Could you live with only a dozen channels?

[ohioankev]

USA
SYFY
Discovery
FX
TNT
SpikeTV
A&E
TruTV
HBO
Max
Showtime
Starz

OTA I would only get NBC/FOX/MyNetTV (which i may do anyways if they get OTA tuners for the Hopper) so I suppose I would use the internet to get shows from NBC/FOX/CBS/ABC/CW but those days might be coming to a close as Hulu might move to a model where you can only watch if you subscribe to these channels.

What these entertainment conglomerates will do though is make the price of Ala Carte really high (my mind wants to say $7-12 per channel) because what would happen is if the masses adopted Ala Carte it would amount to a cable channel blood bath and loss of additional advertising dollars for the entertainment conglomerates because the channels would cease to exist simply because the majority simply doesn't care for these channels and these they really only exist more or less because of ad revenue. For an example look at channels like Cloo (formerly Sleuth) and Chiller, no real original programming, just mainly straight to DVD low budget movies, and reruns of current shows like House, NCIS, etc. that are already airing in syndication or on USA & SyFy channel. The same can be said about Universal HD now because there are more HD channels today than what there was when the network launched. All of these channels are owned by NBC/U which is owned by Comcast.

 

[fhsucade07]

Still remember the days when my cable system in Jersey had 35 channels, including the NYC and some of the Philadelphia channels. About 90 plus % of the channels actually had stuff worth watching.

+1.

 

[Dishman1978]

Question: Live with only a dozen channels?

My answer: nope.


Simple huh? Lol

 

[steve4810]

If you were limited to watching only a dozen channels could you live with that? A-la-cart for 12 channels.

Nope. Not even 3 X 12 would be enough.

For instance there are channels that are only important maybe once a year, but when they are I want them, like CSPAN1. CSPAN2, CSPAN3, NASA and The Weather Channel. Then there are the ones that have only one or two series a year like TBS, FX, AMC, USA and SCFI. More than half the year they don't have squat. Then there are channels like G4 that I haven't watched in years then a month ago I stumbled onto "Bomb Patrol Afghanistan"

And in case of national disasters or worldwide events I want as many news channel as exist so I scan them all because after an hour they all repeat themselves then I move to another and. And there are freaky events like Don Imus getting fired by MSNBC and going back on the air on RFDTV. And that led the wife and I to discover "The Big Joe Polka Show" although I think he's gone onto meet his maker. Then Imus went to Fox Business where he still is.

I really really watch TV.

 

[satjay]

While we might be able to live with a few you know of you could make the switch, after the switch is when you miss those channels

 

[30rock]

Yes I PROBABLY could

CBS
NBC
ABC
Fox
CW
Cartoon Network (actually Adult Swim)
TBS
TNT
Syfy
USA
DIY Net
Oxygen faceplam)

Those are the majority of the channels I watch (wild cards were AMC, G4, and Nickelodeon)

 

[Stargazer]

This reminds me of Dish Pix that Dish Network had, 10 channels for $10, later raised to $15 before it was eliminated.

 

[n0aaa]

How young are you people! I lived with 3-4 channels for many years. We got our first TV in 1951. Lived everywhere, but 3 networks and public TV (whenever that came along) was about all you could hope for most places. Still surprisingly hard to find something worth watching at any given time.

 

[empiretc]

How young are you people! I lived with 3-4 channels for many years.

Yep, on a 12" black and white tv. You actually had to get up to change the channel on the rotary knob, or to adjust the volume.

It was ABC and CBS only for a while, then the revolutionary UHF loop antenna came out and we got NBC! A few years later FOX came around.

Still surprisingly hard to find something worth watching at any given time.

agreed......

 

[dare2be]

My recollection of the "golden age" of TV as a kid was many instances of conflicts of what I wanted to watch (afternoons, had to choose between Bewitched reruns or Lost in Space reruns...saturday morning cartoons were always tough to choose from, etc.) ...so I wouldn't say it was that hard to find at any given time.

 

[johnissoevil]

How young are you people! I lived with 3-4 channels for many years. We got our first TV in 1951. Lived everywhere, but 3 networks and public TV (whenever that came along) was about all you could hope for most places. Still surprisingly hard to find something worth watching at any given time.

I was born in early 76, but I had heard stories about NYC TV. As early as 1949, New York had SEVEN VHF channels, the flagship stations of the four major networks (CBS, NBC, DuMont, and ABC) and three indies (one of which went on to have its license converted to non-commercial and affiliated with what we now know as PBS). If you lived in one of the major media markets, you were lucky enough to get more than three channels.

 

[Mr Tony]

How young are you people! I lived with 3-4 channels for many years. We got our first TV in 1951. Lived everywhere, but 3 networks and public TV (whenever that came along) was about all you could hope for most places. Still surprisingly hard to find something worth watching at any given time.

yup. We had 5 VHF stations (PBS, CBS, ABC, Ind, NBC) and a 2nd PBS on UHF here in Minneapolis. Early 80's we got 2 new stations on UHF one of which was a PPV station (Spectrum Sports)
Only thing I remember on the new UHF station (29) was World Class Championship Wrestling on Saturday nights

Saturday mornings we would get KEYC Channel 12 out of Mankato (70 miles away).....thats when the TV geek in me was started

 

[Jim5506]

We had 2 stations, one was NBC, the other was a mix of ABC and CBS.

Stations went off the air after the Tonight Show (about midnight) and signed back on at 6am.

Just off the top of my head:

NBC
CBS
PBS
FOX News
HDNET
History
ESPN
ESPN2

I'll add others as I think go them but that's about all I watch.

 

[swampman]

12? Well lets see. Yep! There was a survey a few years back, claiming subs only watch 17% of the channels they pay for. Probably more like 8-10% in my home.

 

[mike123abc]

The cable companies (and sat cos) all know most people watch 12 or fewer channels. It is not a surprise most people can name 12 or less channels that are really important to them. The catch of course is that everyone will have a different list of channels...

 

[Islandguy43]

If you lived in one of the major media markets, you were lucky enough to get more than three channels.

In the early 70's we were fortunate to live in a U.S. Canada Border City, so that gave us five channels out of Buffalo (ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS and a Independent), plus we got CTV and CBC out of Toronto and a Independent out of Hamilton. Sports Fans like me, got to grow up Hockey Night in Canada, CFL Football, Montreal Expos and Toronto Blue Jays Baseball, plus Wrestling and Curling. We still get CBC and CTV on our cable systems, but not in HD.

 

[tedb3rd]

Why back in my day we had 9 channels.... My old man didn't believe in that cable whats-its! We had locals off bunny ears and by-gosh we liked it! The only thing on Saturday morning was GUMBY and THE SMURFS. You had to turn the dial and THEN the little smaller dial to fine-tune. Don't you remember channel "U"?!?! Those were the days.

 

[inazsully]

VHF stood for "Very High Frequency" and UHF stood for "Ultra High Frequency" If I remember correctly UHF channels were designated with numbers above 15.

 

[Dishman1978]

What did people do before tv? Lol

 

[dare2be]

Sat around the radio.