NYT: Military Channels Are Competing on Cable TV

[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....

***

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

[SoCalDem]

1. Sad, isn't it?

When we got cable years ago, Discovery channel, A&E, The Learning Channel, The History Channel were all reasons WHY we got cable. Not too long afterwards,the "networks" started buying all the "independent" channels.. Now they are just a dumping ground for propaganda and old re-worked "Dateline" shows and cancelled series.. :puke:..

It's getting harder and harder to get "new" programming, interesting or not.:(

[Kolesar]

2. Guys in a garage welding motorcycle frames

...and "Mad Dad" yelling at them. Truly lame cheapskate programming. They don't even need a set or actors, just set up a camera and record whatever happens.

[Connie_Corleone]

3. Discovery channel and History channel

It's frustrating looking at the Discovery channel lineup and seeing nothing but building motorcycles and houses shows. And then the History channel is mostly war and war technology.

[KDLarsen]

4. I suppose this depends on where you are..

.. the Scandinavian department have plenty of construction/extreme engineering shows on, as well as various ER type shows.

[Kolesar]

6. Maybe the expensive nature shows were not attracting viewers

Discovery was producing expensive shows with the latest in nature cinematography. They would share production costs with PBS. PBS got first dibs on the footage, then the cable company would use it in their programs.

[zanana]

5. Sattelite TV, too.

DirecTV has just announced that it's adding The Military Channel to the lineup.

[Jester_11218]

7. But a nipple...

War deserves a network but a nipple gets fined! American values! Kill kill kill! Makes me ashamed to be American.

[genieroze]

11. Didn't ya hear? Nipples have been classified as WMD's. eom

edited to add (Women of Mass Distraction)

[MadHound]

8. And who says there isn't a concerted effort to propagandize US citizens?

Three military channels, so-called learning and science channels broadcasting drivel about house or vehicle building, ersatz history channels broadcasting faulty history. Yep, a concerted effort to keep the populace ignorant and pliable. Sad to say, it's working.

[trogdor]

9. The Army is a chief sponsor at The Military Channel

One might even say it's a recruiting outlet.

I watch because the general subject of military history interests me, but you really need to be wearing your bullshit filter.

[MADem]

10. I've got the History Channel on right now

They are showing Vietnam battles. They are approaching it as a historical military exercise, but you cannot help but note the battle scenes, the dead, the wounded, the thousand yard stares, the looks in the eyes of the now-older guys who were young back then, the emotion, the odd scars on the faces...

It doesn't look pretty at all. If they only had smellavision, they'd get a real sense of it, but as it is, I'm sure kids at draft age are looking at this footage and saying "That's NOT something I want to be doing...."

[Cocoa]

12. and AMC has turned into the 80's propaganda channel

I guess "Rambo", "Missing in Action" and "Red Dawn" are American movie classics now. :shrug:

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[KurtNYC]

15. G.I Joes are a recruiting tool

And, napalm, cluster bombs, torture = "noble virture of competition" LOL

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. Right, three war channels and all the educational and cultural

programming quietly disappears to be replaced by true crime (A&E, which used to show fine British and Australian dramas), do-it-yourself shows (Discovery, which used to show science, nature, and travel exclusively, and BBCAmerica, which used to show more BBC dramas and movies than it now does), and Reagan-era propaganda (AMC, which used to be like Turner Classic Movies).

Some of us are mature enough to find pleasure in something other than watching things go boom or seeing "cool" blood and gore.

[go west young man]

14. go here for free TV...

cancel that cable and quit giving your dollars to the war machine and the hopeless media. www.TV4all.com 850 channels worldwide and real news from Europe. Comedy Central is there too and MTV where they actually play music!

[rocktivity]

16. The non-military channels are doing the same thing

Why do you think you're seeing so many war and action movies now, and reality shows with a military flair? The Outdoor Life Network has a show with a bunch of Army Rangers competing. Look at all the violent video games out now, not to mention the TV shows featuring young, hot-looking, well-dressed warriors against terrorism and biological warfare.

The current Army commercial features a young black man breaking the news to his father that he's decided to do something "important," but you don't get to hear him spell it out--you just see a dissolve to an Army logo.

They're trying to weave war into the natural fabric of American life, to make it seem organic and inevitable and--pop!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. You're right, rocknation

Creeping fascism everywhere you look, and it seems to be picking up speed.