Last night on the station I saw documentaries about people who live in rural Alaska who are forced to hunt moose to survive. You'd think the station's audience would be more interested in learning about different animals than see them hunted? Most of this station's lineup is nothing like it was--just mainly documentaries about people living in different corners of the world. Your thoughts?
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Whatever happened to Animal Planet?
- Thread starter tall_guy1
- Start date
It's met the same fate as so many cable outlets where the name hardly reflects what's on the channel anymore- MTV, CMT, AMC, etc. Up until recently, people wanting actual animal-centric programming could find it on Nat Geo WILD, but after the Disney acquisition, the only thing I ever see in the channel guide for WILD is some slap-dash "animal edition" of America's Funniest Home Videos. So you could even add Nat Geo WILD to the list.
I think it's a testament to the fact that people who want that animal-focused content are going to find it elsewhere, likely on-demand (be it Youtube or Discovery+ or somewhere else). Linear networks (especially not the "crown jewels", those at the lower end of a company's offering, like Animal Planet or MTV2) are becoming dumping grounds for reliable performing potato-chip content; reruns that folks will put on and leave on because they've seen it before. Any efforts for new or original programming on those outlets are long gone.
I think it's a testament to the fact that people who want that animal-focused content are going to find it elsewhere, likely on-demand (be it Youtube or Discovery+ or somewhere else). Linear networks (especially not the "crown jewels", those at the lower end of a company's offering, like Animal Planet or MTV2) are becoming dumping grounds for reliable performing potato-chip content; reruns that folks will put on and leave on because they've seen it before. Any efforts for new or original programming on those outlets are long gone.
I'm sorry to say, but I think that's how things are going down this century , because as so long as it pays the bills, no broadcaster (not even Animal Planet) will consider how the audience feels, or bat an eye. My personal grumble is with the History Channel who went away from historical content to Pawn Stars and Predicting the apocalypse (this was back in 2012, now they're even less History). On the bright side, at least they haven't screwed up the actual Discovery channel... yet.
Edited to remove some negativity from my post. This is not Tall Guy's fault, but I also don't want him to be dragged down by the inevitable.
Edited to remove some negativity from my post. This is not Tall Guy's fault, but I also don't want him to be dragged down by the inevitable.
Last edited:
Well TLC used to be The Learning Channel, now it's the 90-day fiancees and fatties channel.
OWN has become the murder & mayhem channel (the same with Oxygen).
BBC America is now the mostly non-BBC programming channel, except for Dr Who.
OWN has become the murder & mayhem channel (the same with Oxygen).
BBC America is now the mostly non-BBC programming channel, except for Dr Who.
Mgomrjsurf
Banned
Lots of channels have change programming.
Well may be PBS Nature could be your final place to see documentaries over animals or PBS Nova or your university's Zoology lectures on Youtube or Khan Academy.
Note the former leader of Discovery inc John Hendricks is currently the leader of curiosity stream and has investments in Nebula streaming app. If you want to see how the Discovery Channel used to be in the 1990's this is the place to go to.
Nebula – Indie Streaming
Nebula is smart, thoughtful videos, podcasts, and classes from your favorite creators.
nebula.app
I like Pawn Stars. People do bring items of historical significance into the shop. While the explanations provided by the experts aren't of doctoral dissertation quality, they make the show something more than the tiresome exercises in low-balling by Rick as he whines that he'd never be able to turn a profit on the seller's item if he had to pay what the seller wants for it. My big question has always been that if you have an item that you know lots of people would consider "must have at any cost" -- Beatles stuff, Elvis stuff, etc. -- why not sell it on your own or through an auction house rather than deal with a pawn shop?
I should note I like Pawn Stars too... when it's on FOX. I actually have no problem watching them deal some interesting finds, and it's even fun to see the scams they have to put up with. The rare collectables are worth watching for, it just doesn't pass as History to me.
Used to be that History Channel was called the "Hitler Channel"
NatGeoWILD could be called the Dr. Pol Channel
I like Pawn Stars and also American Pickers. I'd guess you could consider them pop culture history shows.
I'm more irritated with the Travel Channel since they've started carrying mostly paranormal shows. Some of these channels need to change their names, but then they would be just as likely to change the programming to something else unrelated.
Well there are YouTube channels like Lonely Planet that are doing the things that Travel Channel used to do in the 2000's until those shows became taken over by YouTube only hosts.I like Pawn Stars and also American Pickers. I'd guess you could consider them pop culture history shows.
I'm more irritated with the Travel Channel since they've started carrying mostly paranormal shows. Some of these channels need to change their names, but then they would be just as likely to change the programming to something else unrelated.
Note some of the newer Travel Shows might only be seen on Instagram in some cases because of the median age of the audience of certain influencers.
Travel Guides & Inspiration | Lonely Planet
Love travel? Discover, plan and book your perfect trip with expert advice, travel guides, destination information and inspiration from Lonely Planet.
Ooh, the Dr. Pimple Popper marathon is on! And just in time for Thanksgiving!!
there's a term to describe what's happening to Animal Planet and all other cable network
it's called Network Decay or Channel Drift.
Wikipedia article about it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_drift
TV Tropes page about it:
Network Decay - TV Tropes
bascally, it's only gonna get worse thanks to streaming killing the concept of traditional TV (OTA or Paid).
it's called Network Decay or Channel Drift.
Wikipedia article about it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_drift
TV Tropes page about it:
Network Decay - TV Tropes
bascally, it's only gonna get worse thanks to streaming killing the concept of traditional TV (OTA or Paid).
ESPN, Fox Sports (FS1), NBC Sports regional are one of a few that still does what it did originally when it first came out. However like every sports channel in it's non game hours especially would fill their time with Sports/talk pundits and them reacting to not just gossip within the NCAA, NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS, Fifa, and PGA on who gets traded to where and how their season is going. But increasingly the Sports/talk host have to go to politics because they have to respond to political reactions from Aaron Rodgers to Steve Kerr.
You do realize they’re making adjustments precisely because of the audience, so they can make money by selling ads?
Would they make more money shutting the down channel and not paying transponder fees or trying to overlap content on their other 20 channels.
They know the answer to that and make the applicable decision based on the numbers. Business 101.
This afternoon we were watching a show on HGTV. You know, the show one would normally expect from that network. Buy house, fix up house, reveal amazing transformation of said house. Somehow about 10 minutes into the episode, the host mentioned something about a fertilization clinic. Suddenly rather than watching a home remodel (since we were, you know, tuned to HGTV) we were in a doctor's office where they were discussing her plans to get pregnant, fertilization methods and the host of the program was in tears.
We quickly changed the channel. People don't generally watch Home and Garden TeleVision to see people's struggles to conceive a child, amid the backdrop being a home remodel project.
We quickly changed the channel. People don't generally watch Home and Garden TeleVision to see people's struggles to conceive a child, amid the backdrop being a home remodel project.
- Status