WCCO II

{{Infobox television channel

| name = WCCO II

| country = United States

| area = Minneapolis–Saint Paul

| headquarters = Minneapolis, Minnesota

| language = English

| owner = Midwest Communications

| key_people =

| sister_channels = WCCO-TV

| founded =

| founder =

| launch_date = 1982

| replaced =

| closed_date = {{End date|1989|03|01}}

| replaced_by = Midwest Sports Channel

| former_names =

}}

WCCO II was an early local cable channel serving the Minneapolis area. The channel was owned by Midwest Communications and meant to complement programming on broadcast station WCCO-TV.

History

The network, launched by Midwest Radio and Television (later Midwest Communications) in 1982 was described as an "experimental cable channel", originally filled much of its schedule with rebroadcasts of WCCO's newscasts and ESPN's SportsCenter, as well as programming from the Financial News Network. A second cable channel called WCCO Cable Weather Channel was also launched at the same time, initially providing automated weather forecasts 24 hours a day before transitioning into providing live weather forecasts in early 1983.{{cite news |title=Making the name fit the business |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/83-OCR/BC-1983-01-03-OCR-Page-0026.pdf#search=%22wcco%20ii%22 |access-date=7 April 2021 |work=Broadcasting |date=January 3, 1983}} In 1985, an agreement was made to fill most of WCCO II's schedule with music videos produced by K-TWIN. A few hours were reserved for rebroadcasts of newscasts and other programming.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/190034312/ |access-date=16 March 2021 |work=Minneapolis Star Tribune |date=May 23, 1985 |language=en|title=Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 23, 1985 · Page 44 }}

On March 1, 1989,{{cite news |title=Major League Baseball team by team |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1989/BC-1989-03-06.pdf |access-date=7 April 2021 |work=Broadcasting |date=March 6, 1989}} WCCO II was relaunched as the Midwest Sports Channel when it acquired rights to Twins broadcasts.{{cite book|last1=Shea|first1=Stuart|title=Calling the Game: Baseball Broadcasting from 1920 to the Present|date=2015|publisher=Society for American Baseball Research, Inc.|location=Phoenix, AZ|isbn=978-1-933599-40-3|pages=151–152|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p5QcCgAAQBAJ|access-date=29 December 2017}} CBS acquired Midwest in 1992, then sold MSC (by 1997 also featuring a Milwaukee sub-feed, now Fox Sports Wisconsin) to News Corporation in 2000, and it became Fox Sports North and later Bally Sports North. It is now branded as FanDuel Sports Network North.

References

Category:Television channels and stations established in 1982

Category:Television channels and stations disestablished in 1989

Category:1982 establishments in Minnesota

Category:1989 disestablishments in Minnesota

Category:Defunct local cable stations in the United States

Category:Television stations in Minneapolis–Saint Paul