Channel drift
The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (March 2015) |
Channel drift or network decay
Overview
United States
Cable
Networks primarily focused on a particular topic, such as
Channel drift can also result from the acquisition of sports rights or
A channel may
MTV Networks were a pioneer in channel drift. Music Television (as MTV was originally known) was originally devoted to popular music videos upon its launch in August 1981, but began adding reality programs and other entertainment geared toward a young adult audience in the 1990s, gradually beginning a progression toward its current focus of reality and scripted programming. The music videos on the main channel were eventually limited to overnight and morning time periods, and were eventually pushed to spinoff networks MTV2, then to MTV Hits. MTV2 itself gradually drifted from an all-music video format to include reruns of MTV programs, original series, and acquired off-network sitcoms;[8][9] MTV Hits was later discontinued in favor of NickMusic.
Video Hits One likewise began as an outlet for
While
Nickelodeon's cable channel
Channel drift can also result from a network's owner
Another case of channel drift is
Broadcast
This section possibly contains original research. (August 2023) |
One of the earliest examples of channel drift, and one that predates modern cable television, was programming changes by CBS. During the late 1960s, CBS had a reputation as a network with a disproportionate number of shows that targeted rural and older viewers, seen by advertisers as undesirable due to ingrained buying habits on the one hand and a greater perception of poverty on the other. Beginning in 1970, incoming network vice president Fred Silverman orchestrated the "rural purge," in which these shows were canceled in favor of shows targeting younger, suburban viewers with more disposable income.
Another example of channel drift is the case of the
One less obvious, but nonetheless true, example of the phenomenon has occurred since the 1980s in American public television. From the origins of the medium in the late 1950s, stations, who were then affiliated with National Educational Television, the precursor to the current PBS, served two specific audiences: first, they provided, on weekdays, instructional programming for children used in school classrooms, to supplement traditional curricula; second, they served adults (on evenings and weekends) by scheduling shows that were alternatives to the fare available on commercial broadcasting, such as theatrical plays, classical music concerts, literary dramas, and serious public affairs initiatives like investigative reporting and civil discussion of political matters, things that had been mostly abandoned by the commercial networks with the end of the Golden Age of Television in and around 1960. Beginning with the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, the Federal government, along with those of most U.S. states, invested in production and distribution of such programming via NET/PBS and the construction of a large number of new stations. The political climate of the time was decidedly liberal and thus supportive of generous governmental funding of the medium, which developed its institutions accordingly.
However, the 1970s saw a political turn rightward, increasingly suspicious of Federal programs especially, and originally-anticipated steady increases in public taxpayer support did not materialize, leaving the new PBS and its stations with significant monetary gaps that had to be filled by other sources. "Pledge drives," at least an annual occurrence on stations, emerged in the mid-1970s to address cutbacks from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that occurred due to political changes and the economic recessions of that period; members of the general public donated money to the station in exchange for certain privileges. Also, stations and program producers began to cultivate so-called "underwriting" (a modified form of advertising that did not interrupt shows in progress) from businesses, particularly large corporations who were then motivated by a sense of noblesse oblige to their communities and the country at large (in later years, these grants were targeted more toward certain genres, raising suspicions by critics that they constituted de facto commercial advertising). This generated another large source of revenue. Some stations went so far as to stage week-long "auctions" of merchandise or services donated by retailers and other businesses, to which viewers placed "bids," from which the winner received the item or service in exchange for a donation to the station; these were quite successful in many markets from the 1970s through the 2000s.
In order to attract audiences who would donate to stations, which, in turn, purchased programming from other stations and producers in the PBS system, program managers felt increasingly that it was necessary to reduce the proportion of cultural and informational shows on the adult schedule, in order to appeal to a wider audience than a small, highly educated cohort. This especially became the case during pledge drives, which were imagined to be times when non-regular viewers could be appealed to with special programming. With the aging (and eventual death) of audiences who were the most enthusiastic for more serious (and heretofore customary) fare, it was felt that younger viewers with more disposable income would be more interested in programs akin to those they were accustomed to on commercial television rather than formats such as classical dramas (a number of them imports from the
At about the same time, development in technologies such as
Therefore, with the original mission of public television having drastically changed in both its dimensions since its 1950s origins due to technological, political, and cultural shifts, channel drift became quite endemic to PBS and its affiliates. As such, this occurrence has left voids for adult viewers that have been filled mainly by two sources. First, the main fine arts source for television is the cable-and-satellite-distributed
Counterexamples
Channel drift is not always successful, and can often lead to backlash.
The former
In more recent years, networks have started abandoning the idea of channel drift as some of the channels experienced poor results. AMC (originally an outlet for "American Movie Classics") drifted successfully into premium scripted dramas in the late 2000s, such as Mad Men, The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad. However, a further drift into unscripted shows such as 4th and Loud (a docuseries focusing on an Arena Football League team owned by members of the rock band Kiss) and Game of Arms (a reality series following competitive arm wrestlers) were mostly unsuccessful, prompting the network to cancel all but two of the shows (Comic Book Men, a docuseries following a comic book store owned by filmmaker Kevin Smith, and the Walking Dead-related talk show Talking Dead) in favor of focusing more on its core scripted slate.[23]
In the early-2010s,
Outside the United States
In some countries, cable television channels are subject to the rules and regulations set forth by each country's communications bureau and must be licensed accordingly.
Canada
In Canada, specialty television channels were initially subject to conditions of license requiring them to operate within quotas of specific categories of programs. This system was designed primarily to ensure the integrity of channels that were licensed with the expectation of a specific format, and to prevent undue competition with established channels–a practice referred to as the "genre protection" rules.
For example, the presence of
A
Outside of North America
The
In September 2020,
Radio format drift
To a certain extent, channel drift can also occur in radio, especially music radio: see, for instance, the transition from oldies to classic hits, beautiful music to smooth jazz, and MOR to adult contemporary. In these cases, channel drift occurs when a format's older music becomes less popular or profitable (often due to the fans of that music dying, retiring, and leaving the area, or aging out of advertising demographics) and newer music is inserted into the playlist to draw younger listeners.
See also
References
- ^ "TV 101: Channel Drift (or, what the hell happened to A&E?)". Tvsquad.com. Archived from the original on 24 March 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
- ^ Channick, Robert. Cubs, WLS-Ch. 7 closing in on deal to air 25 games next season. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
- ^ "WGN America will change its name to NewsNation, moving to compete with CNN, Fox, MSNBC". Los Angeles Times. 25 January 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
- ^ "SciFi Channel Changes Name ... To 'Syfy' | Airlock Alpha". 30 August 2009. Archived from the original on 30 August 2009.
- ^ "Cartoon Network's new reality shows?". LA Times. 17 June 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
- ^ Schneider, Michael (20 March 2009). "TV rebranding a tricky proposition". Variety. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ "AP: Court TV becomes Tru TV". Katu.com. Associated Press. 23 June 2008. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
- ^ Caramanica, Jon (26 October 2011). "Look Who's Trashing 'Jersey Shore' Now". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
- ^ Stelter, Brian (29 March 2009). "MTV to Put a Bit More Music Back, in the A.M." The New York Times. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
- ^ Downey, Kevin (9 April 2001). "The new TNN: T&A, trekking and sleuths". Media Life Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2007.
- ^ Romano, Allison (21 April 2003). "TNN Hopes Mainly Men Will Watch "Spike TV"s". Retrieved 31 August 2007.
- ^ Michael Gelter (21 August 2014). "August Escape? Not from Pledge". PBS. Archived from the original on 5 December 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- ^ Ovide, Shira (21 May 2010). Dish Network Dropping the Weather Channel. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
- ^ "October 21, 2009 It's Always Fair Weather... on The Weather Channel". TVWeek. Archived from the original on 23 October 2009. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (24 May 2010). "The Weather Channel To Continue On Dish". Deadline. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
- ^ Spangler, Todd (13 January 2014). "Weather Channel Pulled from DirecTV". Variety. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
- ^ Flint, Joe (14 January 2014). "DirecTV no longer carrying Weather Channel after contract dispute". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
- ^ Lieberman, David (8 April 2014). "The Weather Channel Returns To DirecTV". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
- ^ Top 10 Misbegotten Media Mergers of the Decade – 10. Disney buys Fox Family
- ^ ShowBizData August 24, 2005 ABC Family Channel condemns Robertson but has to keep him
- ^ "ABC Family to Rebrand Network 'Freeform' in January". Variety. 6 October 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
- ^ Littleton, Cynthia (9 October 2014). AMC Scraps Second Season of ‘Game of Arms,’ Other Shows as Cabler Reconsiders Unscripted Genre. Variety. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie. USA Network Pulls Away From Scripted Comedy, Ramps Up Drama Slate. Deadline.com. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
- ^ Littleton, Cynthia (14 April 2016). "USA Network Revamps Brand Image, Tagline for 'Mr. Robot' Era". Variety. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
- ^ "Chum complaint "an exercise in turf protection"". Mediacaster Magazine. 1 February 2002. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
- ^ "Change in the ownership structure of MTV Canada and MTV2, and the Commission's findings concerning complaints regarding the compliance of these services with their licensing decisions". CRTC. 20 September 2007. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
- ^ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2003-65 CRTC 2003-02-21
- ^ Decision CRTC 2000-539 CRTC 2000-12-14
- ^ "CTV prepares to launch 'new' MTV Canada". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
- ^ Rorke, Robert (28 March 2016). "Enough already with all the TV after-shows". New York Post. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
- ^ Anarcon, James Patrick (1 November 2020). "GMA News TV trends on Twitter as netizens look for updates about typhoon Rolly". PEP.ph. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
- ^ "GMA 7 beats TV5 for right to broadcast NCAA games, says source". Spin.ph. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
- ^ GMA Network. "Something good is coming this 2.22!". YouTube. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
- ^ Anarcon, James Patrick. "GMA News TV rebranded as Gtv following launch of entertainment programs". Pep.ph. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
- ^ "The news you trust and new shows to love: GMA News TV is now GTV". GMANetwork.com. 19 February 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
- ^ "GTV offers more variety for 'young and young at heart' audience". GMA News Online. 19 February 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
- ^ Cua, Aric John Sy (19 February 2021). "GMA News TV to rebrand to GTV". The Manila Times. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
Further reading
- Dominic Small (2009). "Channel Changing". Off the Telly. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011.