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Why very few factual/documentary type subchannels?

Z

zeebre12

Most of the subchannels we have so far show old scripted drama/sitcoms. Why are there not more factual/documentary type channels in the same vane of Discovery/Nat Geo. I thought there would be more. If a subchannel launched with old Discovery/Nat Geo shows it would be good. Justice/Escape have a lot of crime shows from TruTV/ID/A&E. Surely they would be a lot cheaper to run? How can Escape/Justice Network acquire more recent shows from TruTV/C&I/ID (I.e not 20+ years old). Could a subchannel not acquire old Discovery/Nat Geo shows? Even a cooking channel showing older 'Food Network' type shows?
Would companies like Discovery/Fox/A&E ever launch OTA versions of their channels in the US like they do in the UK? Why dont they? Quest has shows from Discovery from the past few years. They even launched Quest Red recently showing Cake Boss and Say Yes To The Dress. Blaze from A&E has recent shows from History/A&E like Storage Wars. Why dont they apply this model to the US by having subchannels OTA?
 
Probably because it's still cheaper to run old shows that were national hits than to air the more recent fringe shows.
 
If you really liked the old A&E, Military Channel, History Channel, Biography etc., all you need do is log on to the Internet and bring up YouTube.com. A ton of those old shows reside there (without commercials).
 
landtuna said:
If you really liked the old A&E, Military Channel, History Channel, Biography etc., all you need do is log on to the Internet and bring up YouTube.com. A ton of those old shows reside there (without commercials).
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Exactly - between the internet, and the many documentaries on Netflix, and the predicted decline of the cable channel model, streaming will be the way we'll see most documentaries in the future - at least after the initial run. Going Clear (the documentary on Scientology) for example, can be found on HBO GO, iTunes, and YouTube, though it's not free yet, probably because it's gotten so much exposure and interest with Leah Remini's cable show, etc.
 
zeebre12 said:
Would companies like Discovery/Fox/A&E ever launch OTA versions of their channels in the US like they do in the UK? Why dont they?
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The simple answer is money. All of the channels you mentioned (except Fox-the broadcasting network) make more money from subscriber fees than they do from advertising. They're not interested in creating an OTA network for people who don't pay for cable. They'd rather offer it via a pay service, whether it's cable or a serice like Netflix or Hulu.
 
LKellerIII said:
Exactly - between the internet, and the many documentaries on Netflix, and the predicted decline of the cable channel model, streaming will be the way we'll see most documentaries in the future - at least after the initial run. Going Clear (the documentary on Scientology) for example, can be found on HBO GO, iTunes, and YouTube, though it's not free yet, probably because it's gotten so much exposure and interest with Leah Remini's cable show, etc.
Click to expand...
I dont really mean the proper documentary programming really, but old facual shows like old home renovation/cooking/reality type programs that would be cheap to acquire? I thought there would be lots of these type of channels as subchannels
 
zeebre12 said:
I dont really mean the proper documentary programming really, but old facual shows like old home renovation/cooking/reality type programs that would be cheap to acquire? I thought there would be lots of these type of channels as subchannels
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As far as home restoration and cooking shows, there's Create, which is a subchannel found with most PBS affiliates, and as far as documentary-style shows, there's Decades; they have a daily documentary-style newsmagazine ("Through the Decades") culled from the CBS archives (News, Sports, Entertainment Tonight, and other properties they've acquired over the years). They and (PBS) World are the closest things to a consistent "documentary-style" channels. Of course, I know not everyone has access to these channels, but all three are available in good chunks of the country.
 
ShawnHill1 said:
As far as home restoration and cooking shows, there's Create, which is a subchannel found with most PBS affiliates, and as far as documentary-style shows, there's Decades; they have a daily documentary-style newsmagazine ("Through the Decades") culled from the CBS archives (News, Sports, Entertainment Tonight, and other properties they've acquired over the years). They and (PBS) World are the closest things to a consistent "documentary-style" channels. Of course, I know not everyone has access to these channels, but all three are available in good chunks of the country.
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Also World carries a lot of documentaries. PBS documentaries are usually repeated on World, which like Create is available as a subchannel on most PBS stations.
 
I thought there would be more 'Reality' type subchannels showing shows like COPS, Rescue 911, Cheaters, Worlds Funniest etc (particularly Diginets) . Like cheap reality programs that would be cheap to acquire?
 
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