SportsNet New York

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SportsNet New York
SportsNet New York logo
Launched	March 16, 2006
Owned by	New York Mets Time Warner Cable Comcast
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Slogan	Get Your New York Sports Here!
Country	United States
Language	American English
Broadcast area	NY metro area nationwide via satellite
Headquarters	110 West 51st Street (Manhattan)
Sister channel(s)	CSN
Website	SNY.tv
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV	639 (SD/HD)
Dish Network	438 (SD/HD)
Cable
Time Warner Cable	Check local listings for channels
Verizon Fios	77 / 577HD
Cablevision	60 / 175HD
Comcast	73 / 298HD (Most Systems)

SportsNet New York (SNY) is a New York City-based regional sports cable network which airs in the New York metro area and all of New York state, and nationwide via satellite. It is owned jointly by the New York Mets, Time Warner Cable, and Comcast. Its primary programming is Mets and Big East Conference games, as well as supporting coverage of the Mets and the New York Jets.

[edit] About

SNY was created in an effort for the New York Mets to better leverage their broadcasting rights, which were previously held by Cablevision on their MSG Network and FSN New York (Now MSG Plus) networks. From 1998 to 2002, Cablevision had a monopoly on all local professional sports franchises in the New York City market, participating in many unfair business practices like moving games to their MSG Metro Channels with limited distribution. In 2002, the New York Yankees and New Jersey Nets broke the monopoly by starting the YES Network for their games, leaving the Mets in the Cablevision fold until their contract expired in 2005.

After discussions with potential broadcast partners including Cablevision and YES, the Mets decided to partner with cable providers Time Warner and Comcast to launch their own network in 2006. Unlike the Yankees, who brought the New Jersey Nets with them to YES, the Mets could not find a winter pro team to take up time during their offseason, because the New York Rangers and New York Knicks are owned by Cablevision, and the New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils have long-term contracts with Cablevision, likely so they wouldn't defect to YES or what became SNY. Whereas YES primarily focuses on the Yankees and Nets, SNY brands itself to focus on New York sports collectively, providing coverage on all local teams through its daily talk shows and newscasts.

[edit] High-definition simulcast

SNY produces all in-studio programs and all Mets games in 1080i high-definition format. Since its inception, all in-studio programming was done in high-definition. In 2006 and 2007, only Mets home games and select limited road games were broadcast in high-definition. Starting with the 2008 season (March 31, 2008), all Mets games are now broadcast in high-definition.

[edit] Sports coverage

• Mets: SNY carries at least 120 Mets games per season (with the remainder airing on WPIX, FOX, TBS, or ESPN). Gregg Picker produces the games and Bill Webb, who directs the World Series and the All-Star Game for FOX, is the director for Mets broadcasts on both SNY and WPIX.

• Jets: The New York Jets signed a three-year television deal with SportsNet New York in November 2005, in which SNY carries more than 250 hours of Jets-related content each year. The programming includes both in-season and off-season shows with access to players, coaches and management.

• College sports:
  • Big East: In July 2008, the Big East and SNY announced a multi-year deal which gives the channel 16 games of Big East college football and more than 100 games of men's and women's college basketball per season. SNY also produces pre-game, halftime, and post-game shows, as well as coach interviews, for these broadcasts. Additionally, SNY became "the exclusive home" of Rutgers University athletics, which includes encore football game broadcasts (for games televised by ABC or one of ESPN's various channels), weekly coaches shows (for both football and basketball, see Inside Rutgers Football), and press conferences.^[1] Similar coaches shows also air for the Seton Hall University and St. John's University basketball teams, and shows from other schools may also be carried.^[2] ESPN Plus produces the Big East's regional game broadcasts, and coverage may be blacked-out beyond the New York City Nielsen DMA.

SNY originally carried Big Ten Conference games not on national TV, but the Big Ten's own network now airs those games.^[3] SNY also showed the Sun Belt Conference through ESPN Plus, but no longer does so in order to focus on the Big East Conference.

[edit] Original programming

Broadcast as seen through the street level window

For a complete list of original programs, visit www.sny.tv. Here is a sample of some of the network's programming

• 1st and Goal with Mike Tannenbaum: A weekly show featuring the Jets General Manager, in which analysts review the Jets' last game.
• Daily News Live!: half-hour-long show with sports writers and celebrities, produced in cooperation with the Daily News, hosted by Jonas Schwartz weekdays at 5:00 p.m., with encores at 11:00 p.m. & 1:30 a.m.
• Geico SportsNite: daily half-hour sports highlights show at 10:00 p.m. & 1:00 a.m. (repeated 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. & 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., the latter not on weekends or when there is an afternoon Mets game at 1:00 p.m. or earlier)
• Jets Open Mic: Live coverage of head coach Rex Ryan's two weekly press conferences.
• Jets Nation: weekly half-hour Jets coverage and interviews hosted by Brian Custer, with analysts Greg Buttle and Ray Lucas; premieres Saturdays at 11:00 AM
• Kids Clubhouse: weekly half-hour kids' baseball education and coverage; premieres Saturdays at 12:00 p.m.
• Loud Mouths:^[4] half-hour-long sports talk show airing weekdays at 6:00 p.m. hosted by Chris Carlin and Adam Schein
• Mets Classics: classic Mets games from past seasons and the current season (UltiMet Classics)
• Mets Hot Stove: offseason hot stove discussion about the Mets hosted by Kevin Burkhardt with various local writers
• Mets Fast Forward: hour-long condensed version of the previous Mets game at 6:00 a.m. & 9:00 a.m. following a Mets game on SNY or PIX11
• Mets Weekly: weekly half-hour Mets coverage, interviews, and stories; premieres Saturdays at 12:30 p.m. unless there is a Mets game on SNY at 1:00 p.m.
• The Wheelhouse:^[4] half-hour-long show airing weekdays at 5:30 p.m. featuring a nine-inning debate of sports topics by Brandon Tierny, Andy Gresh, and Brian Custer
• Beer Money: A half-hour-long game show airing every Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Hosts Chris Carlin and Alexi Panos go around New York and New Jersey asking questions pertaining to New York Sports. There are three rounds: $10, $20, and $100. The player can walk away with their earned money at any time, but if they keep going and get a question wrong, the contestant must return the money to the host. Also, a shootout mode in which the first contestant to answer a question wrong loses may be played by two contestants for $50.
• Street Games: A show introducing regular people to the sports played on the streets of New York.

[edit] Personalities

[edit] Former

• Jon Litner (2005-2007): President of SportsNet New York, left to become president of Comcast Sportsnet
• Amanda Cole (2006-2007): Host of Kids Clubhouse
• Steve Berthiaume (2006–2007): left network in January 2007 and rejoined ESPN
• Siafa Lewis (2006-2007): left network January 2008. Joined MLB.com in April 2008 is currently a host on WNBC-NewYork 4's LXTV. Working with WCBS-2 as a sideline reporter for New York Jets games.
• Julie Donaldson (2006–2008): contract not renewed. In February 2008 and joined Boston NBC affiliate WHDH 7
• David Lee (2006): In September 2006 and joined CSN Mid-Atlantic
• Harold Reynolds (2008): Studio analyst on Mets pre- and post-game shows. In 2009, joined the MLB Network
• Lou Tilley (2006–2007): In 2007, joined CSN Mid-Atlantic
• Chris Cotter (2006-2008): lead Host of Daily News Live, left network in December 2008 and joined Fox Business Network.
• Matt Yallof (2006-2008): Host of Mets pre- and post-game shows, joined MLB Network in 2009.
• Kenny Choi (2006-2008): SportsNite anchor.
• Lee Mazzilli (2007-2008): Studio analyst on Mets pre- and post-game shows.
• Scott Ferrall (2007-2009): Former Daily News Live and Wheelhouse personality.

SNY is currently fully distributed. That said, the network had been expected to have problems being carried by Cablevision, as Mets games were moved off of Cablevision-owned networks (MSG Network and FSN New York, since renamed MSG Plus). This is similar to the situation when the newly-formed YES Network took the Yankees off of Cablevision's channels. Cablevision sued on the grounds that the Mets might have violated their contract, under which Cablevision theoretically had a year left on the deal, as well as last-refusal rights. However, a Judge ruled in favor of SportsNet New York, essentially holding the Mets had voided their deal with Cablevision entirely by paying a specified buyout fee, believed to exceed $50 million.[1]

Comcast did not launch the network in the Harford area until March 31, 2008, two years after launch, while Cox Communications systems in central and eastern Connecticut still do not carry the network in any tier of service.

Current

Julia Alexandria 2008- Beer Money , Met Weekly Chris Carlin 2008- Beer Money, Mets pre and post game Rugers football Loundmouth Gary Cohen 2006- Mets Broadcaseter Ron Darling 2006- Mets Broadcaseter Keith Hernandez 2006- Mets Broadcaseter Bob Ojeta 2009- Mets pre and post game

[edit] Notes

• Mets games on SNY and post-games delay other programming, such as the 10:00 SportsNite, and preempt all or parts of shows at midnight when a 7:00 game runs long.
• There is no 10:00 SportsNite when the Mets play a game on SNY starting at 8:00 or later.
• Mets games on WPIX (and simulcast on other stations) are produced by SNY.
• All times given in Eastern Time Zone, as SportsNet New York is based in New York City.
• As of the start of the 2007 Mets season, SNY debuted a new set of graphics for both their Mets telecasts and SportsNite telecasts. These graphics include a new scoreboard which goes along the entire top portion of the screen as well as a new sports ticker on the bottom portion of the screen. The ticker now provides more stats including wins, losses, and saves, much like the ESPN Bottom Line ticker. SNY features a "SNY HD" logo in the scoreboard for games that are available in high-definition on both the HD and SD feeds. Games shown on WPIX replace the SNY logo with the PIX11 logo. The scoreboard was updated in the 2009 Mets season.
• None of the programming on SNY was closed-captioned for the hearing impaired until May 1, 2009. On that date the game between the Mets and Phillies was closed-captioned. The FCC gives new stations four years before they are required to begin captioning. That's a contrast to the YES Network which broadcast closed-captioning from its beginning.

[edit] See also

• Media of New York City
• List of New York City sports teams
• New York Jets
• New York Mets

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Site