Is cable TV going downhill?

[jtmal0723]

ABC Family.. Used to be CBN.. owned by Pat Robertson.. It used to be 24 hour religion. Then started to become commerical.. Eventually old reruns of Flipper, and Lassie were filtered in. It became the Family Channel..  I think it eventually was sold to ABC. ABC eventually was sold to Disney. Funny thing 700 Club is still on ABC Family. Now its more or less another teen channel..

ABC Family is contracted to air The 700 club every day. That's one of the requirements by CBN for owning the channel.

[crp88]

Some networks that I think have gone downhill:

TV Land- Used to show classic tv programming along with retromercials, but now shows more modern programming along with reality shows and movies.

Headline News- Used to be round the clock headlines every 30 minutes. Since '05 has increased the number of longform programming such as "Nancy Grace" and "Showbiz Tonight".

MTV, VH1 & CMT- Practically all reality crap with little music programming.

Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite- No longer has that special feeling to it, or a must watch.

truTV- Limited court room coverage, with mostly reality crap (see a trend here?)

MSNBC- allegations of liberal bias with personalities such as Olbermann and Maddow. Also has really no live news coverage on weekends.

CNBC- Too much Paid Programming on weekends

CNN- Boring news coverage, plus they gave DL Hughley his own show. WTF?

Bravo- Pretty much all reality programming

AMC- Commercials, edited movies, annoying popups etc.

Fox News- allegations of conservative bias.

TNT & TBS- Edited movies/programming along with tons of commercials.

MTV 2- No real music programming, just reality garbage.

[WeatherSTARIII]

Recently, Comcast had just dropped C-SPAN 2 off the analog line-up in my area! I loved wating their unbiased political coverige! They still have the channel avaiable, but its now a digital-only channel and as a result, you would now have to rent a digital cable box and pay extra every month.    Also, C-SPAN 2 personaly is one of the few cable channels that I think had not jumped the shark.
 
Not only that, but they also dropped ION, EWTN, National Geographic Channel, MTV2, Shop NBC off the analog line-up as well. 
 
I beleve they did this because they wanted more bandwith on their HD channels. 
 
Theirs also another channel I forgot to mention: BigTen Network! I don't care about the NCAA! I rather stick with the pro sports!
 
I hope they don't drop TWC off the analog line-up (despite that isn't as good as it used to back in the '80s and '90s).

[Mike M]

truTV- Limited court room coverage, with mostly reality crap (see a trend here?)

TruTV still shows a good amount of courtroom coverage during the week from 9AM-3PM, though still not nearly as much as when it used to be CourtTV. I still watch that channel a lot though. I like shows like Forensic Files, Most Shocking, Most Daring, Speeders, etc.

Have to agree with you about MTV 2. The channel was initially a channel where music videos were to be played 24/7, since MTV had already started showing reality shows. Now MTV 2 is basically the same as MTV.

[lfmusiclover]

truTV- Limited court room coverage, with mostly reality crap (see a trend here?)

TruTV still shows a good amount of courtroom coverage during the week from 9AM-3PM, though still not nearly as much as when it used to be CourtTV. I still watch that channel a lot though. I like shows like Forensic Files, Most Shocking, Most Daring, Speeders, etc.

Have to agree with you about MTV 2. The channel was initially a channel where music videos were to be played 24/7, since MTV had already started showing reality shows. Now MTV 2 is basically the same as MTV.

I love those shows on TruTV too. When I can;t find anything else to watch, I can ALWAYS find something on TruTV. 

As for MTV2...I don't like it. I used to, but as you mentioned they've basically made it a carbon copy of MTV. 

[crp88]

I guess I should've added that truTV isn't all bad. I actually like the courtroom coverage that they have weekdays from 9am-3pm as well as Speeders, Forensic Files and the investigation type shows. That said, I'm not a fan of all the high speed chase shows that they have.

[WeatherSTARIII]

I've finally switched to DirecTV.    Now, I don't have to stick with all this crappy service, channels, programming, and high rates.
 
The only thing that I will miss is our IntelliSTAR.
 
Anyways, if someone has already learned about the upcomming Digital TV transition, don't get cable! (expecialy if its Comcast)

[Squizz]

I'd rather have cable than a dish perfect for a giant's portion on my roof.

[tpirfan28]

Anyways, if someone has already learned about the upcomming Digital TV transition, don't get cable! (expecialy if its Comcast)

(Yeah, I just caught this.  Sue me.)

Comcast can't force you to switch to digital packages because of the DTV rules.  As a matter of fact, it's against the law for Comcast to profit (ie force you to pay more for DTV) from the transition.

[texasstooge]

1. Cartoon Network. Reason why... First off: They stopped showing all of the "good cartoons." As a result, they "rolled on their own" (probliy in refrence to to their sister network, Boomerang). Second: They keep showing all of these stupid and really boring Japanese animes. I hate anime! Third: They are airing live-action movies that are not animated and movies thats shown on either basic cable/satellite/broadcast takes away all of the good stuff. I also hate commercials! See link below:
http://www.jumptheshark.com/topic/Cartoon-Network/Cartoon-Network-General-Comments/336?chartStart=0&chartRange=500&chartOnly=true

In addition, Cartoon Network reduced its programming schedule for the late night "Adult Swim" block. While a few of their shows ("Family Guy", "Home Movies", "Robot Chicken" and "Space Ghost Coast To Coast") are my favorites, there are other shows ("The Boondocks", "Lucy, Daughter Of The Devil") I like to see GONE!!!!!

[texasstooge]

If you like to see one proof of Cable TV (Charter in DFW) going downhill, see my topic "Charter Communications Suck (in Dallas/Fort Worth anyways)" topic.

[Localonthe8s]

1. Cartoon Network. Reason why... First off: They stopped showing all of the "good cartoons." As a result, they "rolled on their own" (probliy in refrence to to their sister network, Boomerang). Second: They keep showing all of these stupid and really boring Japanese animes. I hate anime! Third: They are airing live-action movies that are not animated and movies thats shown on either basic cable/satellite/broadcast takes away all of the good stuff. I also hate commercials! See link below:
http://www.jumptheshark.com/topic/Cartoon-Network/Cartoon-Network-General-Comments/336?chartStart=0&chartRange=500&chartOnly=true

In addition, Cartoon Network reduced its programming schedule for the late night "Adult Swim" block. While a few of their shows ("Family Guy", "Home Movies", "Robot Chicken" and "Space Ghost Coast To Coast") are my favorites, there are other shows ("The Boondocks", "Lucy, Daughter Of The Devil") I like to see GONE!!!!!

really? I actually the boondocks

[toxictwister00]

I thought that Lucy, Daughter of the Devil and The Boondocks were cancelled anyway. I actually liked the first season of The Boondocks.

[texasstooge]

truTV- Limited court room coverage, with mostly reality crap (see a trend here?)

TruTV still shows a good amount of courtroom coverage during the week from 9AM-3PM, though still not nearly as much as when it used to be CourtTV. I still watch that channel a lot though. I like shows like Forensic Files, Most Shocking, Most Daring, Speeders, etc.

And don't forget "World's Dumbest".

[Mike M]

In addition, Cartoon Network reduced its programming schedule for the late night "Adult Swim" block. While a few of their shows ("Family Guy", "Home Movies", "Robot Chicken" and "Space Ghost Coast To Coast") are my favorites, there are other shows ("The Boondocks", "Lucy, Daughter Of The Devil") I like to see GONE!!!!!

I haven't seen Home Movies and Space Ghost on CN in years. I used to watch them a lot. Do they still even show them, or on another channel?