner Cable’s latest version of its TWC TV for Android app introduces live streaming video.

Available as of 3pm ET this afternoon from the Google Play store, TWC TV for Android finally brings streaming video to an app that used to only allow Android owners to browse an online program guide and remotely manage their DVR boxes.  Time Warner Cable originally introduced its TV Everywhere streamed video service on Apple’s iPad.

But the company’s decision to limit streamed video only to the latest Android devices running Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) is a major disappointment and will leave a lot of Android owners with a hobbled app.

“It’s currently the only version of the Android OS that allows us the security and stability necessary to distribute video over our private network,” claims Time Warner Cable’s Jeff Simmermon. “But it’s up to the device manufacturer and the sometimes the data carrier when or if ICS will be deployed to a particular device.”

Simmermon suggested the iOS platform developed by Apple was easier to contend with because one company developed the operating system and the devices on which it operates.

If you upgrade to the latest version of TWC TV for Android running on a non-ICS phone, a notification warns that live streamed video remains unavailable to you, leaving the app about as useful as its earlier version, which is to say not very.  Simmermon also warns the upgrade is not available to “rooted” devices.

Smartphones purchased within the last year are likely to receive eventual upgrades to ICS, although exactly when depends on your wireless carrier.  Older phones may or may not receive upgrades.  As a general rule, the older the device, the less likely the manufacturer will be willing to keep upgrading it.

TWC TV for PC (and Mac too!)

Time Warner Cable this morning introduced a “beta version” of Time Warner Cable TV for PC, the latest iteration of the company’s “TV Everywhere” project.

TWC TV requires a current cable television subscription, a Time Warner Cable My Services registration, and a home computer with a current version of Silverlight (if you do not have it, it will likely prompt you to download it).  You do not have to use Time Warner Cable broadband to access the service.

In addition to streaming live TV to the desktop, you can manage DVR listings and remotely change channels on your set top box — the ultimate in laziness if you’ve misplaced the remote control.

We’ve been testing the service here at Stop the Cap! headquarters this afternoon, and so far the service works as described with few glitches.  The channel lineup is similar to the company’s streaming service for Apple’s iPad.  Missing are local channels and cable networks with whom Time Warner has yet to secure streaming agreements.

Video quality could stand some improvement, however.  Netflix and Hulu appear to use higher bit rates than Time Warner is using during its beta test.

Here’s the full list of features:

1. Live TV – Users scroll the “channel browser” to see a list of available channels with listings displaying network logo, show name, and episode name.
2. Guide – Up to 7 days of listings data. Option to filter guide display by “favorites only,” “HD only” or ”available to watch on PC.” You can also set channels as favorites from the Guide.
3. Set-top box tuning – “Watch on TV” button within the program description to tune an MDN/ODN set-top box directly to the channel.
4. PC tuning – “Watch on PC” button within the program description to tune PC directly to the channel.
5. DVR management – Schedule one-time and series recordings on MDN/ODN DVRs directly from the Guide’s show pages. Click on the “DVR” tab to see a list of all upcoming recordings and make changes or cancel recordings.
6. Search – Ability to search the Guide by show title, episode and/or by person.
7. Settings – Ability to manage Favorite channels, link to set Parental Controls, choose the Device (STB/DVR) to which you are connected for STB/DVR management, and turn on/off Closed Captioning on the website’s video player.

This will work for both PC and Mac. Here are the supported browsers:

• Internet Explorer 7.0 and up
• Firefox 4 and up for mac and windows
• Safari 5 and up for mac and windows
• Chrome: Latest stable release which is 17

You’ll need to download or possibly upgrade Silverlight to version 4.

(Customers with iGuide set-top boxes and analog video customers cannot tune their TVs using the TWC TV apps or website. Analog customers and those with iGuide and SARA boxes won’t have access to the TV tuning or DVR features, but are offered a basic program guide based on the zip code on their accounts.)

[Updated 9:09am 2/15/12 — Thanks to our readers, we now know “you have to be connected to a Time Warner Cable network connection, with a modem on your account to connect to live TV.”  We stand corrected.]

Time Warner Cable’s new TV App for Apple’s iPhone and certain iOS 4.3-capable iPods has arrived with streaming live cable television for authenticated Time Warner Cable subscribers with a cable-TV and broadband account.

Features on TWC TV™ include:

• Interactive program guide (IPG) – up to 7 days of listings. View detailed show descriptions including box art. Option to display “HD only” or “favorites only” by creating a favorite channel list.
• Search – search for programming by title or episode name and filter results by genre
• Set-top box tuning – tap on a network logo or “watch on TV” button within the program description to tune compatible set-top boxes directly to the channel
• DVR management – schedule one-time and series recordings on compatible DVRs directly from the interactive program guide. Tap on the “DVR” button to see a list of all upcoming recordings and make changes or cancel recordings
• Live video streaming of many cable networks

Time Warner wants customers to be so excited, it included a customer poll in its latest newsletter e-mailed to customers, with one notable possible impression left completely off the menu:

You just gotta love it: Time Warner's especially-enthusiastic customer poll can't imagine a possibility that customers might not love their latest app.

Customers who could not find a button to express concerns about the problems they’re experiencing with the app took to the company’s blog instead.  Among the issues raised by subscribers:

• The app does not work on older generation Apple devices that do not support at least iOS v4.3;
• Local channels and certain cable networks are not available for streaming;
• Customers are limited to in-home viewing only;
• The app does not work on jailbroken devices;
• Certain Time Warner-provided set top boxes are reportedly not compatible with TWC TV, a problem that usually manifests as no access to the interactive program guide or DVR settings.

The app is available at no charge from the iTunes or Android store.  Android device owners can expect a live streaming-capable version of TWC TV in the near future.