Religion

Time Warner Cable will launch channel for live coverage of Pope Francis’ visit to United States

Pope Francis greets a child at the end of an audience to Parish groups promoting evangelization, in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015. Francis made a sweeping apology for the church’s sins and “crimes” against indigenous peoples during a visit to Bolivia in July, “humbly” begging forgiveness in the presence of Bolivia’s first-ever indigenous president and representatives of native groups from across South America, who wildly cheered the pope and said they accepted the apology.
Pope Francis greets a child at the end of an audience to Parish groups promoting evangelization, in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015. Francis made a sweeping apology for the church’s sins and “crimes” against indigenous peoples during a visit to Bolivia in July, “humbly” begging forgiveness in the presence of Bolivia’s first-ever indigenous president and representatives of native groups from across South America, who wildly cheered the pope and said they accepted the apology. Riccardo De Luca Associated Press

For those who don’t want to miss a minute of Pope Francis’ upcoming trip to the United States, Time Warner Cable is turning its Channel 199 into the “Papal Visit Channel.”

Subscribers in Charlotte and more than two dozen other markets will get live coverage of all of the pontiff’s public appearances, Masses and speeches in Washington, New York and Philadelphia.

The pope will be in the United States for six days: Sept. 22-27. But Time Warner Cable’s C-SPAN-like coverage will actually begin at 9 a.m. Sunday (Sept. 20), with live telecast of his Mass from Havana Revolution Square in Cuba.

Besides showing the pope in action, the 24-hour Papal Visit Channel plans to offer some news analysis.

Cable TV watchers who’d like a Catholic perspective with their wall-to-wall pope coverage can tune into EWTN, or The Eternal Word Television Network (Channel 62 on Time Warner Cable in Charlotte). Its focus year-round is on Catholic news, themes and events. It will give viewers “every second” of the pope’s public events, EWTN spokeswoman Michelle Johnson told the New York Times.

Time Warner Cable’s Papal Visit Channel expects to air more than 80 hours of live coverage during the pope’s visit as well as documentaries and “encore presentations” of the day’s events.

Also on Channel 199 during the visit: 9-10 p.m. weekdays, special episodes of “The Call,” Time Warner News live call-in show in New York; and 10-11 p.m. daily, a nightly recap of the day’s events.

Time Warner will also offer live streaming of the Papal Visit Channel’s content on TWCNews.com and via the TWC News app.

Here are some of the events on Pope Francis’ itinerary for his first trip to the United States:

▪ Wednesday (Sept. 23): Official welcoming ceremony and meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House.

▪ Thursday (Sept. 24): Address to a joint session of Congress and service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.

▪ Friday (Sept. 25): Address to the United Nations General Assembly; a multi-faith event at the World Trade Center site; and Mass at Madison Square Garden – all in New York.

▪ Saturday (Sept. 26): Mass at Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul; Address at Independence Hall; and visit to the Festival of Families – all in Philadelphia.

▪ Sunday (Sept. 27): Meeting with bishops from World Meeting of Families at St. Martin’s Chapel and Mass on the Ben Franklin Parkway, both in Philadelphia.

The New York Times contributed.

Tim Funk: 704-358-5703, @timfunk

This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 1:41 PM with the headline "Time Warner Cable will launch channel for live coverage of Pope Francis’ visit to United States."

Get unlimited digital access
#ReadLocal

Try 1 month for $1

CLAIM OFFER