NYT: Military Channels Are Competing on Cable TV [View All]

[DeepModem Mom]

Military Channels Are Competing on Cable TV
By MARK GLASSMAN
Published: January 24, 2005


Americans want their military TV.

In a pop culture allegory of military might, three cable channels now feed news, information and entertainment about the armed services into millions of living rooms 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Military Channel, the Military History Channel and the Pentagon Channel are soliciting viewers with similar interests (war, for example), but network executives and military personnel say each channel has a distinct audience in mind, one that is reflected in the content....

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The Military Channel, which is in about 37 million homes, is an expansion and rebranding of Discovery Wings, a niche channel run by Discovery geared toward aviation....The Military History Channel is an offshoot of the History Channel, which is owned by A&E Television Networks. The company's most recent addition, the History Channel en Español, began last June. The lineup of the Military History Channel consists primarily of documentaries and feature films and includes series dedicated to the historical combat missions of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard....The third military network, the Pentagon Channel, is run by the Department of Defense and includes programs called "Army Healthwatch" and "In Step With Fort Riley."...


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/24/business/media/24military.html?8hpib