Time Warner Cable is now Spectrum

• Time Warner Cable will now be called Spectrum
• Customers can keep their existing plans or change to a new one

Time Warner Cable is now Spectrum.

It has been 10 months since Charter Communications acquired the region's dominant cable TV and internet provider, and now it's rebranding in Western New York under a new name.

“At Charter, we are working hard to redefine what a cable company can be and we call it Spectrum,” said Tom Rutledge, Charter chairman and CEO. “It starts by providing the best TV, internet and voice services possible at the greatest value to our customers."

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Existing customers will see the Time Warner name disappear from billings, mailings and advertising.

Viewers will also notice that Time Warner's regional cable news operation has been rebranded as Spectrum News.

Current Time Warner Cable customers can keep their existing service plans or switch to one of the new packages that Spectrum offers.

"While we are no longer signing up customers to TWC packages, current customers can choose a Spectrum package today, or if they prefer their existing package, they can keep it, with the same programming, internet speeds and features," said Andrew Russell, Charter's director of communications for the Northeast.

Russell said that many customers who have been getting Internet services from Time Warner could expect to see improvements.

"Spectrum’s starting internet speed of 60 Mbps is faster than the fastest offering from TWC in Buffalo and Rochester," he said. "Spectrum Internet is a very good value — 60 Mbps for $53.99/month for Spectrum TV customers (the vast majority are), with no modem fees, data caps or contracts. By contrast TWC Internet at 15 Mbps was $59.99/month retail, plus $10 leased modem fee if you didn’t own your own modem."

New customers for Spectrum Internet would receive a cable modem free of charge.

According to the company's website, the introductory price for the Spectrum Select TV service is $64.99 a month. Customers can also opt for a bundle of Spectrum TV, Internet and voice for $89.97 a month.  The Silver package, for $109.97 a month, includes premium channels HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax.

The $67 billion acquisition of Time Warner and Florida-based Bright House Networks made Charter the second-largest home internet provider in the U.S.

Charter, which is based in Stamford, Connecticut, has 25 million subscribers in 41 states, including western New York and the Rochester area.

SLAHMAN@Gannett.com