News 12 Networks

News 12 Networks
Launched December 15, 1986 (1986-12-15)
Owned by Altice USA News
(Altice USA)
Picture format 1080i (HDTV)
480i (SDTV)
Slogan As Local as Local News Gets
Around New Jersey, Around the Clock (New Jersey only)
Only on Cable. Never on FiOS. Never on satellite.
Country United States
Language English
Broadcast area New York City metropolitan area
New Jersey
Connecticut
Headquarters
  • News 12 Long Island and Traffic and Weather:
    Woodbury, New York
  • News 12 Connecticut:
    Norwalk, Connecticut
  • News 12 New Jersey:
    Edison, New Jersey
  • News 12 Westchester:
    Yonkers, New York
  • News 12 Hudson Valley:
    West Nyack, New York
  • News 12 The Bronx and Brooklyn:
    Bronx, New York
Sister channel(s) i24NEWS (United States)
Website www.news12.com
Availability
Cable
Optimum 12 (SD/HD)
Charter Communications
(Mt. Vernon, New York)		 20 (SD/HD)
Charter Communications
(Rockland, Kings and Orange Counties, New York)		 156 (SD/HD)
Comcast
(New Jersey)		 62 (SD/HD)
Service Electric
(Sussex and Warren Counties, New Jersey)		 12 (SD/HD)

The News 12 Networks are a group of American regional cable news television channels that are owned by Altice USA. All channels provide rolling news coverage 24-hours a day, focusing primarily on different regions of the New York City metropolitan area outside Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. It has become the most-watched and most award-winning hyper-local news network in the USA.

The combined footprint of the seven channels reaches a potential audience of 3.8 million people in New York state, New Jersey, and Connecticut, including two of the five boroughs of New York City (The Bronx and Brooklyn), most of Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk counties), southwestern Connecticut, northern and central New Jersey, and most of the lower Hudson Valley.

History

News 12 was launched by Cablevision on December 15, 1986 to customers on Long Island, as the first 24-hour regional cable news service in the United States. Over the years Cablevision expanded the reach of News 12 by adding additional network across its footprint.

The network was formerly operated by Newsday Media Holdings and presided over by Patrick Dolan, son of Newsday majority owner Charles Dolan and brother of James L. Dolan. Altice has retained Dolan as a senior network advisor.

Altice acquired News 12 along with the rest of Cablevision's assets on June 21, 2016.[1]

In October 2016, newspaper reports stated News 12 was consolidating its Westchester and Connecticut News operations, moving news anchor desks and studio operations to New Jersey and Long Island, and news and production staff at these operations would be laid off. Reports indicated Westchester News Director Janine Rose was allowed to resign, and Connecticut News Director Tom Appleby was dismissed.[2][3][4]

In 2018, Altice announced that it would form a new division named Altice USA News that would consist of News 12 and I24NEWS. The division is headed by Michael Schreiber.[5]

Channels

News 12 The Bronx and News 12 Brooklyn

News 12 The Bronx was launched in June 1998 as the sixth channel of the News 12 Networks; it reaches more than 300,000 cable television households in the Bronx borough of New York City. The channel is headquartered from studios at 930 Soundview Avenue in the South Bronx neighborhood of Soundview. News 12 The Bronx was the first television news organization in the United States to use environmentally friendly hybrid electric vehicles in an effort to reduce air pollution. Since late 2010, News 12 The Bronx has produced Spanish language news updates for its website and News 12 Interactive on iO Digital Cable Service channel 612 called News 12 El Bronx en Español.

News 12 Brooklyn was launched in 2005. The channel reaches more than 490,000 homes throughout the borough via Altice USA and Charter Communications systems (the latter of which carries the channel on digital channel 156). The two networks share the same on-air talent, equipment, and newsgathering resources. The sets for the Bronx and Brooklyn channels were respectively upgraded in summer 2010 and in mid-December 2010. News 12 The Bronx and News 12 Brooklyn were the last of the News 12 Networks to launch high definition simulcast feeds; News 12 The Bronx launched its HD feed on December 7, 2011, while News 12 Brooklyn launched theirs in January 2012.

News 12 Connecticut

News 12 Connecticut was launched in 1982 as a local origination channel; it eventually became the state's first regional news channel. On October 10, 2011, News 12 Connecticut became the fifth channel among the News 12 Networks to launch a high definition simulcast feed. The channel is headquartered at 28 Cross Street in the Norwalk Center section of Norwalk, Connecticut. News 12 Connecticut is available in Fairfield County, as well as the New Haven County towns of Milford, Woodbridge and Orange with an estimated reach of more than 220,000 Cablevision subscribers. It is not available in Litchfield County but as of February 2017, contains traffic and weather coverage for the area.

News 12 Hudson Valley

News 12 Hudson Valley was launched in 2005. The channel is headquartered at 235 West Nyack Road in West Nyack, New York; News 12 Hudson Valley reaches more than 140,000 cable television households through systems operated by Cablevision and Time Warner Cable (the latter of which carries the channel on digital channel 156) serving Rockland and Orange counties. On October 5, 2011, News 12 Hudson Valley as well as sister channel News 12 Westchester became the third and fourth channels among the News 12 Networks (behind the New Jersey and Long Island channels) to launch a high definition simulcast feed.

News 12 Long Island

News 12 Long Island is the flagship channel of the group, which launched on December 15, 1986 as the first 24-hour local cable news channel in the nation. The channel provides 24-hour news coverage primarily focused on Long Island. The channel is headquartered at 1 Media Crossways in the Crossways office park in Woodbury, New York. News 12 Long Island is available on Cablevision systems in the Long Island counties of Nassau and Suffolk.

News 12 New Jersey

News 12 New Jersey was launched in March 1996 as the fifth channel in the News 12 family of news channels. The channel is known for its weekly sports highlight Friday Night Football program and also produces a companion program Saturday Night Football during the state playoffs. Since late 2010, News 12 New Jersey has produced Spanish language news updates, News 12 New Jersey en Español, available on its website and on News 12 Interactive on iO Digital Cable channel 612.

The channel is headquartered at Raritan Center at 450 Raritan Center Parkway in Edison; it has the largest coverage reach of the News 12 channels, with an estimated subscriber base of nearly 1.8 million households. In addition to its main newsroom in Edison, News 12 New Jersey also operates regional newsrooms in Newark, Trenton, Madison, Oakland and Wall Township.

News 12 Traffic and Weather

News 12 Traffic & Weather comprises five regional channels that provide non-stop coverage of traffic and weather conditions within the New York City metropolitan area. The channels are formatted into a cycle that updates traffic and weather every five minutes. Originally launched in 1992, the service is the only surviving channel that had formerly been part of the MSG Metro Channels, although its establishment predates the existence of the MSG Metro package. News 12 Traffic & Weather airs on channel 61 throughout the service area of the News 12 channels.

News 12 Westchester

News 12 Westchester was launched in 1995, as a 24-hour local cable news channel. The channel is headquartered in Yonkers, New York at the South Westchester Executive Park, at 6 Executive Plaza; News 12 Westchester reaches more than 280,000 cable television households through systems operated by Cablevision and Time Warner Cable of Mt. Vernon, New York (which carry the channel on channel 20), and Comcast in Putnam (which carries it on channel 112) cable systems. On December 20, 2010, News 12 premiered a new logo, infobar, graphics (including new news intro), and music. On October 5, 2011, News 12 Westchester became the third of the News 12 Networks to launch a high definition simulcast feed.

News 12 Interactive

News 12 Interactive manages the websites of each of the News 12 Networks channels as well as iO Digital Cable channel 612, which offers news, weather, traffic and extra interactive features provided on Cablevision's digital platform. News 12 Interactive also operates the "InfoBar", a rolling display with time, temperature, weather conditions, and news items in the lower portion of the screen during virtually all of the programming seen on the seven News 12 channels (with the exception of News 12 Traffic and Weather). News 12 Interactive also offers a mobile app for BlackBerry and iOS mobile devices, by which users can watch all seven of the News 12 networks via a live stream.

Availability

The networks are carried by Altice's Optimum systems throughout the region (except for certain systems in Dutchess, Orange, and Putnam counties in New York, and Litchfield Count in Connecticut); these systems were originally owned by Dolan-owned Cablevision before being spun off to Altice. Since the sale, News 12 networks are also available on most Charter Communications, Comcast, and Service Electric systems in the Tri-State area (in the case of Charter, this is part of a cross-provider agreement that also allows Charter's 24-hour local news channel, NY1, to be seen on Altice providers). However, none of the channels are available on Verizon FiOS (which offers a competing FiOS 1 service) or satellite providers DirecTV or Dish Network; this is referenced in the slogan used by the networks, "Only on cable. Never on FiOS. Never on satellite." Although the seven channels have individual and unique news operations, they share the same mission, graphics, and music packages.

News 12's Website and apps are only free for subscribers of systems that carry a News 12 channel (Cablevision, Charter Spectrum, Comcast, or Service Electric); otherwise, a paid subscription is required.

Notable on-air staff

  • SallyAnn Mosey – weekend mornings meteorologist and anchor fill in anchor and reporter (News 12 New Jersey)

Former staff

Criticism

In December 2005, News 12 Networks generated criticism when it changed its website and mobile app to a pay subscription service for those who live outside the News 12 viewing area. The News 12 website is offered free of charge to subscribers of Cablevision, Charter Spectrum, Comcast, or Service Electric. This has been used as a marketing tool against customers signing up for Verizon FiOS, or satellite providers DirecTV or Dish Network, which are available in many of the areas News 12 covers. In response, Verizon FIOS created FiOS1 News in 2007 and later expanded to the Lower Hudson Valley in 2014, which can be viewed only by FiOS customers[6] Unlike News 12, FiOS1's website is not under the paywall and is open to all users, with the exception of its live broadcast (which is only offered to FiOS customers).

References

  1. ↑ "Altice Completes Acquisition of Cablevision Systems Corporation" (PDF). Altice NV. June 21, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Reisman: Heads are rolling at News 12". LoHud=. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  3. ↑ "Altice moving News 12 Connecticut studio production to New Jersey". The Hour. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  4. ↑ "With N.J. studio, Altice drops new anchors into News 12 Connecticut". The Hour. Retrieved 2017-04-15.
  5. ↑ Farrell, Mike (Apr 17, 2018). "Altice USA Forms News Division". MultiChannel News. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  6. ↑ http://www.fios1news.com/
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