What is happening to Nat Geo!?

[Radioguy41]

I scrolled through the listings on Nat Geo for the next few days and this is what's scheduled (see below). What does any of this have to do with National Geographics? This is junk on the level of Discovery Channel, not worthy to be associated with the once respected name of National Geographics. Sad. I'm not seeing a bright future existence for it.

To Catch A Smuggler: (fill in any city name)
Drugs Inc: The Fix
Narco Wars
Gordon Ramsey
Wicked Tuna
What Really Happened
JFK: One Day In America

 

[TRG]

Natgeo is taking the lead from MTv.

 

[dishrich]

While the main Nat Geo channel isn't listed here, it's sister channels are:
DIRECTV & Spectrum May Have Just Killed 30 Cable TV Networks | Cord Cutters News

 

[KyL416]

Many of those shows you listed have been part of Nat Geo's lineup for over a decade. Drugs Inc has been on their schedule since 2010, Wicked Tuna and To Catch A Smugler have been around since 2012, while shows like Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted and Narco Wars were originally comissioned around 5 years ago back when FOX still owned the channel.

While the main Nat Geo channel isn't listed here, it's sister channels are:
DIRECTV & Spectrum May Have Just Killed 30 Cable TV Networks | Cord Cutters News

Contrary to the claims of that Cord Cutters headline (where most of their articles are misleading SEO clickbait), DIRECTV has NOT signed any deal similar to what Spectrum did. And despite Spectrum dropping Nat Geo Wild, Disney XD, Disney Junior, FXX, Freeform, and others back in August, all of them still have exclusive first run programming scheduled well into next year, including 3 new shows that were announced last week for Freeform.

Also nothing was saved for the consumer by dropping them, most of those networks were only pennies per subscriber as their operational costs are tied to their more popular sister channels, so the rates of their base packages didn't go down as a result of this deal, and now Spectrum customers have to pay an extra $7.99 ($17.99 ad free) for a Hulu subscription (which wasn't part of the deal) if they want next day access to FXX and Freeform's originals, and wait until the current seasons finish airing for Disney+ to get the other originals, while Disney+ doesn't even have the rights to Disney XD's first run anime dubs. Word is the only way to take advantage of the bundled Disney+ or ESPN+ offer will be to switch to one of the Spectrum "essentials" packages where you lose access to even more channels that have exclusive first run programming, and if it's anything like other bundled OTT offers like Peacock's, they won't be able to upgrade to the ad free option.

Natgeo is taking the lead from MTv.

In MTV's case they have multiple channels for people who still want to watch music programming that's curated: MTV Live, MTV Classic, Tr3s, along with the Flex pack only mtvU, Nick Music, CMT Music, BET Jams, BET Soul and BET Gospel.

 

[Bruce]

Only posting this in this part of the forum, because of being relevant to the posts here-

According to the Wall Street Journal, Disney has completed its review of its cable networks and has decided which ones it wants to sell. According to this report, three networks are seen as the most profitable to Disney, including ABC, FX, and the Disney Channel. These channels produce a lot of content not just for cable TV but also for its streaming service, Disney+.

According to this report, Disney is considering selling some of its smaller networks, including Freeform and National Geographic to A+E Network. This deal will let Disney keep partial ownership of these networks as A+E Networks is already a joint effort between Disney and Hearst.

Disney Reportedly Is Looking at Selling Freeform, National Geographic, & More to A+E Networks | Cord Cutters News

Ever since back in July 2023, in an interview with CNBC, Disney CEO Bob Iger left an option open to sell some of its TV assets, including ESPN, ABC, and more. Now we have a new report that Disney may have a buyer in mind for some of its networks, including Freeform and National Geographic. […]

cordcuttersnews.com

 

[Radioguy41]

Many of those shows you listed have been part of Nat Geo's lineup for over a decade. Drugs Inc has been on their schedule since 2010, Wicked Tuna and To Catch A Smugler have been around since 2012, while shows like Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted and Narco Wars were originally comissioned around 5 years ago back when FOX still owned the channel.

Not really relevant how long they have been on NatGeo. What is relevant is that the entire weekend listings consisted of those shows with essentially zero content having anything to do with what used to be National Geographics mantra and what made it great. In other words NatGeo is now a complete dumpster full of garbage. The fact that some of it has been there a long time only makes it smell worse.

 

[telstar_1]

Is The Learning Channel still on? Gotta love educational TV.

 

[HipKat]

I scrolled through the listings on Nat Geo for the next few days and this is what's scheduled (see below). What does any of this have to do with National Geographics? This is junk on the level of Discovery Channel, not worthy to be associated with the once respected name of National Geographics. Sad. I'm not seeing a bright future existence for it.

To Catch A Smuggler: (fill in any city name)
Drugs Inc: The Fix
Narco Wars
Gordon Ramsey
Wicked Tuna
What Really Happened
JFK: One Day In America

I remember when Nat Geo was one of my favorite channels. Now, it's unwatchable

 

[EarDemon]

Many of those shows you listed have been part of Nat Geo's lineup for over a decade. Drugs Inc has been on their schedule since 2010, Wicked Tuna and To Catch A Smugler have been around since 2012, while shows like Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted and Narco Wars were originally comissioned around 5 years ago back when FOX still owned the channel.



Contrary to the claims of that Cord Cutters headline (where most of their articles are misleading SEO clickbait), DIRECTV has NOT signed any deal similar to what Spectrum did. And despite Spectrum dropping Nat Geo Wild, Disney XD, Disney Junior, FXX, Freeform, and others back in August, all of them still have exclusive first run programming scheduled well into next year, including 3 new shows that were announced last week for Freeform.

Also nothing was saved for the consumer by dropping them, most of those networks were only pennies per subscriber as their operational costs are tied to their more popular sister channels, so the rates of their base packages didn't go down as a result of this deal, and now Spectrum customers have to pay an extra $7.99 ($17.99 ad free) for a Hulu subscription (which wasn't part of the deal) if they want next day access to FXX and Freeform's originals, and wait until the current seasons finish airing for Disney+ to get the other originals, while Disney+ doesn't even have the rights to Disney XD's first run anime dubs. Word is the only way to take advantage of the bundled Disney+ or ESPN+ offer will be to switch to one of the Spectrum "essentials" packages where you lose access to even more channels that have exclusive first run programming, and if it's anything like other bundled OTT offers like Peacock's, they won't be able to upgrade to the ad free option.



In MTV's case they have multiple channels for people who still want to watch music programming that's curated: MTV Live, MTV Classic, Tr3s, along with the Flex pack only mtvU, Nick Music, CMT Music, BET Jams, BET Soul and BET Gospel.

As a Charter customer, I am soooooo happy those channels are gone. The only downside was the return of all of the other Disney owned channels. I wished they would have just gone away and never came back.

None of the channels that were removed have a valid reason to exist. Their content can be migrated to the flagship channels if Disney cared enough. FXX is an utterly useless channel. It has a grand total of three original series, all with a 30 minute run time, two of which used to be on FX. If each one of those series had 10 episode seasons that’s a grand total of 15 hours (minus commercials) of unique content a year. With most new FX original content going to Hulu, I’m sure Disney could spare 15 hours on FX if they really wanted to.

Freeform’s target audience is 13 year old girls, not that same demographic as cable TV viewers. From October through the end of the year, how many times can one watch Hocus Pocus and the first two Home Alone movies?

Very happy that Disney+ will only be for subscribers with the new packages. I’m on the old TV Gold package, so I won’t be indirectly paying that awful company for something I will never use. It’s bad enough the ESPNs came back.

All it will take is for one more of the larger MSOs to make a similar deal to what Charter did and most of those channels will fold.

Hopefully Charter does the same when the Viacom contract comes up. I saw an article the other day where the CEO of Charter made a comment about why are they paying for Comedy Central when quite a bit of the new South Park content is going directly to Paramount Plus. The programming providers are devaluing their own channels by moving a lot of original content to their streaming services and are using existing channels to run cheap reality garbage and the same old shows over and over. How many channels really need to show Friends, The Office, and Law & Order all day long?

 

[Bruce]

As a Charter customer, I am soooooo happy those channels are gone. The only downside was the return of all of the other Disney owned channels. I wished they would have just gone away and never came back.

Hopefully Charter does the same when the Viacom contract comes up. I saw an article the other day where the CEO of Charter made a comment about why are they paying for Comedy Central when quite a bit of the new South Park content is going directly to Paramount Plus. The programming providers are devaluing their own channels by moving a lot of original content to their streaming services and are using existing channels to run cheap reality garbage and the same old shows over and over. How many channels really need to show Friends, The Office, and Law & Order all day long?

The only thing I wish to say, Charter got rid of all those channels, made their expenses a lot better, yet did not reduce the monthly fee with their elimination of them.

If I remember correctly, had the standard two price increases in a year, just like Comcast and now, DirecTV.

So you might be glad they are gone, yet you still pay their way too high of a price for a bunch of rerun channels and a Broadcast Channels fee of over $20, for channels you can get with a antenna.

 

[Juan]

Found this...its not gospel but it's from the wall street journal

Disney to pull plug on TV channels? | LinkedIn

Still-profitable ESPN is widely regarded as safe, while ABC, the Disney Channel and FX are also seen as central, reports The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources.

www.linkedin.com

Niche networks including Freeform and National Geographic may have less value to the company, executives have found.

 

[navychop]

Not gonna “sign in” for that.

 

[Juan]

Not gonna “sign in” for that.

Here ya go

 

[EarDemon]

The only thing I wish to say, Charter got rid of all those channels, made their expenses a lot better, yet did not reduce the monthly fee with their elimination of them.

If I remember correctly, had the standard two price increases in a year, just like Comcast and now, DirecTV.

So you might be glad they are gone, yet you still pay their way too high of a price for a bunch of rerun channels and a Broadcast Channels fee of over $20, for channels you can get with a antenna.

Don't understand the logic at all. This in all likelihood prevented or lessened the blow of a future price increase. Charter is still probably paying the same or more with the new deal, just not paying as much as they could have been had they agreed to carry the worthless channels that were removed. If they are not paying any less, no reason why the subscriber should be paying less.

And even with the the Broadcast fee, in many situations, mine included, Charter is much cheaper than DirecTV for as close as possible equivalent levels of programming and packaging.

 

[KAB]

The only program of relevance to Nat Geo I watched was the mini-series "A Small Light", earlier in the year. It was excellent.