NY1 Noticias — the Spanish-language spinoff of Time Warner Cable of New York City’s New York 1 News — celebrates 10 years as the Big Apple’s only 24-hour, local all-news channel in Spanish on June 30.
To mark the occasion, the network has hosted a series of events and aired special segments profiling the Hispanic populations of the New York City tri-state area.
The network on June 19 also aired a debate featuring the seven Democratic candidates for New York’s mayor focused entirely on Latino issues. The debate, which took place at the City University of New York’s Hunter College, was moderated by NY1/NY1 Noticias political reporter Juan Manuel Benitez. It aired in both English and Spanish.
“NY1 Noticias is really the only place covering politics in depth,” Dan Jacobson, NY1 & NY1 Noticias news director, told Hispanic TV Update. “Ten years ago, we saw the need to do something special for the Hispanic community, but not a carbon copy of what’s being done in English.”
Jacobson, who joined NY1 in its inaugural year of 1992, also helped launch NY1 Noticias in 2003.
NY1 Noticias shares many resources with its English-language sibling, including technicians and equipment. The Spanish-language channel, though, has its own team of 20 anchors and reporters covering the issues that most impact area Hispanics.
While NY1 Noticias is focused on New York City, Jacobson says NY1 Noticias covers events that are important for Hispanic residents, even if they don´t take place locally. It has sent reporters to the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Honduras and Rome.
A year ago, after Hurricane Sandy struck New York, NY1 sent Benitez and an English-speaking reporter to The Netherlands for a special report on how that country responds to flooding.
Both New York 1 News and NY1 Noticias are “cable-exclusive,” available only on Time Warner Cable and on Cablevision Systems in the Bronx and parts of Brooklyn.
