The channel began in September 1998 in
Columbus, Ohio as a partnership between
Insight Communications and Time Warner Inc. (now
WarnerMedia) through its then-owned
Time Warner Cable unit called "Central Ohio Sport! Television." Similar channels debuted in February 2004 to
Dayton and in 2006 to
Cincinnati as TWTV and in
Cleveland and
Akron/
Canton, Ohio as NEON. In August 2012 the service replaced four regional part-time sports channels (Central Ohio Sport! Television, TWTV, Time Warner Cable Sports 24, and NE Ohio Network) into a three-zoned statewide sports network that serves 83 of
Ohio's 88 counties. On November 17 and 18, 2015, the network aired
Before The League, a documentary series on the history of professional American football in Ohio. It was the broadcaster of the
Columbus Crew, one of the original
Major League Soccer franchises;
Mid-American Conference college football and basketball including
University of Akron,
Bowling Green State University,
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York,
Kent State University,
Miami University,
Ohio University,
Ball State University,
Central Michigan University,
Eastern Michigan University,
Northern Illinois University,
University of Toledo, and
Western Michigan University;
Wright State Raiders,
Dayton Flyers basketball; and the
Ohio High School Athletic Association. The channel airs supplemental local shows, smaller collegiate sports, and other minor professional sports within the Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania franchise areas of Time Warner Cable. In January 2019, the channel was shut down, as part of a larger effort to divert their resources to the new
Spectrum News 1 channels.
Ohio High School Athletic Association football championships will move to the new channel, which launched November 2018. ==Programming==