NY1 (also officially known as Spectrum News NY1 and spoken as New York One) is an American cable news television channel founded by Time Warner Cable, which itself is owned by Charter Communications through its acquisition in May 2016. The channel provides 24-hour news coverage, with a focus on the five boroughs of New York City; its programming primarily features news, traffic and weather, however NY1 also features specialty programs such as Inside City Hall (which is renamed Road to City Hall during New York City mayoral elections).
NY1 is available on Spectrum's New York City system on channel 1 in standard definition and 200 in high definition. The channel is available to more than two million cable customers within the five boroughs of New York City, as well as most parts of New Jersey served by Spectrum, Mount Vernon in Westchester County, New York, and Long Island. , NY1 is not currently available on Verizon FiOS.
Outside the New York metropolitan area, NY1 is carried on Spectrum systems throughout the State of New York, and its HD simulcast channel is available on its Orlando and Tampa systems."NY1 joins Bright House Networks lineup" , Orlando Sentinel, September 9, 2011. It is also available on its Raleigh, Charlotte, and Greensboro systems in North Carolina on digital channel 215, both in standard and high definition.Channel Lineups – CharlotteChannel Lineups – Raleigh Like all Spectrum news channels, it is also available nationwide on the Spectrum News app to television and broadband subscribers, and to television subscribers through smart TV and mobile apps in the 2200 series. Outside the New York area, a loop of public service announcements and Spectrum promo ads is played over New York–specific advertising.
History
NY1 was conceived by Richard Aurelio, the president of Time Warner Cable's New York City cable group who felt at the time that "New York City needed its own 24/7 news station that just covered the city." The channel launched on September 8, 1992; it originally operated from a newsroom at the National Video Center at 460 West 42nd Street in the Manhattan borough of New York City, under the guidance of vice president of news Paul Sagan and news director Steve Paulus. Construction of the 42nd Street facility was completed just over 1½ months earlier on July 15, however the channel's newly hired reporters actually began work one month beforehand by attending a videojournalism "boot camp".Rosenblum, Michael (November 24, 2007). "NY1 – 15 Years Later". Rosenblumtv. (Michael Rosenblum's blog). Retrieved October 17, 2009.
While some of NY1's reporters had used their own cameras in other markets, most of them had no exposure to the technical side of journalism. Following their training, the reporters and the rest of the staff took part in an additional two-month training period that included four weeks of real-time rehearsal. A watershed event came in the final weeks of training, with the collapse of a former post office building on Manhattan's West Side. Although the channel was not yet on the air, NY1 reporters covered the story as if the channel was fully operational, interviewing survivors and witnesses.Staff writer (Undated). "Station History" . Retrieved December 11, 2012. In 1992, NY1 replaced NBC.
Following the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, NY1's feed was temporarily transmitted throughout the United States via Oxygen after the cable channel was unable to broadcast regular programming from its headquarters in the Manhattan neighborhood of Battery Park City, located near the World Trade Center.Staff writer (September 13, 2001). "Oxygen Media Transmits New York One Signal to Its National Subscribers" Business Wire via AllBusiness.com. Retrieved October 17, 2009. In 2001, Time Warner Cable began offering NY1 to digital cable subscribers in the Albany market (it remained on that system even after the October 2002 launch of sister cable news channel Capital News 9); the channel was added to Time Warner Cable systems in other markets—primarily those located in Upstate New York—thereafter.
In January 2002, the channel moved its operations to a new, all-digital facility on the sixth floor at Chelsea Market at 75 Ninth Avenue (between West 15th and 16th streets) in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. On June 30, 2003, Time Warner Cable launched NY1 Noticias, a Spanish-language version of the channel for digital cable subscribers. In 2005, NY1 launched NY1 on Demand, a video-on-demand service for Time Warner Cable customers, available on channel 1111 in the provider's New York City system.
In 2008, NY1 launched a high-definition simulcast feed on Time Warner Cable digital channel 701, although it was originally broadcast only in a pillarboxed format (a center-cut 4:3 picture with sidebars of the NY1 logo), until the channel migrated to a full 16:9 widescreen format in October 2009.
Rebranding to Time Warner Cable News NY1
On March 14, 2013, Time Warner Cable announced plans to rebrand NY1 and its other regional news channels (including News 14 Carolina and the YNN networks) under the Time Warner Cable News brand by the end of the year, along with the adoption of new on-air logos and a standardized graphics package for each of the channels. The reasoning for the name change was due to the perception by the company that Time Warner Cable subscribers did not know that the provider owns its regional news channels and are largely exclusive to its systems (NY1 is an exception, as it was also carried by Cablevision in the New York City market)."Time Warner Cable makes move to rename NY1 so viewers know it's an exclusive news channel", New York Daily News, March 14, 2013.
The proposed name change for NY1 met with immediate controversy among Time Warner Cable's subscribers due to the familiarity with the brand and dissatisfaction with the provider's service by its New York City area customers."NY1 To Be Rebranded As 'TWC News' Because We Can't Have Nice Things" , Gothamist, March 15, 2013."Newsroom staffers fume over Time Warner's plan to 'rebrand' NY1", New York Daily News, March 15, 2013. Time Warner Cable explored the possibility of keeping the NY1 brand while also including on-air references to its TWC ownership in some fashion, though executives confirmed that the rebranding would have no effect on the channel's news format or reporting style.New Name for NY1? A Plan Meets Resistance, The New York Times, March 15, 2013.
On November 20, 2013, Time Warner Cable announced that it would append the "Time Warner Cable News" brand to the beginning of the NY1 name, while "NY1" would continue to be used on-air as a primary brand.TWC Settles On New Name for NY1 Outlets, Multichannel News, November 20, 2013. The revised branding as well as the new graphics and music package (which included a modified version of the logo used by the channel since 2001, amended alongside the "Time Warner Cable News" logo) went into effect on December 16, 2013.
In 2014, NY1's HD channel was moved to Time Warner Cable digital channel 200.
Renaming to Spectrum News NY1 On May 18, 2016, Time Warner Cable was acquired by Charter Communications. The Time Warner Cable News branding was replaced by Spectrum News (named after Charter's cable services brand) beginning November 15, 2016. While the NY1 name is still in use, especially on air, it continues to incorporate the "Spectrum News" brand at the beginning of NY1's primary brand.
On March 30, 2017, Charter Communications announced plans for a major restructuring of NY1, as several reporters were laid off and some shows were cancelled in the upcoming months. A spokesperson for Charter said "As with any network, we're constantly evolving to find better ways to reach and engage our viewers. We seek to provide the most compelling information and entertainment possible by providing more context, in-depth reporting, analysis and explanation, cultivating a more relevant and thoughtful conversation that makes Spectrum News essential in the lives of Spectrum subscribers. From time to time, our programming and staffing will change as we strive to better cover the stories that resonate most with our viewers."
On April 1, 2017, the day after the restructuring, Richard Aurelio highly criticized the move, saying NY1 "can’t be about entertainment and ratings and making money. It’s about doing what’s best for New York and the people who live there." He also noted a deemphasis on local coverage that NY1 was supposed to focus on, especially after the cancellation of longtime shows The Call and NY Times Close Up, claiming that "they're really abandoning their commitment to the city."
NY1 as prototype for other Time Warner Cable markets NY1 was the first regional news channel to be operated by Time Warner Cable prior to the acquisition of Charter Communications; the cable provider has since launched 24-hour news channels in several other markets that are modeled after NY1 (two of which, News 24 Houston and News 9 San Antonio, both operated as joint ventures between TWC and Belo, had shut down within their first two years of operation). In addition to the channels launched by TWC, the provider also acquired Spectrum News Rochester (which debuted in 1990 as "WGRC") in 1995, after it assumed cable franchise rights in the Rochester, New York, market from Greater Rochester Cablevision. It also acquired Spectrum News 1 (which debuted in the late 2000s as cn|2) in 2012, after it assumed cable franchise rights in much of Kentucky from Insight Communications. The majority of these channels, as of September 20, 2016, are now branded as "Spectrum News" as part of the integration with Time Warner Cable and Charter Communication's cable systems into Charter Spectrum. The channels include:
Spectrum Bay News 9 – Tampa, Florida (debuted in 1997 as "Bay News 9") Spectrum News 13 – Orlando, Florida (debuted in 1997 as "Central Florida News 13") Spectrum News Austin – Austin, Texas (debuted in 1999 as "News 8 Austin") Spectrum News Capital Region – Albany, New York (debuted in 2002 as "Capital News 9") Spectrum News Central New York – Syracuse, New York (debuted in 2003 as "News 10 Now") Spectrum News North Carolina – serving several markets in North Carolina (debuted as "News 14 Carolina" in Raleigh March 22, 2002, and in Charlotte June 14, 2002) Spectrum News Buffalo – Buffalo, New York (debuted in 2009 as "YNN Buffalo") Spectrum News 1 – serving several markets in Wisconsin (debuted in 2018) Spectrum News 1 SoCal – Los Angeles, California (debuted in 2018)
Format The most-common "program" on NY1 is a half-hour "news wheel" that begins at the top and bottom of each hour. It begins with a recap of top news headlines named the "NY1 Minute" and includes weather every 10 minutes "on the ones". The remainder of the half-hour is filled with mostly taped news segments heavily focusing on stories from the New York metropolitan area. There are 15 minutes of commercials per hour.
Nearly all stories are pre-recorded, even segments made to look like they are occurring live; instead of a "live" indicator during field reports from NY1's reporters, most stories seen on the channel have an on-screen graphic merely stating that the reporter is/was "on scene". This is because when the report was first broadcast, it may have originally been shown live but is not once it is re-aired, unless it updates a breaking news event. Moreover, reporters generally tape their own stories with video cameras (a practice known as video journalism), and send these taped reports to the newsroom to be edited for broadcast. A practice unique only to NY1 when it debuted, the 'one-man band' mode of journalism where the reporter records their own stories and surrounding narration has now become a standard with most local newscasts throughout the United States.
Locally produced programs
Mornings on 1