# Top Twenty Cable Channels **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 18, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100 "2006-02-18T17:17:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/1 "2006-02-18T17:17:26Z")
The FCC is thinking of allowing TV watchers to choose which cable channels they want and only pay for those. Individuals will not longer have to buy a bunch of channels that they never watch all bundled together with the ones they do watch. Robin (on the Howard Stern show) was talking about a list of the 20 most watched cable channels, but I didn’t hear her source nor did she read the entire list. Does any know of a site that has this list on it? ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/2 "2006-02-18T18:33:43Z")
Don’t know if this is what she saw, but a quick googling brought up [this list](http://nmc.siu.edu/~mmbarn/About/library/blCtop.htm) (on a damn ugly site). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/3 "2006-02-18T18:38:25Z")
That site’s a bit outdated (and pug fugly). The Nashville Network hasn’t been The Nashville Network in several years. And what the hell is “Nike at Nite”? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/4 "2006-02-18T18:40:33Z")
I found [this site](http://www.ncta.com/Docs/PageContent.cfm?pageID=281), which appears to be more updated (as of 4/05). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/5 "2006-02-18T18:42:00Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#): > > Don’t know if this is what she saw, but a quick googling brought up [this list](http://nmc.siu.edu/~mmbarn/About/library/blCtop.htm) (on a damn ugly site). 10-4 on the ugly! Shitty list, too. We have reduced the dozens of channels we can actually receive to a Favorites list on TiVo which lets us pretend we don’t get some of the junk channels. But I’m afraid we have more than 20 on that favorites list. Now that our “basic” service includes 8 channels of Encore (which used to be Premium stuff) there’s 8 we would want on the list. (Somehow I thought this thread was going to ask what our personal Top 20 would be.) ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/6 "2006-02-18T19:31:22Z")
That list is the top 20 BY SUBSCRIBERS. That doesn’t mean the twenty most watched. ESPN2 is likely bundled with ESPN on many cable packages. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/7 "2006-02-18T20:21:48Z")
No list can truly claim to name the 20 “best” cable channels without having ESPN Classic on it somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/8 "2006-02-18T20:37:21Z")
[hijack] If you could only have 20 cable channels (no premiums) what would they be? 1 ESPN 2 TNT 3 ESPN NEWS 4 CNN 5 CARTOON NETWORK 6 NICK 7 DISNEY 8 SCI FI 9 COMEDY CENTRAL 10 FOX SPORTS 11 ESPN2 12 CSPAN 13 E! 14 MSNBC 15 FOX NEWS (I GUESS) 16 USA 17 TBS 18 HEADLINE NEWS 19 GAME SHOW NETWORK 20 CSTV To be honest, I could get by with the first 10 only. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/9 "2006-02-18T22:27:46Z")
middleman, hijack away! It’s a good idea to list your 20 favorites. Zeldar, Let’s hear yours! These are my 20 and the only ones I would pay for: History Discovery The Learning Channel CNN Headline News Fox News Weather Channel VH1 Travel Channel HGTV Spike Comedy A & E Fox Sports Cartoon Network (for the kids) Nick (for the kids) Animal Planet (for the kids) Disney (for the kids) KCSI (Chinese, for my wife’s soaps and news) QVC (Wife’s shopping) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/10 "2006-02-18T23:51:34Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > Zeldar, > > Let’s hear yours! Okay. My favorites fall into categories that themselves fall in and out of season, depending on circumstances. The most regular category would be movies. Of those channels my favorites are: IFC Sundance 1 Sundance 2 TCM Flix 1 Flix 2 (There are now 8 Encore channels which I would include, but that would run me out of channels too quickly, so I’ll get the others in first) When earth-shaking news (wars, catastrophes, weather threats, impeachments, assassinations, etc.) is in the air I go to: CNN MSNBC PBS NBC ABC C-SPAN Weather (There are two local 24-hour weather channels I’d have to keep, too, but as above, I’ll skip them now) During college football season it’s: ESPN ESPN2 Fox Sports CBS For music it’s: BET Jazz That leaves 2! I guess it would have to be: Comedy (but just for The Daily Show and Colbert) F/X (but just for _The Shield_) I do watch 24, so I’d need Fox for that. If I had to dump one to keep Fox during 24 season, it would be C-SPAN. Now and then A&E, History, Discovery, Spike, Bravo, National Geographic, and a few I’m having trouble remembering, will have shows I’ll watch, but I could dump them if I had to. All the religious and pop music channels could go. I’d be up the creek, it appears, if I had to dump all but 20. And I haven’t even considered my wife’s tastes here. Thanks for letting me review my tastes, **Mangosteen**. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/11 "2006-02-19T00:19:56Z")
Top 20, no premiums: 1. SciFi 2. ESPN 3. Food Channel 4. FoxSportsWest 5. FoxSportsWest2 6. Discover Channel 7. Learning Channel 8. BBCAmerica 9. Comedy Central 10. History Channel 11. Spike 12. Travel Channel 13. A & E 14. Weather Channel 15. F/X 16. Headline News 17. Nick 18. WGN 19. TBS 20. TNT Those I would pay for. What’s going to happen with ala carte programming is things like BET are going to disappear. Niche programming will vanish, and it will be harder and harder to launch a new channel. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/12 "2006-02-19T00:26:22Z")
If I were choosing (in no particular order, other than that #1): 1. TCM 2. Comedy Centry 3. Sci-fi Channel 4. Bravo 5. TV Land 6. USA 7. AMC 8. Food TV 9. SNY (once it’s operational) 10. FX 11. TNT 12. TBS 13. IFC That’s pretty much about it. I could probalby cut that list down a bit if I tried. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/13 "2006-02-19T01:49:20Z")
No particular order, and I can’t come up with 20. 1. Sci Fi 2. ARTS 3. CNN 4. American Movie Classics 5. Turner Classic Movies 6. History 7. Comedy Central 8. Independent Film Channel 9. FOX movie 10. A&E 11. Discovery 12. Animal Planet 13. Bravo ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/14 "2006-02-19T02:05:36Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Those I would pay for. What’s going to happen with ala carte programming is things like BET are going to disappear. Niche programming will vanish, and it will be harder and harder to launch a new channel. I’m ok with that. I hate subsidizing a niche station with my subscription rate. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/15 "2006-02-19T03:45:14Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > What’s going to happen with ala carte programming is things like BET are going to disappear. Niche programming will vanish, and it will be harder and harder to launch a new channel. C-Band satellite used to be ala carte as well as offering reduced rate packages. Digital C Band tends to be just packages, and I can’t pay for the pizza dish and another package on C Band. I hope C Band returns to ala carte. I would think there would still be a basic cable/satellite package with BET, VH1, Weather channel, USA and the like. The cheap stuff makes it easier to make basic packages. ---
**Author:** ![catnoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@catnoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catnoe)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/16 "2006-02-20T02:31:35Z")
1-ABC 2-CBS 3-NBC 4-Fox 5-UPN/WB (I hear they are merging) 6-BBCAmerica 7-SciFi 8-Bravo 9-A&E 10-Discovery 11-USA 12-TBS 13-CNN 14-Fox News 15-IFC 16-Sundance 17-Soap Network (I’m weak) 18-PBS (Can’t believe I forgot it.) 19-TNT 20- whatever I forgot MTV and VH1 and their siblings do nothing for me - Loved MTV Europe when I was in Italy and miss it, but stateside - no. They do not play anything that interest me. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/17 "2006-02-20T05:31:32Z")
Based on what we are currently watching, and in no particular order… 1 Disney Channel 2 Toon Disney 3 Cartoon Network 4 Boomerang 5 BBC America 6 ESPN 7 Fox Sports 8 Food Network 9 USA 10 TNT 11 Bravo 12 CNN 13 Sci Fi Network 14 History Channel 15 Biography 16 Fine Living 17 The Travel Channel 18 The Discovery Channel 19 Animal Planet 20 A & E This is assuming that we get the “basic” network and local independent stations for free. If not, scratch The Cartoon Network and The Disney Channel (my son deosn’t really need four channels of his own) and add the local CBS and NBC affiliates (for _The Amazing Race_ and _Law & Order_). I’d like to know, in this hypothetical situation, how often one gets to change their list of channels. For example, I don’t currently watch anything on the SCi Fi Network, but I will be watching Dr. Who starting next month. Once the season is over, I could drop it in favor of something else until next season. Similarly, I only need Fox Sports during baseball season. I don’t necessarily think that a la carte programming would kill off the smaller channels. The pricing would just need to be structured so that the packages would still be attractive. For example, I currently pay about $45 for 164 channels, of which I regularly watch about a dozen, and occasionally watch another dozen or so. If a la carte programming were priced between $1.50 and $2 per channel, my two dozen channels might cost me somewhere around $40. That’s just fine, but for another five bucks I can get 140 more channels, and I don’t have to wory about not being able to see a particular program because I didn’t pick that particular channel. People with particular tastes would take advantage of a la carte and purchase only the few channels they actually watch, but the vast majority of subscribers will still purchase packages simply because they are less trouble to figure out. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/18 "2006-02-20T13:36:23Z")
> [@Suburban Plankton](#): > > I’d like to know, in this hypothetical situation, how often one gets to change their list of channels. C Band satellite lets you buy a program for a month. It costs 10% less if you buy for a year. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/19 "2006-02-20T17:05:31Z")
1.) SciFi 2.) Comedy Central 3.) Cartoon Network 4.) History Channel 5.) History Channel International 6.) The Science Channel 7.) Discovery Times Channel 8.) National Geographic Channel 9.) Discovery Channel 10.) Spike TV 11.) CNN 12.) The Weather Channel 13.) MSNBC 14.) Logo 15.) FX 16.) TNT …I pretty much stop there, and some of those (Spike, Cartoon Network) are more for my husband’s sake than for mine. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100/20 "2006-02-20T17:21:05Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > And what the hell is “Nike at Nite”? 😃 Obviously an network which runs old TV shows with shoe ads inserted. Who could forget that classic episode where Lucy tries to handle an out-of-control sweatshop assembly line? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-twenty-cable-channels/345100.md?page=2)