NYC Media Group is a division of the New York City Department of Information Technologies & Telecommunications . NYC Media Group manages the City of New York's portfolio of media assets.

With headquarters in lower Manhattan in New York City's Municipal Building at 1 Centre Street, the NYC Media Group occupies the top 5 floors of the dome atop the famous iconic edifice. Looking westward, it is not hard to spot City Hall - a constant reminder of where NYC Media Group's power derives..

NYC Media Group is responsible for the television programs shown on cable channels 25 (22 for Cablevision subscribers), 71, 73 and 74. NYC Media Group also has offices located on the campus of the Bronx Community College, the basement of City Hall and 112 Tillary Street in Brooklyn, as well as transmission facilities in Brooklyn, the Empire State Building and the Conde Nast Building in Times Square. The primary stations run by the group are NYCTV (cable channel 74) and WNYE-TV (broadcast channel 25/DTV 24); the rest are out-sourced by independent contractors such as Off-Track Betting and the Department of Transportation.

The group also runs 91.5 WNYE on the radio, as well as RadioNYC, the city's telephone hold system, when calling 911 and 311. RadioNYC is also heard on City Drive Live on channel 93 (72 for Cablevision subscribers). City Drive Live shows traffic conditions from the NYSDOT and NYCDOT cameras that are spread out of all five boroughs of New York City 24 hours a day.

Many of the existing programs are carry-overs from the previous existing entities of Crosswalks NY and NYC TV. Some of the more popular shows include Cool In Your Code, Secrets of New York, $9.99, What's Cooking At Gracie?, Paradetown USA, Fashion In Focus, The Seven Secrets of Grand Central Terminal, Blueprint: New York City and New York Noise, all of which air or have aired on WNYE during prime time.

Commercialism

In August 2006, Mayor Bloomberg and NBC Universal Station Group President Jay Ireland joined WNBC General Manager Frank Comerford to announce a licensing deal between NBC and NYC TV. WNBC began to run some of NYC Media Groups programs during the afternoon of the Fall/Winter season. NYC TV licensed over 100 hours of its content to NBC, which programmed the shows in the 11AM E.T. block, Monday to Friday and later pushed to Noon to compete with local news.

2006 also marked a noticeable change, as NYC TV began to air more commercial content than the previous years. However what sets a noticeable issue here is that despite the content of the shows seen, NYC Media Group still is a municipal station bound by rules and regulations set forth by the FCC which are stricter than those used to govern the actions of network television. Content seen previously on NYC TV was primarily promos for various NYC agencies, as well as public service announcements and the occasional promo for NYC Media Groups' on-air programs.

Another noticeable difference in 2006 is the length of many shows. In the past, many shows had variable lengths. Some would run anywhere from sixteen minutes to almost thirty minutes long for shows timed for half-an-hour. Instead, the shows are now, for the most part, running on average about twenty-two minutes long for a half-hour block. This change primarily affected shows on the WNYE channel, though a few changes were noticed on NYC TV's channel 74, since some shows run on both channels. However Council 51 did undergo renaming to The Council during the summer. This change was the lead-up to the NYC content deal with NBC in late 2006/2007 and the PBS deals later announced.

Criticism

On September 14, 2006, City Councilwoman Gale Brewer interviewed the then-General Manager of NYC TV (Arick Wierson) and members of his staff to testify about NYC Media Group, its programming and efforts at community outreach. One of the core issues was whether the station was straying from its original purpose of being a municipal station and if it was alienating younger and older viewers, as a majority of NYC Media Group's shows focused on young adults.

On August 4, 2009, the Village Voice released on article detailing questionable activities regarding the Wierson administration.

Awards/Recognitions

In 2004, NYC Media Group was nominated for four New York Emmy Awards.

In 2005, NYC Media Group won eight New York Emmy Awards, while nominated for thirteen.

In 2006, NYC Media Group won four New York Emmy Awards, while nominated for a total of twelve. Also that year, NYC Media Group won six Silver Telly Awards and eight Bronze Telly Awards.

In 2007, NYC Media Group won seven New York Emmy Awards, while nominated for an additional thirty-four New York Emmy Awards.

In 2008, NYC Media Group won twelve New York Emmy Awards, while nominated for an additional (record) forty-eight New York Emmy Awards.

In 2009, NYC Media Group was nominated for forty-four New York Emmy Awards.

References

External links

• NYC Media Group Home Page
• Department of Information Technologies & Telecommunications Home Page

IMDB Links

• 2005 New York City Video Voter Guide
• $9.99
• Access Mayor
• Applevision
• Blueprint: New York City
• The Bridge
• City Drive Live
• The City That Never Sleeps
• Coming of Age
• Cool In Your Code
• Council 51
• Everyday, Everywhere
• Fashion In Focus
• Fashion Week Diaries
• The History Channel Presents
• Inside the Archives
• Live From City Hall With Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
• Media City
• New City Classics
• New York 360
• New York City Video Voter Guide
• New York Noise
• Paradetown, USA
• Secrets of New York
• The Seven Secrets of Grand Central Station
• Shaping the City With the City Planning Commission
• Steel Band Panorama
• Taste NY
• That's So New York
• Tribeca Film Festival Presents
• What's Cooking At Gracie?