Word: channelized
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...years, cable visionaries have promised a day when everyone from sailing enthusiasts to opera lovers would have a cable channel to suit his tastes. But the new cable programmers are pursuing a more old-fashioned strategy: aiming for a broad-based audience by replicating fare that already gluts the airwaves. Meanwhile dozens of other worthy cable aspirants -- channels devoted to history, health, fine arts, golf -- are struggling to be born. There may well be an audience for more knockoffs of Oprah, more sappy morning shows and more reruns of Dynasty. But viewers looking for the diverse array of niche programming...
...answer is that, remarkable as it may seem, the cable dial is full. The much hyped 500-channel future is years away, and for now the average cable system has only about 40 slots for programming. Take away the dial positions that must be given to over-the-air stations and public-access channels, and there aren't nearly enough spaces for the more than 70 basic-cable services vying for an audience -- and for the advertising revenue they need in order to survive...
These network-owned channels have been guaranteed carriage in major markets; the fate of other cable newcomers has been much different. In April, Ted Turner launched Turner Classic Movies, which offers many vintage, long-unseen films from Turner's MGM and Warner Bros. archives. Cable systems serving only 250,000 homes were persuaded to sign up. Horizons Cable Network, a pbs-backed channel that plans to cover lectures, panel discussions and other educational and cultural events, had hoped to debut later this year, but it was forced to ! delay the launch after cable systems representing 6 million homes, citing rate...
Established cable services are suffering as well. Officials at C-SPAN, chronicler of Congress and government activity, say the channel has been booted off or cut back in systems representing 4.2 million homes. "The regulatory environment is making our life miserable," says C-SPAN president Brian Lamb...
...chairman Reed Hundt has promised that the agency will listen to the cable industry's complaints and consider refining the rules. Consumer advocates, though, scoff at cable's cries of pain. "When I hear a cable operator say he can't add a new channel," says Bradley Stillman, legislative counsel to the Consumer Federation of America, "I wonder how many shopping channels he's got on the air, or how many channels in which he has a financial interest. Channel decisions are driven by many factors -- and the industry is trying to blame...