Does it make sense on any level that 18 channels are showing the M.Jackson memorial live?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I can’t see the logic.
18 on basic cable

If there’s something important, like a presidential inaugural, the three major networks will want to each cover it, splitting the audience. And Fox may or may not cover it or just have a special with clips after the news.

But if you’re running a second or third string channel do you think that being the 15th or 16th will serve any purpose, serve your regular audience or get you any new viewers? That anyone who cares won’t already have found it on the main networks?

2

Maybe it’s mostly just a way to get people who watch those channels and are Jackson fans to like them a little bit more.

The downside is they take off the normal shows which might tick people off .

3

They decided, rightly or wrongly, that more people will watch the funeral on their channel than would watch the normal programming.

4

Caught a bit of CNN while working out over lunch.
This does seem to be one of those events that makes you question what passes for “news”.
Is it on TV because the public is that interested, or is the public interested because it is on TV?

5

But you want them to watch it on your channel, so they can see your ads.

6

It’s mostly this. If you’re a cable network programmer and you’re looking at the middle of the day, you figure a lot of your viewers are going to at least be curious about what’s happening with the MJ service. It’s cheap to pick up the feed, and if you want, you can dress it up with as many or as few of your own people as you want.

It’s the middle of the day on basic cable. All of the normal shows are repeats of reruns. Your typical ratings for that time period are measured starting with a zero or two on the right side of the decimal point. What do you have to lose?

7

A bump to update.

According to Neilsen, 31 million people tuned into the 18 networksthat aired the MJ memorial.

It says here that Fox, CNN and MSNBC get about 2.3 million viewers on average during daytime, and it says here they got about 4.2 million on Tuesday.

That still leaves lots of people spread around for the other channels.

And, in its own, understated way, the New York Timessaid: