MSG Metro Channels

MSG Metro Channels were a series of local-minded New York City cable networks which launched in 1998 and folded in late 2005. Owned by Rainbow Media, a subsidiary of Cablevision, the Metro networks were founded as a splitoff of the MSG Sports networks. The network was originally split into three separate channels, MSG Metro Guide, MSG Metro Traffic & Weather, and MSG Metro Learning. The tri-channel network was billed as "What to do, what to know, and how to get there" among similar billings

MSG Metro Guide

MSG Metro Guide was a 24-hour entertainment and local venue guide to the Tri-State area, offering local information on places to vacation, eat at, visit, and be a resource to local viewers on their hometown. Some billed it as a "Zagats" on TV.

MSG Metro Traffic & Weather

MSG Metro Traffic & Weather was the first sole traffic and weather channel in the tri-state area, and while local news networks and The Weather Channel offered weather news, the traffic component was the network's main feature.

MSG Metro Learning

MSG Metro Learning was a splitoff of Extrahelp, offering special education shows similar to a primitive version of The Learning Channel (TLC) with cooking, gardening, home repair, high school and college level programs, and a set of light talk shows centered around education including "School's Out" which later became "Studio Y," the lead flagship teen talk show program around the three networks.

Studio Y

Studio Y became the network's flagship program carrying the ratings. Studio Y was a teen-oriented talk program which began with a hot topic and was discussed by the hosts and panelists. The meat of the show included interviews with celebrity guests, schoolwork discussion, musical acts (usually in the alternative rock range), and movie/music reviews and general chat. What made the show unique is besides its two hosts, primarily Welly Yang and Leila Sbitani, it had a revolving set, usually four at a time, of local tri-state area high school students, which it recruited through high school principals. Many panelists were offered special opportunities to attend press junkets, which the network lucratively scored, for major motion pictures.

Sports Coverage and Controversey

At the time MSG Metro channels launched, Cablevision owned the local television rights to all seven MLB, NBA and NHL teams in the New York Metropolitan area. These games were regularly scheduled to air on MSG Network and FSN New York. When more than two teams played at the same time, Cablevision made those games available to cable systems with additional channels, MSG2 or FSN2.

However, with three new channels to program, these games now appeared on Metro Guide. These games were only made available to subscribers who had the Metro Channels on their cable system, causing an uproar among area sports fans. Outside of Cablevision, few cable systems carried the Metro channels, since Cablevision insisted operators take all three channels. In particular, satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network did not carry Metro, and therefore, could not show every game of every local NY area team.

Later in Metro's existence, there were days where a game was scheduled on Metro Guide, but not MSG or FSN, showing the monopoly that Cablevision had over local sports. The monopoly ended in 2002, when the New York Yankees and New Jersey Nets started the YES Network, lessening Cablevision's need to show pro games on Metro. The Mets would leave Cablevision and start their own network, SportsNet New York, at the end of the 2005 season. For the start of the 2005-2006 NHL and NBA seasons, Cablevision revived MSG2 and FSN2 for overlapping games.

The Rise and Fall of MSG Metro

MSG Metro's suite did not bill success and had to make adaptations to stay alive. By 2000, MSG Metro merged Learning and Guide into the Guide, removing the Zagat-style programming. Key shows like "Studio Y" moved to Guide, and Learning evolved into a digital channel, Metro Stories, which showcased biographical type programming premiered on Metro Learning.

MSG Metro dropped the MSG from the title and focused on the simple Metro logo for it's networks.

By the end of 2000, Metro was spun with completely new programming and had added on more sports programming, including Game Face with Dave Sims. Management also hired new producers, who changed much of the programming including its flagship "Studio Y" and had deleted the panelists, focused on two new hip-hop hosts and converted the show to a hip-hop format. Both shows dissolved in early 2001.

By 2002, Metro had joined with New York Magazine and thus a new identity for Metro which basically erradicated the MetroStories channel. The partnership was designed to add more original shows, including "Subway Q&A" (a q&a show based on NYC's subways) and "To Live and Date in New York" (a dating show focusing on NY singles).

Ratings continued to not change, although most of the network's use was now focused on flowover sports coverage from MSG. In 2005, MetroChannels disappeared for good, leaving only Metro Traffic & Weather to be the sole survivor, which was rebranded as part of the News 12 suite.