The idea is that a channel devoted to science fiction (or history, or whatever) will work to develop shows that cater to that niche.

Exactly. I remember when they first announced the science fiction channel. I figured they would be running all the old tv shows from the 50s on and old movies and the like. I guess its true, everything devolves to kipple.

Ok, but here's the thing kids...most of the audience WANTS these shows no matter the channel. So if you are a Sci-fi Channel exec, and you get X amount of people watching your rerun of Star Trek, and double that amount watching wrestling...what would you do?

Sure, it's dumb to show wresting on a sci-fi channel, but if it brings in more ad revenue (and I'm sure it does) then it makes perfect sense to do it.

As for reality shows - I don't watch a single one. I refuse to contribute to the dumbing down of American television. If the rest of the audience would do the same, those shows would go away. But since most Americans have terrible taste in TV show, and actually spend time every week watching shows they KNOW are terrible, this will only continue. I can't tell you how many times a girl in my office has said "That show is SO BAD but I just can't stop watching it." Makes no sense to me...when a show is bad, I turn it off.

Shows will cater to a SF audience when there is one

thats why we had BSG and SG and have WH13 and Caprica

As far as reruns, who cares if Star Trek is on SiFi or USA?

What are we counting as reality shows nowadays? Because Mythbusters is awesome.

I also liked the earlier seasons of Junkyard Wars, although maybe that counts as a game show.

This is still not as bad as CARTOON network running live action movies and "reality" shows.

SyFy blows, but I've got to hand it to Chiller. While not the greatest channel, it does air some great stuff & a lot of it is the stuff that SciFi used to air when it first began. Monsters, Freddy's Nightmares, Twin Peaks, American Gothic, Hex, etc. I mean, they even run Stephen King's Golden Years every now and then. And not the butchered video version, they air the actual episodes that CBS broadcast back in the day. It can be a really fun channel.

but they also run edited for content horror flicks and are not broadcast in HD (at least where I live), so FAIL.

lol

It's a niche cable channel from NBC Universal that Comcast doesn't even carry. I hope you didn't expect all those bells & whistles.

Unless I'm imagining things, I saw an Animal Planet promo for a "ghost hunters" show regarding family pets.

Sigh. Every channel, the same crap.

These networks are becoming laundry detergents. Inside any box it's the same ingredients as in any other box.

I'll make a prediction.

In about 5 years or so, 25% to 50% of them will disappear.

Some will merge with others and some will just shut down. Mostly because their parent media companies will realize that it will be less expensive to operate fewer networks that have duplicate content.

What's ironic is that their current activities are the opposite of what they started out doing and what made them successful. Attracting a niche audience.

From a marketing standpoint, they are engaged in making a disaster. Instead of trying to distinguish themselves from competitors by actually being something different (changing your name doesn't qualify), they are heading lemming-like over a cliff in an attempt to attract the same thing... the fickle mass audience.

These networks are already on the cable system. That's the main battle. Once there they have no incentive to leave. Everytime you or I pay the cable/sat bill each network gets a slice regardless of where you have ever seen a minute of programming. Now that I think about it, I can not remember ever losing a network from my lineup (well except WWOR but that's an affiliate thing). Sure TNN becomes SPIKE or OLN because Verses but the numbers have only grown. Unless the cable companies start a la cart pricing, I would not expect any to dissappear.

I haven't had cable or even regular TV since 2006. I just download everything I want to watch, which unfortunately isn't much.