Updated 6pm: SYRACUSE -- Time Warner Cable has announced late this afternoon (via Twitter) that it will be adding the HD version of truTV (formerly CourtTV) to its lineups in time for Syracuse University's first appearance in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament on Friday night.
TWC says truTV HD now appears as channel 884 on all lineups across Central New York. As recently as yesterday, Time Warner had said (also via Twitter) it would not be carrying truTV in HD "for the tournament. The cable company didn't say what prompted them to change that firm "no" to a "yes" so quickly -- but many critics had pointed out that Verizon already had truTV HD on the lineups for its competing FiOS service.
The rush to get the otherwise-obscure truTV HD added came after the NCAA announced a new 14-year-long deal with CBS and Turner's TNT, TBS and truTV to share the coverage of all NCAA mens basketball tournament games. With four channels providing coverage simultaneously, every single game will be shown in its entirety. So, instead of playing prosaic games and lolling around on the couch, searching for Word villas answers on the internet, you can spend the evenings watching exciting NCAA tournaments.
Locally, the demand for truTV HD was probably greater than in other areas of the country -- Syracuse University's first bout in this year's tourney will air on truTV, starting at about 10:00pm Friday.
For more details behind the four-network arrangement and other channel numbers, see our earlier coverage.