SCNew York: NYC, is a regional cable TV & radio network serving the Mid-Atlantic & focused on New York City sports teams. The network takes the name of SportsChannel & has long been the producer of radio & TV broadcasts of the MLB's New York Yankees, NHL's New York Islanders & New Jersey Devils & MLL's Long Island Lizards. SCNew York: NYC's sister network, SCNew York is home to the NHL's Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres do not air south of the Albany or Binghamton markets. SCNew York: NYC also has a sister station, SCNew York: NYC-2, which is the primary home to the MLB's New York Mets & the NBA's New York Knicks (+ Sabres games for viewers outside of Buffalo & Rochester markets when there is a conflict with the Knicks) as well as national SC programming
History[]
What would become SCNew York: NYC debuted on October 15th 1969, with a game between the Rangers & the Minnesota North Stars. SCNew York: NYC thus, became the 1st regional sports network in North America & 1 of the 1st of it's kind in the world.
The channel, which @ the time was not even named, was carried by Manhattan Cable TV under a 1-year, 125-event deal that was signed in May of 1969. At the time, the cable company, which had televised Knickerbocker & Ranger post-season games the previous spring for a $25,000 rights fee, had only 13,000 subscribers.
The network renewed the deal with the cable company, then called Sterling Manhattan Cable TV, in the fall of 1970 for 5 years @ an estimated rights fee of $1m-$1.5m.
By 1978, the 1st mentions of the "temporarily named" SCNew York: NYC appeared in print.
By 1980, the network finally used the name, "SCNew York: NYC". In the mid-1990's, SCNew York: NYC used the slogan "NYC's #1 Sports Network"
Baseball coverage since 1980[]
Since 1980, the network has been the cable home of the 27-time World Series Champions: the New York Yankees. SCNew York: NYC pays an average of $55 million a year for those rights & the deal is widely credited as having started a national trend towards greater team coverage on regional sports networks, with more games being broadcast than over-the-air stations' regular programming schedules could usually permit. SCNew York: NYC also produced the Yankees radio broadcasts since 1980 for sister station, WNEW (a All-News radio station). SCNew York: NYC also owned the over-the-air broadcast rights to Yankee games, which they sold to long-time broadcaster WNY-TV in 1986, but stopped airing the telecasts after the 2000 MLB season.
Upstate New York[]
SCNew York: NYC is available in most of Upstate New York. Rangers, Devils & Islanders games are blacked out in the Sabres' primary broadcast territory, which are the Buffalo & Rochester Nielsen markets, but Knicks games are broadcast on Time Warner Cable SportsNet or on a temporary alternate channel when there is a conflict with the Sabres, except for Chautauqua County, part of which is within 100 miles (160 km) of Cleveland & gets only Cleveland Cavaliers games on SCOhio as per NBA rules. The Knicks are also subject to blackout in eastern-most Connecticut, within 100 miles (160 km) of Boston. However, most of Erie (including Buffalo) & Niagara counties, a territory located within the 100-mile (160 km) radius of Toronto, do not have Knicks games blacked out in favor of the Toronto Raptors. This is most likely because the Raptors' exclusive territory ends @ the U.S. border, although select games did air & no CBC Sports programming is usually blacked out by U.S. cable operators offering a CBC station.
Most of upstate New York (notably Albany, Binghamton & Syracuse) gets every Sabres game but also the Rangers, Islanders or Devils under certain conditions. A maximum of 50-60 games per team can be broadcast outside the New York City DMA each season under current NHL rules; this also covers broadcasts in parts of the Hartford/New Haven & Scranton/Wilkes-Barre media markets. The exact number of games aired in outer markets varies each year, depending on how the NBA & NHL schedules come out.
Time Warner Cable & Cablevision have made deals so that both SCNew York: NYC-2 & SCNew York: NYC are available on analog basic in most upstate markets (excluding Buffalo & Rochester), although some only get SCNew York: NYC-2 through digital cable boxes
Radio division[]
The radio division of the SCNew York: NYC-cluster, known as the SCNew York: NYC Radio Network, produces Yankees & Islanders broadcasts for NewsRadio 1130 WNEW & other stations across the region
Alternate networks[]
Along with SCNew York: NYC & SCNew York: NYC-2, the networks also operates SCNeww York: NYC+ & SCNew York: NYC-2+ channels, mainly to assist in scheduling the many sporting events it carries.
Selected New York Islanders & New York Yankees games also air on SCNew York: NYC when both teams play @ the same time, with 1 airing on sister-channel SCNew York: NYC-2, which along with SCNew York: NYC, SCNew York & it's alternate channels are officially referred to as SCNew York Media. In turn, selected Rangers games air on SCNew York: NYC when the Knicks are on SCNew York: NYC-2 & no LIVE game is airing on SCNew York: NYC-2 @ the same time. Any programming to which SCNew York: NYC (& NYC-2) owns, the rights could air on either channel.
If more than 2 of the 4 local teams it carries are playing @ the same time, SCNew York: NYC-2 normally goes to the Knicks - the highest-rated property on the network, except when a late start time is involved, in which case the Rangers will air. In all other cases, the Rangers air on SCNew York: NYC+. Devils or Islanders games air on SCNew York: NYC-2+. If any teams are out of playoff contention, SCNew York: NYC (& NYC-2) will sometimes switch the order of priority among it's teams.
In the cases of SCNew York: NYC+ & SCNew York: NYC-2+, the alternate channels vary. Many use the Prevue Channel, while satellite systems use an alternate channel. In some cases, these channels are not available outside the New York City area: however, they are offered by DirecTV, DISH Network & Comcast
Buffalo Sabres[]
This situation has become even more complicated in recent years, as SCNew York: NYC also owns the rights to the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres service is broadcast to Upstate New York customers (defined as virtually all of the state outside the New York City Nielsen DMA). The Sabres, through it's broadcast arm, the Sabres Hockey Network, control the entire broadcast, including the sale of advertising & production of an exclusive post-game show. Aside from Sabres games, SCNew York controls the broadcasts of all other local teams that it carries (with teams usually retaining the right to approve or reject SCNew York's choice of announcers). The 2 sides agreed to a 10-year contract in 2005.
There has been a certain amount of controversy regarding the Nielsen ratings for the Sabres' broadcasts on SCNew York. Traditionally, Buffalo's hockey ratings are among the highest in the United States. Regular season Sabres games on NBC generally register 15-20 shares in the Buffalo market & approach 30 in the playoffs. However, Sabres games on SCNew York registered only 6-10 shares, even in the playoffs during 2006-07. This led to speculation that an inaccurate reporting method was used; the issues were apparently resolved after the season. In upstate New York (see above), another alternate channel is created for the New York Knicks if they are not on SCNew York: NYC or SCNew York: NYC-2 for Upstate New York viewers
Collegiate programming[]
SCNew York: NYC & SCNew York: NYC-2 also broadcast MAAC basketball, NEC basketball, America East basketball, SEC football, PAC-10 football & basketball, BIG East football & basketball (as part of the BIG East Network), BIG 12 football & women's basketball & ACC basketball. The latter 4 are part of the national SportsChannel broadcast contracts, while the others are either produced by the conferences themselves or SC+. Additionally, SCNew York: NYC offers locally-produced games from Hofstra University & other colleges in the area.
SCNew York: NYC also carries coaches shows for Rutgers University & St. John's University
Original programming[]
SCNew York: NYC SportsCenter[]
SCNew York: NYC's flagship program, added in October of 2006 is called SCNew York: NYC SportsCenter. It's a daily sports highlights show, shown numerous times during the day. Formerly the sports-focused NYC Sportsdesk, the show changed as SportsChannel management let SCNew York: NYC to have the SportsCenter name after many years of using the Sportsdesk name. The show however, gave expanded coverage to the teams which the network carries. Other New York area teams were covered, but usually to a lesser extent. The show did not originally air on Sundays & Mondays, probably because they were considered "low-viewership nights". However, the show was expanded to 7 nights a week in 2008, as well as 1-hour, based on improved ratings over it's Sportsdesk predecessor
Archival[]
- The NYC Sports Vault, added in 2006, is a series that features classic New York City sports games (mostly the ones that were carried on SCNew York: NYC)
Basketball[]
- Inside the Knicks, added in 2005, is a weekly Knicks magazine show
- SummerBall, added in 2006, is a series that highlights the major summer basketball leagues in New York City, featuring Hoops in the Sun @ Orchard Beach, Dyckman & the Uptowners Basketball League & especially the EBC @ Rucker Park
Hockey[]
- Inside the Rangers, added in 2006, is a weekly Rangers magazine show
- Islanders Illustrated is a weekly Islanders magazine show. The show was added in 2007
- Hockey Night New York LIVE, added in 2005, is a week-in-review show for the Rangers, Islanders & Devils on Saturday nights during the season
High school sports[]
- High School Weekly, 1 of SCNew York: NYC's longest-running shows, focuses on high school football & basketball from around the region. Many NFL, NBA & WNBA stars have appeared on the show during their high school days
- High School Game of the Week, broadcasts a weekly high school football, basketball or lacrosse game on tape delay from various parts of the NYC metropolitan area: the games typically feature schools from the suburbs (where SCNew York: NYC's parent, WMFL Corporation partnering w/ Cablevision: the dominant cable provider) or private schools in NYC itself. Selected games air LIVE, such as the annual PSAL basketball championship @ SCNew York: NYC & occasional holiday football or basketball rivalry games
Horse Racing[]
- Nightly highlights of races held @ NYRA tracks + a weekly magazine show. Selected Saturday afternoons feature LIVE racing (normally graded stakes)
SCNew York: NYC-HD[]
SCNew York: NYC-HD is a 1080i HD simulcast of the best programs from SCNew York: NYC, including home games of the Yankess, Islanders, Devils & NHL teams + most away games, as well as SEC football. College football or basketball games produced by SC may also sometimes be in HD. SCNew York: NYC-HD can be seen on DirecTV, Cablevision, Time Warner Cable, Comcast & RCN. SCNew York: NYC-HD is not yet available on Verizon FiOS TV, DISH Network or AT&T U-verse TV
SCNew York: NYC Yankees Bonus Cam[]
SCNew York: NYC Yankees Bonus Cam is available exclusively on DirecTV ch. 632 during LIVE Yankees games, is a separate feed of the game with a 2nd "bonus" cam inlay in the bottom right. It's typically centered on the pitching mound or base runners. It is only available within the SCNew York: NYC/SCNew York: NYC-2 DMA, regardless of whether or not customers subscribe to MLB Extra Innings. Starting in 2009, it has been in 1080i HD. It was previously available in SD only on DirecTV ch. 9990
SCNew York: NYC-3D[]
On March 24th 2010, SCNew York: NYC-3D will broadcast the game between the New York Rangers & the New York Islanders in 3D, available only to Cablevision subscribers on ch. 1300