As we continue on with the Time Warner Cable / WTEN ABC-10 impasse, I kept thinking about how many channels I currently receive from my Time Warner Cable account – and how many I actively watch, and how many channels just aren’t necessary any more.
Now granted, I can’t get any à la carte cable plan on my bill. I can only select and deselect “tiers” of programming; I can add a block of channels or remove a block of channels, but I can’t control what is in the “block” of channels. Sure, I’d like the option to not pay for channels that I don’t watch anyways, and if by some miracle of time that actually were to happen, I can look at my Time Warner Cable channel selection grid and say, “There’s no need for these channels on my subscription. Please remove them and credit me with the difference of them not being there.”
So right off the bat, let’s get rid of:
- The OTB Channel. This channel has been part of the Time Warner Cable lineup ever since the old Capital Cablevision days, and really do we need a channel to update us on the 5th race at Monmouth? I know I could cut loose the Golf Channel and the Tennis Channel if I wanted to, but honestly, the OTB Channel is for people who are too lazy to trudge over to their local OTB betting parlor and make their bets in person.
- VH1. Remember when VH1 meant “Video Hits One,” an adult contemporary alternative to its sister station MTV? Well, VH1 still plays music videos on Sunday mornings (somehow, the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown still gets some airplay), but after that it’s Basketball Wives, Football Wives, Mafia Wives, These Wives, Those Wives, blah blah blah blah… It even makes me nostalgic for the days when Bret Michaels still looked for someone to love.
- Cloo. Cloo and its sister station Chiller are themed networks that purport to bring back classic detective and horror programs, but are mostly just an excuse to show Monk and Law and Order all day, all night. If Cloo really wanted to impress me, they could have brought up old episodes of Name of the Game or The Bold Ones or 77 Sunset Strip. Shows like those haven’t been seen in ages, and I’d rather see those than see Detectives Benson and Stabler catch the perp for the 6th time that afternoon.
- HLN. Anyone recall when HLN was “Headline News” and gave us a 30-minute newscast over and over? That was fine. Now HLN is the home for Nancy Grace. Or as I often call her, “The one voice that has gotten rid of more crows in an urban area than any other proven audiophonic method.”
- SoapNet. I would have kept SoapNet on my cable system if it wasn’t just repurposing last night’s afternoon drama schedule. If SoapNet had given us classics from the past that we could see once again – you know, shows like The Secret Storm or The Edge of Night or Dark Shadows or Another World or Capitol or Passions or stuff like that. No. We don’t get that. And in this era where everyone has a DVR and everyone has on-demand and online access, it’s not hard to catch up on what happened in Port Charles or Salem if you’ve missed a couple of months of episodes. (Let me help you – it’s later that day…)
- JTV. That’s right. We have a channel devoted to the purchase and sale of jewelry. Jewelry Television, they call it. And it’s not exactly the kind of stuff you see at Hannoush Jewelers – there’s a lot of gemstones being sold on this network with the suffix “ite” on them – Tanzanite, Flourite, a bunch of other manufactured gemstone-ites…
- G4. Okay, I understand there’s plenty of fans of G4 – the people who watch shows like Ninja Warrior and Unbeatable Banzuke and Attack of the Show – however, I still hold a grudge from when G4 bought out one of my favorite geek-and-tech channels, Tech TV, and put it out of business. I don’t forget, G4. And just because you brought us the beauty that is Olivia Munn, that doesn’t absolve you.
So there’s seven channels that, if Time Warner would take them off my cable box and refund me the difference in price for their subscription carrying rates, that would be fine with me. I’d probably also jettison the ETWN network (is Mother Angelica on every single program that airs on that station?), the Lifetime Movie Network (at least until they show a film where the guy in each movie isn’t a vicious punk, a criminal, a wimp or a tool), and TV Land (sorry, your usefulness as a broadcast channel died about two years ago when your entire network became available on DVD).
Feel free to add to this list. I’m sure there are some channels that you’d like scrubbed off your cable box – and, ipso facto, your cable bill.
Chuck The Writer 
Sorry Chuck, you lost me at TV Land. Any channel where I can get a two hour block of MASH is okay in my book.
🙂
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Justagirl – MeTV also shows M*A*S*H as part of their broadcast day. I don’t need five retro television channels, and at least RTV and MeTV do delve into shows that haven’t aired – either in syndication or on DVD – in ages.
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Get rid of all the shopping channels and all the religion channels
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Drop the OTB Channel?! Chuck, this attitude is why you lost to Tres Hombres at Saratoga. Twice.
I would drop whatever channel plays those snooty English period dramas you like so much…I’m too lazy to trudge back through your archives but I’m guessing it was PBS. And speaking of PBS, they should stop calling themselves commercial-free when every show starts with thanks for the generous donations from all the foundations and then when they broadcast something actually worth watching they take 10 minute breaks to ask for contributions.
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I could do without BET, LOGO, or anything not in English.
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What about the Reba channel? You know the channel that plays the Reba show over and over and over again and again. I don’t even know what channel it’s on cause we just call it the Reba channel.
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Wouldn’t it be terrific and probably possible even,if we could customize our cable channels? There is an entire world of trivial junk and religious programming,teenage angst and bad movies that I would never really miss if I could have my CNN and a few others plus the two movie groups we have now. Where is some enterprising college student to come up with a new way to do cable business?
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I agree completely!! I really only watch a hand full of channels – SYFI (I hate that they dumbed down the initials), AnimalPlanet, BIO, CartoonNetwork, Comedy Central, and sometimes Food network, TLC (guilty pleasure), Travel, whatever the one with Pawn Stars is…and HBO
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@7 — lizzee: I’m with you.
Two years ago, TW quoted me a price of $2,500+ to string their lines up here from the Village of Cobleskill, and connect to my house. Right.
But that aside, I would never consider cable service unless I had the option to pick and choose.
And I’d be willing to bet my next pension check that the technology is already out there — just conveniently being $uppre$$ed.
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Satellites, anyone? They are delightful…
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I miss the gold ol’ days of “I can’t live without my MTV” – was only 4 when MTV premiered and loved it for so many years when it played videos. I echo your comment about VH1, Chuck, but I watch “Celebrity Rehab” on that channel.
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Rachel – they still have “celebrities” on that rehab show? 🙂
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Reality shows are bad enough, but reality shows ABOUT reality shows, i.e. “The Making of *insert reality show name here*”??!!
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I agree about the OTB channel. I remember my Grandfather in the 1970s watching it, on channel 12. It should go.
I love MeTV, it’s actually a bit better than Retro TV. The best thing-they show credits! What else, they show the original shows in their regular time slots. For example, a one hour show on MeTV lasts an hour, whereas on TV Land a 1 hour episode of Bonanza actually lasts 73 minutes-That’s right, TV Land is sticking nearly 25 minutes of commercials into a show that runs about 50 minutes, and then they show the credits in a small box scrolling by at light speed.
They can get rid of TV Land, that would eb fine with me.
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Hey, I’m not going down to OTB every time I want to watch a Derby prep on a screen bigger than a postage stamp. That would quickly shift from “lazy” to “irresponsible.” (Not to mention that my local branch is crusty old Imperial, and every time I go there I have to deal with some stranger who puts his arm around me like we’re best buds because I’m the little girl who likes to play the ponies. Besides that, I don’t need to bet on every race that I watch or every horse that I follow.) Having horse racing on the most basic of cable is a reminder of our special local ties to the sport *and* it enables me to TiVo the Dubai World Cup, the Arc, and the Australian current co-champion of the universe Black Caviar.
Yeah, their graphics are super-outdated and they didn’t broadcast Glorious Goodwood (I had to watch the other champ Frankel on Xpressbet’s Tinyvision like an animal), and I could get TVG *and* HRTV on premium Fios…but why should I give up my cheap horse channel because you’re cranky? Kill the Golf Channel first, and send the TV Guide channel away along with it. Shop NBC can go too, because the most crazy of the home shopping crazies are into it, and Style is utterly useless.
I still can’t believe Baker watered down that Triple Crown final question by making it multiple choice. Ridiculous. That was my time to shine, and you got lucky.
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No shopping, no sports (other than boxing and figure skating), absolutely no Fox news or business, no OTB, no MTV, No VH1- just VH1 Classic.
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When it came down to it, I couldn’t think of more than about three channels I wanted to keep, and most of what was on those was available through either Netflix or Hulu. Cut the cable last spring, and with the savings was able to afford subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu, anything I wanted on iTunes, an AppleTV, and a brand new television set, with money left over. Don’t miss it even slightly, except for bike racing, where there’s no single source on the internet.
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Chuck…..
I’m with you, plus a number of other rerun and sports channels would be dropped from my menu. Shopping channels should pay me for being on my set and why do I pay TW for infomercials? That’s like radio station 1300AM, all commercials.
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The most disgraceful programs on television of the ones that sell coins, replica coins, or over .9999 gold CLAD nonmonetary minting. I noticed that the words clad is spoken very much lower tone than the rest of the pitch. This may not be legally fraud but in my estimation it certainly is.
If people think that these are going to gain invaluable they are sadly mistaken. Just check the prices paid for ” collectible” and they value the few years after the purchase. Very few have gained in value and most have lost . S Ly
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I agree about the OTB channel, but only because it is such a poorly produced product.
They basically take an elegant sport with imagery and color and convert it into a confusing numbers game where they drown the viewer in odds for five wagering combinations at three different tracks in the span of 30 seconds.
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Should be banished from basic cable:
OTB – That channel started losing its on-air need when it did away with live handicappers and announcers while the races were going on. While yes, we don’t need an announcer to tell us the prices when you can easily put them on the screen, it would be nice to know the important information. They don’t do that anymore, and as such, OTB has lost its luster. It was neat for those who couldn’t stay at the parlor back in the day, but with the growth of tracks streaming on the internet, and outside of morning handicapping programs, that’s all OTB does these days, no longer the case.
HLN – I totally agree with you on this one. What was wrong with the simple 30 minute newscast, 24/7. Yeah, it wasn’t a ratings winner but it was convenient and gave you the news you needed of national affairs without the commentary or filler that the analytical networks of CNN/MSNBC/Fox News gives. And speaking of filler…
Weather Channel – NBCU, take notice. People want to know about the weather when they turn to you, not find opposing programming during prime time. Now, granted it is about weather and its effects, but if you aren’t careful, you’re going to turn this into HLN, where it’s all about flash and dash and not what people want when they turn to you – the forecast!
Golf Channel – NBC package deals is probably the only reason why this channel of such narrowcasting exists. When we are talking about channels on a basic cable lineup, they should give us the BEST of cable.
EWTN – This fulfills about as much public service as Channel 18 does.
Univision – I’m serious about this one. Is there enough of a Spanish speaking community in the Albany/Glens Falls regions that warrants this being on Basic Cable? Not enough to support a Spanish-language radio station, ergo, not enough to put one on my 70 channels.
Channels that need to be brought up to Basic:
Boomerang – Remember when kids had a channel where there was programming for them around the clock, so if they couldn’t sleep at night, parents could turn something on to calm them down. These days, such programming doesn’t exist when at 9, Cartoon Network becomes Adult Swim and Nickelodeon has already become the over-commercialed Nick at Nite. Got a kid with nightmares? Metalocalypse won’t help cure it.
ATV – Antenna TV, the sub channel of My 4. It’s already over-the-air, so why not give it to us, Time-Warner. While you’re doing that, bring back the NC13 Weather channel, that was moved to 13-3 when MeTV came on. Retro TV/MeTV and even to an extent, TV Land and GSN has proven there is still an audience that will watch this stuff.
I would recommend GSN, but with the addition of DANCING WITH THE STARS, they’re becoming less Game-showy.
Long-winded post, but if we’re going to pay for a service, we should get what we want and nothing we don’t.
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I agree Magpies, bring on Satellite, we are ditching Time Warner at the beginning of April and have already ordered our Direct TV service, who by the way carries NESN AND NFL Network, INCLUDED in their lineup. Being a New England and Boston fan, they sold me!
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Magpies – I totally agree. We dropped TW for satellite almost a month ago and its the best thing I’ve done in years. TW thinks they can do whatever they want (drop channels, raise price) and we’ll come begging because its the only gig in town. They are sorrily mistaken.
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Here’s how much the cable companies pay to broadcast the various cable channels. It turns out that they spend 40% of the money on a handful of sports channels. Hey, Time Warner, I’d gladly take a 40% cut in my bill for giving up ESPN and The Golf Channel.
http://allthingsd.com/20100308/hate-paying-for-cable-heres-the-reason-why/
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DirectTV also has TVG…which is MUCH better than OTB.
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Agreed, Rick. I miss the time when at any time of the day or night, you could turn on the weather channel and see the local weather every 10 minutes (on the 8’s). Who are these people that demand storm chaser and snow storm shows on the WV? Isn’t the 3 Nat Geo stations (1,2 and Wild) enough.
I have one complaint about MeTV, less sitcoms ‘That Girl and ‘My 3 sons’ on prime time and more Untouchables (11P), Combat (2 AM) Twelve o’clock High (3AM) and … Honey West (4AM last week).
Also TW, can’t I find out about new technology BEFORE something fails. I had TW security for 8 years using hard wired key pads, when it failed, I got 3 service calls before they admitted it couldn’t be fixed and that they now had a digital product. Twice I have bought back remotes to the office. The clerk took them without question and sais that they recognized it as old equipment. I have been locked in since the 90’s with phone, Internet, Cable and Security, but maybe not for long.
I won’t mention buying a TW sports package to get ESPN, SNY, YES and MSG then having them drop ESPN classic sports to package it with the Golf channel. oh.. yea and paying HBO/Cinemax, to show 10-20 year old movies on regular rotation. Rememeber when they offered a monthly guide so that you could find what was new? Today it would be one page thick.
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