It’s Mayor de Blasio’s TV channel — and he’ll air a “spider bite” dance if he wants to.
The mayor is meddling with the content produced by NYC TV, the city’s official television network, an insider told The Post, treating the taxpayer-funded station like a campaign arm and insisting it feature his friends.
Recently, his office told producers to do a puff piece on dancer and “healer” Alessandra Belloni, his former NYU classmate who sang, danced and drummed Italian music at de Blasio’s wedding 20 years ago.
Known for her twitching “spider bite” dance — which she says can rid a woman of the trauma of domestic violence — Belloni pushed the mayor’s office to feature her in a video. It was filmed in September but hasn’t aired.
“If de Blasio weren’t friends with Belloni, she wouldn’t be getting a feature, because she’s weird,” the insider explained. “City Hall said, ‘Do this.’ ”
Founded in 2003 by then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg, NYC TV is a government-access station that airs on Channel 25, the city’s official broadcast network.
NYC Media, the city’s production arm that includes NYC TV, has 49 staffers on the payroll.
The station’s $5.7 million budget comes from taxpayer funds, a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and licensing payments by cable providers.
‘SINCE WE’RE OWNED BY THE CITY, WE’RE ESSENTIALLY DE BLASIO’S MEDIA ARM. WE FOLLOW HIM AROUND BECAUSE WE ARE HIS.’
- NYC TV insiderThe staff produces features on city restaurants, prominent New Yorkers and local attractions.
One weekly show, “City Scoop,” consists of one-minute capsules on mayoral ribbon-cuttings, announcements and initiatives.
“Since we’re owned by the city, we’re essentially de Blasio’s media arm. We follow him around because we are his,” the insider said.
A September “City Scoop” episode shows the mayor high-fiving kids while announcing after-school programs, then flashes to de Blasio at a press conference with US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Govs. Cuomo and Chris Christie.
On Aug. 31, the three news stories on “City Scoop” all involved de Blasio, with the last showing his family at the West Indian Day Parade. In the last two months, he has starred in 18 of the 24 stories covered.
Other city officials object to the Hizzoner-centric coverage.
“It’s all mayor,” said Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who wants other officials and professionals to have input. “Nobody pays any attention to this. There’s no real oversight. They can kind of do what they want.”
Bloomberg also used the programming to promote his leadership, but de Blasio treats it like a campaign ad, the source claimed.
“He milks it like crazy,” the insider said. “It seems like he’s still running.”
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The “spider” dance performed by a woman led by Alessandra Belloni, a classmate of De Blasio’s at NYU.
De Blasio hired Janet Choi, a former TV reporter and producer, as the station’s general manager. She is a de Blasio pal and has boasted of plans to spend Thanksgiving with the mayor and his family, the source said.
Belloni confirmed her friendship with de Blasio, saying she walked with him in the Columbus Day Parade.
In May, she pitched a series to NYC TV on her “shamanic” dance, the “pizzica tarantata,” an Italian folk dance based on the metaphor of a spider bite to help abused women “get the poison out,” she said. Belloni said she never spoke to de Blasio about her proposal and never mentioned their friendship to the station.
In a YouTube video of the dance, she plays a tambourine while a woman flails on the floor.
“The dance becomes a trance and leads them into letting go of the mind so the body releases the trauma,” Belloni said.
The NYC TV segment was produced with the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence, which brought two women from a shelter to dance with Belloni.
“It was really powerful. One woman had a major breakthrough on camera,” Belloni said.
NYC TV staffers are mortified.
“It’s not something they ever would have done on their own,” the insider said.
A rep for the mayor ignored questions on de Blasio’s friendship with Belloni but called her a “talented artist.” NYC TV did not respond to questions.
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