The channel was launched in 1993 as News 12 Weather. The service originally aired each morning in place of Bravo and E!, as all three services had shared a channel slot on Cablevision's Long Island systems due to limited channel capacity at the provider's headends. Following the launch of Cablevision's Optimum TV service in 1996, News 12 Weather gained a full-time dedicated channel slot on the provider's systems. On August 5, 1998, the service was rebranded as MSG Metro Traffic & Weather and was rolled into the MSG Metro Channels slate ; its format was also revised to include regular updates on traffic conditions in the New York metropolitan area. As a result, it became the first strictly local traffic and weather channel in the Tri-State area; although it faced competition for weather coverage via local broadcast stations and The Weather Channel, the traffic component was the feature that made the channel unique. In October 5, 2005, the channel was brought back in with the News 12 Networks slate of channels, accordingly being renamed News 12 Traffic & Weather. The channel launched high definition simulcast services of its five regional feeds in November 2012. In December 2013, News 12 Networks announced it would lay off eight of the channel's ten meteorologists and News 12 Traffic & Weather before a massive staff lay-off. The channel formerly had a full-time staff of 40 reporters and 10 meteorologists and 30 of its 40 traffic reporters; it also announced that the channels would broadcast in a semi-automated manner, with live reports only throughout the morning drive, unless significant traffic or severe weather conditions warrant extended coverage. In August 2019, Altice rebranded the network as News 12+ and expanded the programming to include short headline news stories, in addition to traffic and weather reports.
Programming
As with the rolling news-formatted channels under the News 12 umbrella, News 12+ is divided into five channel feeds available in different regions of the New York metropolitan area, which are centralcasted from News 12's headquarters in Woodbury. The channel maintains a staff of five part-time and several freelance traffic reporters, and two on-camera meteorologists. News 12+ airs mainly traffic and weather reports, and they also air short headline news at some times.
