Reruns Are Dead

Small Cable Channels You Pay for—but Don’t Watch—Are Dying

Usually, monthly cable TV bills include big name channels such as ABC, HBO, and ESPN. Because these major channels are the ones that people watch most, other obscure channels such as those dedicated to reruns are often overlooked by the customers, but not the monthly bill.  Customers wanting to cut back their cable bill are looking for smaller packages or switching to streaming services. As a result, the weakest and lesser-watched channels are literally blacking out.

            Viacom Inc. has revealed that this year, it would downsize into six core networks, focusing on the most important out of an original 12 channels. Among these channels is MTV Classic, which is rumored to be one of the first to be cut. Discover Communication Inc. has been investing money into its bigger brands and cutting from its smaller channels such as American Heroes and Destination America. A big factor in why these small channels are struggling and must be cut is because they “can no longer survive on reruns in the age of Netflix and other on-demand options.” Customers complaining of the high cable bills are forcing cable companies to make these changes. For smaller cable companies this loss of viewers translates into a loss of profits on ad revenue and a loss of a target audience.

            Data collected based on financial and viewership information reveal that channels with minuscule audiences such as Fox Sports 2 (extreme sports reruns), Discovery Family Channel, and Golf Channel “cost more on a per-viewer basis” than big name channels such as CNN and HGTV, thus making it logical for companies to cut these channels if they are costing companies more than they are gaining from the channels. Time Warner Inc, a cable company on the smaller side, has been losing subscribers due to the downsizing.

WSJ Article
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Carlos Gutierrez
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