Traxan

Shame to see the Smithsonian Channel on that list. Aerial America and X Ray Megaairport are awesome.

http://www.thewrap.com/20-least-watc...classic-sprout

21. Sprout Total viewer average: 169,000 Change: 6 percent

20. MTV2 Total viewer average: 159,000C hange: -6 percent

19. Discovery Family Channel Total viewer average: 148,000 Change: -7 percent

18. Cooking Channel Total viewer average: 145,000Change: 16 percent

17: Esquire Network Total viewer average: 140,000Change: 18 percent

16. RFDTotal viewer average: 136,000 Change: 8 percent

15. FX Movie Channel Total viewer average: 133,000 Change: 15 percent

14. UP TV Total viewer average: 124,000 Change: -8 percent

13. Discovery en Espanol Total viewer average: 111,000 Change: -3 percent

12. Smithsonian Channel Total viewer average: 107,000 Change: 19 percent

11. Great American Country Total viewer average: 99,000 Change: 38 percent

10. Discovery Life Total viewer average: 89,000 Change: 7 percent

9. Ovation Total viewer average: 78,000 Change: 4 percent

8. Logo Total viewer average: 73,000 Change: 12 percent

7. Chiller Total viewer average: 64,000 Change: -28 percent

5. Fuse (tie) Total viewer average: 59,000Change: 13 percent

5. Centric (tie) Total viewer average: 59,000 Change: -13 percent

3. Baby (tie) Total viewer average: 50,000 Change: -7 percent

3. Cloo (tie) Total viewer average: 50,000 Change: -25 percent

2. Discovery Family Total viewer average: 42,000Change: -16 percent

1. MTV Classic Total viewer average: 31,000 Change: -35 percent

dvd-4-life

Surprised that Headline News Channel isn't on that list. Unless you like Forensic Files,there is no point in watching that channel.

randian

I wonder how much of the drop in MTV Classic is due to the cancellation of That Metal Show. Standard definition doesn't help either.

Josh-da-man

Most of those channels fall into one or more groups: Standard definition, dumping grounds for old programming, no consistent programming/scheduling, or are only available on higher programming tier packages.

And I'd wager that a lot of then like Sprout, RFD, and Cloo get programmed of most peoples' favorite channels lists.

Jason

All their programming is SD now, as the music programming is gone, replaced by lame 90's/early 2000's "reality" programming. Apparently the answer to my question of "Who the hell wants to watch that?" is "nobody".

Count Dooku

When I had U-verse, Cloo and Chiller were not in HD so I never used them.

Michael Corvin

Dump 'em all and lower my bill.

morriscroy

The Smithsonian Channel had a lot of good stuff.

Though after awhile, I found that I was just watching the same documentaries over and over again.

So I ended up dropping it.

PhantomStranger

The FX Movie channel actually plays some interesting, rarely seen movies from before the 1980s. It's a must for DVR watchers. Don't worry about its survival, the channel is tied with the bigger Fox package all carriers keep.

The Smithsonian Channel has some nice documentaries but the channel doesn't have much depth to its schedule. Virtually everything is repeated for years. I liked it better when it ran no commercials.

Chiller is a fairly mediocre channel considering it has the horror space to itself on regular cable. A creative programmer could do a lot more with the channel. You can tell it's run by people with no real interest in the genre.

writer106

I like that FX Movie Channel for that reason.

I liked Chiller when it first started. They aired Twin Peaks, American Gothic, and a few other short lived horror or mystery themed shows.

Alan Smithee

I've dumped 'em all and ELIMINATED my bill!

Why the hell do they even need a separate "Discovery En Espanol" channel when they could easily carry Spanish audio on a 2nd track on the main channel?

Fuse was yet another music channel that ended up showing cut-for-TV horror movies and sitcom reruns instead.

PhantomStranger

It's never really been the same since it merged and eliminated that competing horror network.

bluetoast

I tuned into MTV Classic on the plane a few days ago, hoping for something interesting. But they were playing a Maya video from 2003, so I immediately tuned back out.

PhantomStranger

MTV Classic occasionally plays classic Unplugged episodes and a few of MTV's past cartoon line-up like Daria. That is about the extent of its value.

JeffTheAlpaca

CSPAN 1 and 2 are not in this list? You still can't get those channels in HD.

Ovation has some good shows and the same with Smithsonian.

MTV2 blows. Wasn't that suppose to be the channel that had music?

It was cool in the early 2000's where they showed music videos and had the Headbangers Ball with Jamey Jasta.

Fuse is going away from music programming but it is nice to watch music videos at night.

They dropped the Top 20 countdown with Allison Hagendorf and Juliya Chernetsky which was one of my favorite shows.

WE and Oxygen are garbage but probably have the most number of viewers with their shitty reality shows.

stvn1974

FX Movie Channel, where they take a 90 minute movie and stretch it out to three and a half hours due to the commercial breaks.

Traxan

MTVX. All metal and hard rock, no commercials, no VJs. God I loved that channel. I was so pissed when they changed it to a rap channel in 2002.

Barth

I loved watching That Metal Show. It got cancelled and then VH1 Classic became MTV Classic. We had it for a month or two and then Frontier/Verizon took it out of the lineup and upped my bill by 4 dollars a month even though I'm on a contract. Go figure?

dvd-4-life

How are the ratings for ESPN Classic and Fox Sports 2?

Timber

Most of those are because of the lack of HD. I had Cooking Channel in HD on Fios and it was in my regular rotation but on Xfinity it's on SD and I almost never turn to it.

And seriously, everybody has an HDTV now and they're trying to push us to 4K and 8K and yet the majority of programming is still broadcast in 480i? Something is seriously wrong there.

AaronHernandez

The carriage rate for all these channels combined is probably not even 25% the cost of ESPN carriage rate alone.

Jay G.

I found a more comprehensive list that ranks all ad-supported cable channels. The rankings for the final 21 are similar, but there's some differences in the ratings and rankings:
http://www.indiewire.com/2016/12/cnn...rs-1201762864/

I also found the rankings for 2015:
http://www.tvinsider.com/article/625...networks-2015/

Unsurprisingly, the rankings are similar from year to year.


The thing is, some of the channels may be bundled with the other channels of the same brand, and cable carriers may have little choice but to carry them. For example, carriers may have to take MTV Classics in order to get all the other MTV channels.


Discovery Channel already carries Spanish via SAP on some programs:
https://corporate.discovery.com/sap/

Discovery En Espanol, however, isn't just standard Discovery shows dubbed in Spanish, but has its own exclusive Spanish-language programs, like Mexicanocos, about a group of mechanics in Mexico that fix up cars:
http://www.multichannel.com/prfeed/m...ousines/388065
http://www.enespanol.tudiscovery.com/

There's also a second Spanish language Discovery channel, Discovery Familia, which considering that the list in the OP has two listings for "Discovery Family", and looking at the other lists I found, makes me think the #2 spot in the OP's list is actually Discovery Familia.

Eric F

You have to remember a lot of these channels have a strong online presence.

Smithsonian has all it's programming available online, commercial free and is available on pretty much every streaming box/platform. Why bother watching the linear channel when you can access the shows anytime from elsewhere?

Nick Danger

Doesn't it bother you that there are a bunch of Spanish language commercials that nobody else is preserving?

Traxan

A 50" TV vs. a 9" tablet for Aerial America?