How many Channels?

[RobertScorpio]

I was wondering last night, as I mindlessly channel surfed, how many channels do I actually watch of the 500+ channels I can select from? Here is my list...

ABC Several shows
NBC Several Shows
CBS Several Shows
FOX Several Shows
SYFY (one show...Caprica)
Cartoon Network (I have kids)
Disney (")
Disney XD (")
Nick
History Channel
A/E
CNN/FOX news channels (love to watch the spin on both)
HBO

and thats it....maybe 20 channels out of 500. With this in mind, I think they should let you pick the ones you want to watch, and ONLY pay for those in your monthly bill.

What do you think? Do we really need 500+ channels???

Rob

 

[Starbreaker]

I watch
ABC (Lost, Scrubs, FlashForward)
CBS (Criminal Minds, CSI, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory)
NBC (Chuck, The Office)
FOX (Fringe, Glee)
ESPN & ESPN2 (Football, Around the Horn, PTI, & Sportscenter occasionally)
Fox SportSouth
FSN South
Peachtree TV (all Braves stations)
CNN (AC360)

That's about it. I wouldn't even keep cable if it wasn't for sports.

 

[Holdfast]

I don't know how many channels I have on Freeview (probably about 80+ I guess), and while I channel-surf regularly enough, I doubt I've watched a whole programme through on more than a half-dozen of them over the past fortnight. Probably only 2-3 of them, in truth. Mind you, which channels those 2-3 happen to be DOES vary from week to week, so I guess I wouldn't want less variety.

 

[Warp Coil]

Not much, which is why I have canceled my cable service (effective Feb 22). At the moment I'm really only watching:

ABC - Lost
Adult Swim - random episodes of Family Guy, Robot Chicken, ATHF
Comedy Central - random episodes of Futurama, South Park
SyFy - Caprica

I was watching Fox for Dollhouse, but it's over now. NBC will begin airing the new season of Friday Night Lights in the spring. I'm basically going to watch the few shows I care about online via hulu or their dedicated network's site. I also watch Dexter and True Blood, but I never actually had HBO or Showtime so it's not like I'm losing anything there.

 

[cultcross]

I hear you can get a third channel these days, outside the West Country. Don't hold with tha' sort a thing here though.

 

[RobertScorpio]

I asked my cable provider, TIME/WARNER, why people couldn't just pay what they want for and not all this other stuff. Her reply was VERY politcally correct, and most likely true. If it weren't for the fact we paid so much for channels we never used, then channels that catered towards minorites would lose most of their funding and go off the air. To which I say; SO FRICKING WHAT?

Rob

 

[Trekker4747]

Yeah, I've got several hundred channels and all I watch are:

Discovery - Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, occasional other programing.
Comedy Central - The Daily Show
The Food Network - Good Eats
ABC - Nothing specific, but good to have.
CBS - Nothing specific, but good to have.
NBC - Nothing specific, but good to have.
Fox (House, 24)
CW (Smallville)
CNN - Breaking news updates/events.
MSNBC - Breaking news updates/events.
Fox News - For entertainment value/curiosity.

Aaaaand. I think that is pretty much it. There may be some things I occasionaly pick up on on the other channels (like the Science Channel, maybe) but the bulk of the other few-hundred channels I never watch. I could certainly do away with the sports-themed channels and not miss anything. One thing is, I do not subscribe to any premium cable channels (like the movie channels.)

So, yeah, I anxiously await the day when "build your own" cable becomes popular. I could cut down on so many channels and probably save a great deal of money.

 

[RoJoHen]

I watch zero channels.

 

[cultcross]

I asked my cable provider, TIME/WARNER, why people couldn't just pay what they want for and not all this other stuff. Her reply was VERY politcally correct, and most likely true. If it weren't for the fact we paid so much for channels we never used, then channels that catered towards minorites would lose most of their funding and go off the air. To which I say; SO FRICKING WHAT?

Rob

The actual reason is that if you didn't pay that money, the channels you do watch would have to be 50% or more adverts to cover the costs the broadcasters would have to pay for the shows. You get the minority channels 'added in' because they're low cost to the broadcaster and you might watch them and generate some ad revenue.

 

[RobertScorpio]

I asked my cable provider, TIME/WARNER, why people couldn't just pay what they want for and not all this other stuff. Her reply was VERY politcally correct, and most likely true. If it weren't for the fact we paid so much for channels we never used, then channels that catered towards minorites would lose most of their funding and go off the air. To which I say; SO FRICKING WHAT?

Rob

The actual reason is that if you didn't pay that money, the channels you do watch would have to be 50% or more adverts to cover the costs the broadcasters would have to pay for the shows. You get the minority channels 'added in' because they're low cost to the broadcaster and you might watch them and generate some ad revenue.

Nope..it would be based on popularity..as it should be...and the ones that didn't make it would die..evoluton is needed in industry as well.

Rob

 

[Sakrysta]

If it's not on Hulu, I don't bother, with the exception of Medium, for which I tolerate CBS.com now that the show isn't on NBC anymore. Haven't had cable sinc summer 2002, and amazingly, life is just fine without it.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Cable TV is like the Airlines. A friend of mine works for COX cable, here in california, and he put it that way. You have all these channels competing for ratings; and they know which ones have tons of viewers (FOX/ABC ect) and which ones done (SYFY). If it were just a 'fight for survival' then the big guys would not pay more for advertising because they already have the ratings. In fact, they could charge less because they have the volume and the ratings.

The only reason I am paying $150 a month instead of maybe $45 a month is because my money is being taken to help channels like THE DOG NETWORK (which I get and never watch) and other channels (many of which cater toward minorities) survive. Pure and simple. Its socialized medicine; but TV channels instead.

Rob

 

[Captain Craig]

I haven't had cable in 6years.
I don't miss it.
Sure I enjoyed the occasional show on Nat.Geo, Animal Planet and Cartoon Network shows.

Sports I get plenty of NCAA hoops on CBS.
NFL, I get my fill on CBS and Fox
Don't care about the othe sports.

The only thing making me want to get a basic $20 package is cause this government mandated digital feed sucks. Strong winds and cloudy days causes the signal to break, didn't have that issue with the old, nothing was wrong with it, analog signal.
Its one of those unintended government consequences.

 

[cultcross]

I asked my cable provider, TIME/WARNER, why people couldn't just pay what they want for and not all this other stuff. Her reply was VERY politcally correct, and most likely true. If it weren't for the fact we paid so much for channels we never used, then channels that catered towards minorites would lose most of their funding and go off the air. To which I say; SO FRICKING WHAT?

Rob

The actual reason is that if you didn't pay that money, the channels you do watch would have to be 50% or more adverts to cover the costs the broadcasters would have to pay for the shows. You get the minority channels 'added in' because they're low cost to the broadcaster and you might watch them and generate some ad revenue.

Nope..it would be based on popularity..as it should be...and the ones that didn't make it would die..evoluton is needed in industry as well.

Rob

You'll forgive me for not wanting a TV filled only with what is popular, given what is popular.

 

[23skidoo]

At the present moment there are only three channels I actually watch with any regularity (these are channels received here in Canada):

Discovery Channel - airs stuff like Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs)
OLN (Outdoor Life Network) - for some reason this is the Canadian broadcast home of the Ghost Hunters franchise.
Space - but only during periods where shows of interest such as Doctor Who and Caprica are airing.

Otherwise I'll tune into local news when I think about doing it. And I might occasionally tune into a mainstream network to watch something like V or Human Target.

Everything else I watch tends to be on DVD or Blu-Ray, including DVD series. Plus the occasional "alternate venue" for episodes I miss.

I really watch very little standard TV anymore. Either the stuff doesn't interest me, or I find myself more able to get into a program by watching it uninterrupted on disc. It's been that way since around the time current TV shows started to turn up on DVD. Fringe, NCIS and Lost are shows I either am (or plan to) watch exclusively on DVD/Blu-Ray. And I only saw about 5 episodes of BSG actually broadcast; I watched the whole series otherwise on DVD.

Alex

 

[Mr. B]

Not much on a regular basis...

Fox (I work at an affiliate, 24, Fringe, House, Human Target)
NBC/CBS/ABC (various live sports, mostly football)
ESPN (Monday Night Football, et. al.)
Comedy Central (The Daily Show)
CNBC (Squawk on the Street, The Call)
A&E (Steven Seagal Lawman) ...guilty pleasure, and filmed locally
SyFy (Stargate Universe)

I also watch the occasional HBO/Showtime series, but nothing just now.

 

[Cicero]

ABC (Pac 10 football)
CBS (The Mentalist)
NBC (Law & Order)
TMC (various)
TNT (Law & Order, Charmed, ER, sometimes Angel)
PBS (Frontline, Nova, Scientific American Frontiers)
Discovery Channel (Mythbusters, various)
Animal Planet (various)

 

[bigdaddy]

I now get two channels, my local ABC is also my local Fox. That's one channel. Channel two is PBS four times.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I DVR everything I watch. I've lost track of what show is on what channel.

 

[TemporalFlux]

Hmmmm...let's see. I'll go ahead and do a rough guide of most watched to least watched too.

1. Fox News
2. Fox
3. Cartoon Network
4. SyFy
5. Disney XD
6. NBC
7. MSNBC
8. ABC
9. CW
10. USA
11. HBO
12. Cinemax
13. Starz
14. TCM
15. AMC
16. Food Network (Ace of Cakes!)
17. Discovery
18. Spike
19. THIS! (They run some really weird, obscure 80's movies on there)