Stop Blaming Cable. It's the Networks Fault.

[lovelygirl]

I don't remember that. I can't recall a single person back in the day who didn't get Disney Channel as part of their cable package.



The reason for NBC removing the kids line-up is well documented. A little show in 1989 premiered called Saved by the Bell. It became the #1 Saturday morning show till 1993. TMNT was the #1 kids show, but not the overall #1. That was SBTB. So, NBC decided to drop it's kids line up in favor of a teen line-up which lasted till 2002 or 2003.

[Ikapela]

Hmm... guess a lot of parents ordered the channel in your area. It was a premium channel, though. I remember every now and then, they'd have a "free preview week," but for the most part, it was like HBO or any other pay channel.

[Pouria]

Ratings are ratings, man. Nick didn't suddenly become a power house in the `2000s. Nick has been getting big ratings since the `90s. Whether it be animation (Rugrats), kidcoms (Clarissa Explains It All), game shows (Family Double Dare), or sports shows (Wild and Crazy Kids). And, yet it didn't affect the networks.

I mean, yea, their were networks that struggled. Just like there's cable channels that struggled, but if a specific channel has the #1 kids show then obviously network in general hasn't lost viewers.

What I believe happened this decade is that networks failed to connect with viewers. That's all. When Pokemon-Mania died out they had NOTHING that appealed to kids.

It's like NBC with the teen line-ups. Disney may be kicking butt with the teen line-up but NBC was doing it back in 1989 (with Saved by the Bell) but eventually they stopped making good shows and lost viewers.

[gymnast_0111]

There's nothing for the networks to consider. Networks don't produce their own kid vid programs anymore. They either acquire E/I shows from outside sources or they just run whatever shows are scoring high ratings on cable channels. And the only thing that's going to happen after 4KidsTV ends on FOX is that FOX affiliates will simply run infomercials and sitcom reruns all morning long.



Yes, they did. Not immediately, maybe, but eventually.

[Xx_Lonely_xX]

Yes, NOW when everything fell apart. In the beginning of the decade they still were, but made crap shows and lost viewers. Like I said...they had NOTHING when Pokemon-Mania died out. All they had was Yi Gi Oh (or however you spell it) and people just laughed at it. It's like FOX Kids after Power Rangers-Mania died out. What did they have? Digimon. Again, another show people laughed at for being a poor man's Pokemon.



They may have affected certain network channels, but FOX wasn't affected till 1998 and Kids WB wasn't affected till the start of this decade. And it was affected because both blocks were producing crap.

It's like I said...Teen NBC didn't die because Disney pulled the Lizzie Maguire and Even Stevens card. It died because the shows were crap.

The same thing happened to network kid blocks.

[neo_t_virus]

Do you know when it stopped being a premium channel? I just double-checked and you're right that DC was a premium channel when it launched in 1983 but can't find anything on when it stopped being one. But I suspect it may have stopped by the early `90s cause I grew up in the `90s and I recall everyone with cable having DC.

[phantomgirl24]

I can't remember exactly when... I do distinctly remember one "free preview" week that started on July 25, 1996, though, which I remember because I was at my grandmother's house that week. Lots of good, however random, memories. It's bugging me that I can't remember exactly when it became a basic cable channel, though. You'd think I'd remember that over the date of a seemingly random "free preview" week.

[nora v]

I remember when The Disney Channel was a premium channel with the glass models for Feature Presentation and Coming Up Next. The crystal clear glass model for daytime programming and the purple glass for Disney Night Time. They were beautiful.

[Vasiliki-Freshness]

OK, but what's your basis for judging the Teen NBC shows as being "crap"? Were they crappy because you didn't care for them? Or were they "crap" because they were getting low ratings? Now, for a moment, let's just consider the possibility that perhaps the Teen Nick shows took a nose dive in the ratings because kids were no longer watching them, and that kids were no longer watching Teen NBC because they could see the same type of programming any given time of any day on Nickelodeon, so there was no real point in watching Teen NBC.

Saturday morning just isn't a profitable, viable commodity anymore. It's sad but true.

[bootcutboy]

Disney Channel did indeed start out as a premium channel. I remember years ago back in my old apartment (this was around '94 or '95) we got a free trial run to receive TDC for about 3 months, and the cable guy (not Jim Carrey!) had to come in and install a special jack to enable us to view it. It didn't become basic cable until years later, when I was living in my new apartment. I was just channel surfing one day and I noticed it was there.