 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | City of New York |
| Headquarters | Manhattan Municipal Building (25th–29th floors) |
| Agency executives |
|
| Parent agency | Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment |
| Website | www.nyc.gov/media |
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NYC Media is the official public radio, television, and online media network and broadcasting service ofNew York City, which has been called themedia capital of the world.[1][2] The network oversees four public television channels, a public radio station, and an Internetvideo on demand service.[3]
Located in theManhattan Municipal Building at1 Centre Street, NYC Media occupies the tower portion, from the 25th floor to the 29th floor, as well as transmission facilities in theEmpire State Building, in theCondé Nast Building inTimes Square, and inBrooklyn.[4]
NYC Media is an amalgamation of channels, studios, distribution and production entities.[3] NYC Media was originally calledNYC TV when it took over Crosswalks Television in 2003; it becameNYC Media Group when it acquired control of broadcast stationsWNYE (FM) andWNYE-TV as well.
In late 2009, it was announced that NYC Media Group would be split off from theNew York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications and merge with theMayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting to form the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, in the aftermath of an embezzlement scandal that saw many of NYC Media Group's higher-ups resign or leave.
In 2003, co-foundersSeth Unger andArick Wierson – both aides toMayor of New York CityMichael Bloomberg – launched NYC-TV, which replaced "Crosswalks Television". Unger and Wierson set out to create a slew of new, slickly-produced shows about life in New York, alongside live coverage of NYC press conferences and hearings.[5][6]
In 2005, NYC TV expanded when it acquired WNYE-TV along with the radio stationWNYE (FM). The new group was called NYC Media Group. The local cable channels programmed by NYC Media provide coverage of a diverse array of programming formats ranging from local politics and government news on channel 74, traffic camera feeds on channel 72, and ethnic/international programming on channel 73.
NYC Media has received attention as an innovator in municipal broadcasting. Since its inception, NYC Media has been nominated for 160 New York Emmy Awards, winning 42.[7] It has also won 42 Telly Awards and 4Promax Awards and was nominated for 4 Webby Awards.[8] Cities such asSeoul,Paris,Rio de Janeiro, andLos Angeles have expressed interest in replicating the station's success. On September 24, 2007, Mayor Bloomberg held apress conference[8] to introduceNYC Media On Demand, a partnership with online video platformBrightcove to offeron demand programming online.[9]
Its main over-the-air broadcast channel,WNYE-TV (channel 25), reaches theNew York City metropolitan area, which includesNassau,Orange,Putnam,Suffolk andWestchester counties in New York state as well as portions ofNew Jersey andConnecticut. WNYE-TV is carried on all area cable and satellite systems. NYC Media's main broadcast signal, WNYE-TV, reaches 7.43 million households (approximately 20 million people) in the New York City market, thus making it the fifth largest local television station in the United States.[10] The main broadcast station is seen in the New York City area on channel 25 on all cable and satellite systems with the exception ofAltice USA, where it is seen on channel 22.
In April 2009, Trevor Scotland, then-COO of NYC Media Group, was arrested on charges of embezzling $60,000 of advertising money from the network, along with an accomplice, Vincent R. Taylor. Scotland instructed advertisers to go through Taylor's company, VRT Advertising; Taylor pocketed 20 percent of this money, with Scotland taking the rest.[11][12] Taylor later stated in court he was afraid that if he didn't follow Scotland's orders, he would be blacklisted from the network.[13] In the aftermath of this scandal, several high-ranking executives at NYC Media, including Unger and Wierson (many of whom had connections to then-Mayor Bloomberg) left their posts abruptly; an internal probe revealed many of these executives had been using city-funded staff and resources for their own projects, and were often absent from the NYC Media offices; Scotland testified that Wierson was often absent and allowed him to forge Wierson's signatures on documents if necessary. Scotland pled guilty to charges of embezzlement and wire fraud,[14] and was sentenced in March 2010 to 15 months in prison for his role in the fiasco; by this time, the NYC Media unit had been reassigned from theDepartment of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) tothe Mayor's Office of Film and Broadcasting (though the move was not publicized at the time).[15][16] It was suspected that this executive upheaval played a role in the cancellation of music seriesNew York Noise (a show created during Wierson's tenure), though this was never confirmed outright.[17]
NYC Media operates four television channels: NYC life, NYC gov, NYC drive, and NYC world.[3]
Services on most of these channels had previously each been branded asNYC TV ornyctv with a cable channel number since 2003, and before that asCrosswalks Television.[18]
NYC Media operatesWNYE (FM), branded as "Radio New York".[19]
Never before has any TV station in the entertainment and news media capital of the world carried what organizer boast is the world's largest Pride parade live on TV.
