# Poor Selection on Cable/Satellite.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-selection-on-cable-satellite/602391
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 9, 2011, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-selection-on-cable-satellite/602391 "2011-11-09T14:38:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2011, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-selection-on-cable-satellite/602391/1 "2011-11-09T14:38:51Z")
My family got cable about 20 years ago. Then about 5-10 years ago, we got satellite because it was cheaper. So I like to think I know a little about it and what it has to offer by now. But one thing has become apparent throughout the years: one way or another, it has a very poor selection to offer.
Take the History Channel. Every Halloween it shows the same show on the origins of Halloween OVER and _OVER_ and _ **OVER** _ again. It’s a good show. But why haven’t they come up with any new ones? Plus, the non-premium channels have commercials too. I am paying to see them essentially, they’re supported by commercials, and they still can’t afford any new shows!
Actually, the premium channels are only a little better. Did you ever notice how they show the same movies over and over again, for like several months at least?
Does anyone know the reason why they would do this? As I said, it’s not like I’m getting it for free like regular tv.
🙂
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### Author:  [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-selection-on-cable-satellite/602391/2 "2011-11-09T15:00:00Z")
Money in - Money out = Profit!
New shows = lots of money out
The pennies per month they get from your cable bill = not enough money in
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### Author:  [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-selection-on-cable-satellite/602391/3 "2011-11-10T00:57:55Z")
Cable these days has all sorts of original programming compared to when my family first got it in the 80’s. Back then most of cable was reruns, foreign imports, (edited for TV) movies, news, and sports, certainly nothing like a Breaking Bad or a Psych or anything like that. Oh, and videos on MTV, but I wasn’t really into those at the time.
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-selection-on-cable-satellite/602391/4 "2011-11-10T02:29:44Z")
The History Channel used to be _alot_ better. Ditto for the SciFi Channel, A&E, MTV, and a bunch of others. My family had DirectTV when I was in high school. That was fantastic. We even got several Canadian channels; as well as one that I remember showing alot of Australian shows. Then Dad decided to cancell the subscription and use pirated cards. That was wrong (& illegal), but it was pretty fucking cool. We got _every_ channel they offered; including network TV stations from all over the US in every time zone. Also all the PPV stations were now active, as well as the adult channels. 😉 Yeah, it was all straight porn, but it still had alot of hot naked guys in it.