Changes in TV broadcasting

[Electronic M]

I bet the decline of kids shows on networks has to do with the dedicated kids channels now on DTV...

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

I bet the decline of kids shows on networks has to do with the dedicated kids channels now on DTV...

It wouldn't surprise me one bit if this is the case. Cable TV itself has several kids' channels (Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., TeenNick, et al.); this could well be one of many reasons why the broadcast networks don't have kids' shows on Saturday morning anymore. I can remember when the networks had an entire block of time on Saturdays (usually 8 a.m. to noon, local time) reserved for childrens' programming, but that was before cable and, later, DTV.

NBC still has kids' programming on Saturday mornings, but it's nothing like what it was in the '60s and '70s. NBC's childrens' shows come from Sprout, a kids' cable TV channel, and are distributed over the network under the "NBC Kids" branding.


BTW, cable, satellite, DTV, Roku ... have changed the landscape of American TV forever. There is nothing we can do about it; it could well be a cost-cutting move on the broadcast networks' part or some other reason, but whatever it is, that's how it is nowadays, like it or not.

One thing I've noticed on cable lately, however, is the return in reruns of some kids' shows such as Saved by the Bell, a live-action show aimed at teenagers which aired in the late '80s and nineties on NBC Saturday mornings. The program is now on MeTV on Sunday afternoons. It is rated "e/i", which means it is educational and informative.

For decades, childrens' programming on Saturday mornings was mostly animated cartoons; however, in the early part of this century, I think the FCC may have pressured the networks to put more educational shows on TV during this time period so that kids would actually learn something while sitting in front of the TV, instead of watching those animated shows which were not educational in the least.

One other problem with some of the animated shows was they were (or might have been) too violent for kids, although this was not an issue in the '60s-'70s. It is much more so today, with all the gun violence going on in this country; the last thing kids need to be exposed to on Saturday morning TV is scenes showing cartoon characters being shot or killed by guns. One serious problem with this type of cartoon is that the character(s) who were supposedly shot and killed would get back up again in the next scene, which gives children absolutely the wrong idea about killing; in real life, of course, when a person is killed, they do not get up--EVER--regardless of what the kids may see on TV.

[centralradio]

Originally Posted by NowhereMan 1966

I remember those too along with Schoolhouse Rock. BTW, you're welcome. One thing I wish MeTV would do is run classic cartoons/kid's shows from the 8 AM to Noon slot on Saturdays.

I forgot about Schoolhouse Rock.That would be a great idea for MeTV channel.

Originally Posted by Electronic M

I bet the decline of kids shows on networks has to do with the dedicated kids channels now on DTV...

Yes I agree.Disney,Cartoon channel and others took over the job as the same as the cable news channels like I said before is or has been eating away from the nets and the locals.

[crt89]

It did seem when I was a kid in the early 90s there were more Saturday morning cartoons. I recall NBC showing children's programming such as Babar recently on Saturday mornings. CBS had some Nickelodeon programs such as Blues Clues for quite awhile. Fox network has always showed quite a bit of educational programming on Saturday mornings such as Wild About Animals (which I thought was out of production but was surprised to find it still is as of last year), and some local student-produced programs. I actually did watch some of these programs in recent years as they were quite interesting such as the travel shows, and more interesting than the infomercials if I really wanted to watch TV on a Saturday morning.

Another thing I noticed was that the programs on PBS have gone from being mostly live-action to being animated. Around the mid-00s a lot of the new programs were animated. When I was a kid even in the early 90s, Sesame Street hadn't changed much from its early days but if I turned it on today, it would be much different. The older animated segments that were used for years aren't used anymore and there is a lot of claymation replacing puppets.

I rarely turn on the TV most weekday evenings anymore. YouTube is more interesting to me. I can watch many of the programs I used to see or even episodes I always wanted to see but never got to when they were on TV. (That is until they get deleted for copyright violations). lol I like PBS' long-running British comedies on Saturday evenings and find myself watching them most weeks. Especially now that they are airing back-to-back episodes and showing them later in the evening.

[centralradio]

Originally Posted by crt89

It did seem when I was a kid in the early 90s there were more Saturday morning cartoons. I recall NBC showing children's programming such as Babar recently on Saturday mornings. CBS had some Nickelodeon programs such as Blues Clues for quite awhile. Fox network has always showed quite a bit of educational programming on Saturday mornings such as Wild About Animals (which I thought was out of production but was surprised to find it still is as of last year), and some local student-produced programs. I actually did watch some of these programs in recent years as they were quite interesting such as the travel shows, and more interesting than the infomercials if I really wanted to watch TV on a Saturday morning.

Another thing I noticed was that the programs on PBS have gone from being mostly live-action to being animated. Around the mid-00s a lot of the new programs were animated. When I was a kid even in the early 90s, Sesame Street hadn't changed much from its early days but if I turned it on today, it would be much different. The older animated segments that were used for years aren't used anymore and there is a lot of claymation replacing puppets.

I rarely turn on the TV most weekday evenings anymore. YouTube is more interesting to me. I can watch many of the programs I used to see or even episodes I always wanted to see but never got to when they were on TV. (That is until they get deleted for copyright violations). lol I like PBS' long-running British comedies on Saturday evenings and find myself watching them most weeks. Especially now that they are airing back-to-back episodes and showing them later in the evening.

I have no idea whats on Saturday mornings these days.I remember Wonderama on Channel 5 from NYC Sunday mornings back in the 1970's,Captain Kangaroo weekday mornings. I usually watch PBS for the Brit-coms,This Old House and concerts.Is Big Bird still there?

Last week I found All in the Family complete episodes on Youtube .So far they are still on there and not deleted by the copyR-bots.The users are getting better to outsmart the bots with their tricks.

[Telecolor 3007]

Somehow that is the way in Romania. Well, back in the '90's there whern't so much good tv programs - but you could get a lot of old movies and olt tv seriers and there wasn't so much stupidity promoted on the screen.

[Sandy G]

Oh, & Chortle lays the ads on thick as grease, too. They have this one dude, if you looked up the word "Smarmy", his pic would undoubtedly be there. Always wears a blue suit, & their "Advertisement Woman" always wears this dopey-ass blue dress that buttons across her shoulder. They have this "Too School for Kewl" theme music in their commercials that makes you wanna commit murder & mayhem. Grrrrrrrrrrr...

[centralradio]

Too bad .All these years the cable companies are staying away with la-carte cable channel picking because it would put out some cable channels out of business.first I would dump all the ad infested sports channels and the reality crap channels which probably most of them.Get rid of the shopping channels. Dump the news channels since they are dishonest on reporting the truth and bias to the left or right. I dont need the foreign language channels except I do enjoy the nice looking women on them. I'm glad that I only get the first 25 channels now with the local TV channels.I still think one of the reasons they are pushing DTV and 4K TV is to get people to watch TV these days.The Nielsen rating are at their all time low for TV viewers. Get out of the crap programming glut maybe I will come back.

I have not tune into the 2016 Summer Olympics yet but its probably loaded up with ads every 7 minutes.

[Electronic M]

It would be fascinating if cable and sat let you pick and choose channels to have/pay for. There are a good number of floundering crap networks that ought to be out of business that would be, and it would reduce costs to NOT be propping up crap that no one watches....The internet is pushing us that direction...With hulu you have free choice of many networks, but with time delay. I've signed up to hulu. Now that analog cable is gone here and EVERY SET must have a box to get more than public access channels (the TWC/charter bastards are even encrypting the digital versions of the old analog channels :grr, we are running the "free" boxes that in a year or two will have $6 a head month rent charge...If hulu is good enough we may just drop cable once those boxes have rent cost....IMO they are off their nut if they think we'll put up with being charged ADDITIONAL monthly fees per set we want to hook up to watch TV.

I'd gladly pay a ONE TIME charge of $5-25 per box to buy the box, and have no monthly fee. It is just asinine to take away a service, then reincarnate it in a new way that grabs money on a NEW basis not previously charged for.

[WISCOJIM]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

I'd gladly pay a ONE TIME charge of $5-25 per box to buy the box, and have no monthly fee.

Tom, you and the family should drop the service now and go OTA only. You've got a lot of channels with interesting subchannels beaming right at you.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e2cbafca4a1ad3

.

[centralradio]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

It would be fascinating if cable and sat let you pick and choose channels to have/pay for. There are a good number of floundering crap networks that ought to be out of business that would be, and it would reduce costs to NOT be propping up crap that no one watches....The internet is pushing us that direction...With hulu you have free choice of many networks, but with time delay. I've signed up to hulu. Now that analog cable is gone here and EVERY SET must have a box to get more than public access channels (the TWC/charter bastards are even encrypting the digital versions of the old analog channels :grr, we are running the "free" boxes that in a year or two will have $6 a head month rent charge...If hulu is good enough we may just drop cable once those boxes have rent cost....IMO they are off their nut if they think we'll put up with being charged ADDITIONAL monthly fees per set we want to hook up to watch TV.

I'd gladly pay a ONE TIME charge of $5-25 per box to buy the box, and have no monthly fee. It is just asinine to take away a service, then reincarnate it in a new way that grabs money on a NEW basis not previously charged for.

Originally Posted by WISCOJIM

Tom, you and the family should drop the service now and go OTA only. You've got a lot of channels with interesting subchannels beaming right at you.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e2cbafca4a1ad3

.

Yea .Let the crap cable channels go off the air.Also on the other hand some of those small outfits are better then the big ones.When the corrupt idiots eliminated the analog cable and went to digital and later encrypted all channels.I would love to cut the cord.Everybody is in cahoots like cable and the broadcast OTA channels on ripping the viewers off from either end.Maybe one good reason why the DTV OTA signal reception sucks and the cable people are benefiting more subscribers to fill in the voids.On top of that .The OTA broadcasters have the balls to charge $5.00 bucks per subscriber with their monthly fee.What are they afraid to take the difference on jacking up the advert rates instead of fleecing its viewers.By right .The OTA channels should be lucky and happy that their channels are in the cable lineup. I have 6 boxes here 5 cigarette size ones and the full size one with is $5.00 bucks and the 5 small ones are $2.00 bucks each and I get 3 for free in my package.

What ruined cable channels is when they got rid of their branding formats and add non related programming and crap reality show in the mix.MTV,VH1,CMT,Sci Fy,old TNN.The Weather Channel to just name a few and plenty of others were great in the 1980's .During the 1990's is when they when to the skids.

To get into a sci-fi fix .I found complete movies on Youtube last Saturday night which I watched one which was a 1984 movie "Night of the Comet" and I will watch "Meteor" (1979) later this week.

I would love to pickup the OTA sub channels with the old movies and TV shows.Who cares about the main channel programming since most of it stinks.

[Robert Grant]

Originally Posted by centralradio

<snip>
I would love to pickup the OTA sub channels withthe old movies and TV shows.Who cares about the main channel programming since most of it stinks.
.

There's no law that says you can't have cable and OTA. Get a converter box and an antenna, a cable switch, and three short cables. Hook the cable TV to "A", the converter box to "B", and the output to the transformer on the back of your roundie or TRK-12 that the cable TV had been plugged into.

If you are using a modern TV, it's even easier. Plug the antenna into the antenna input (no converter necessary), and the Cable TV service into another input (you'll get better sound, and likely better picture, if you do). You'll also be able to switch between CATV and OTA by remote.

I used OTA and subscription service together for more than fifteen years, before dropping the cable. OTA added channels in adjacent cities and local stations that didn't have must-carry, gave me HD when satellite was still SD, and allowed me to watch locals when cable or satellite were out.

[centralradio]

Originally Posted by Robert Grant

There's no law that says you can't have cable and OTA. Get a converter box and an antenna, a cable switch, and three short cables. Hook the cable TV to "A", the converter box to "B", and the output to the transformer on the back of your roundie or TRK-12 that the cable TV had been plugged into.

If you are using a modern TV, it's even easier. Plug the antenna into the antenna input (no converter necessary), and the Cable TV service into another input (you'll get better sound, and likely better picture, if you do). You'll also be able to switch between CATV and OTA by remote.

I used OTA and subscription service together for more than fifteen years, before dropping the cable. OTA added channels in adjacent cities and local stations that didn't have must-carry, gave me HD when satellite was still SD, and allowed me to watch locals when cable or satellite were out.

I'll love too. Dont forget I cant receive crap over here even with an antenna as I noted before.I used to get all local stations before the switch just with rabbit ears.

[Electronic M]

Sad part is that out here even new sets with cable tuners need a stinkin' box because they encrypted EVERYTHING that is not an OTA channel...There ought to be a law against that.

[lnx64]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Sad part is that out here even new sets with cable tuners need a stinkin' box because they encrypted EVERYTHING that is not an OTA channel...There ought to be a law against that.

Didn't the FCC pass a law allowing people to use their own boxes?

My cable company started encrypting OTA also.