# Why do movie channels only show the same movies on all the channels? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 28, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-movie-channels-only-show-the-same-movies-on-all-the-channels/522803 "2009-12-28T15:44:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![timmar68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@timmar68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timmar68)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-movie-channels-only-show-the-same-movies-on-all-the-channels/522803/1 "2009-12-28T15:44:18Z")
I don’t have a movie package with my tv service and the main reason is that you have many channels but they play the same one or two different movies on all of them. I don’t want to pay for all those channels if I don’t have a variety. Why do they do that? Are there any out there with a good variety playing at the same time? ---
**Author:** ![jarjarwang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jarjarwang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jarjarwang)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-movie-channels-only-show-the-same-movies-on-all-the-channels/522803/2 "2009-12-28T15:51:26Z")
Are these new-to-cable films? The start times may be staggered by 15 minutes and spread across the dial so everyone can see the hot new film in its entirety. ---
**Author:** ![pan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@pan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pan1)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-movie-channels-only-show-the-same-movies-on-all-the-channels/522803/3 "2009-12-28T16:03:53Z")
HBO, as an example, does play the same movie on multiple channels: For example: Die Hard starts at 8pm EST on HBO. Die Hard starts at 10pm EST on HBOW. (West) Die Hard (in spanish) Starts at 8pm on HBOL (Latina) There’s also HBO-HD and HBOW-HD and maybe HBOL-HD but there are 10 more HBO channels. I don’t know the exact titles, but they are like “HBO Family” and “HBO Drama” etc…Each of these other channels will have it’s own rotation of movies, and not include Die Hard unless it fits the flavor of the channel. ---
**Author:** ![vandal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-movie-channels-only-show-the-same-movies-on-all-the-channels/522803/4 "2009-12-28T16:47:00Z")
Because everyone’s TV watching habits are different and greatly vary. Not everyone is on the same schedule so they want to make sure that you’re able to see the movie, regardless of when you tune in. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-movie-channels-only-show-the-same-movies-on-all-the-channels/522803/5 "2009-12-28T17:10:31Z")
Originally, HBO west was for the west coast, so they show the same as the east coast HBO only later. If you had service on the east coast, you wouldn’t see the west coast channel. In more recent years though, cable providers have been giving you all of the channels, for exactly the reasons given by vandal. It gives you more flexibility with movie times. Networks like ABC and CBS also have “west” versions of their channels but you don’t generally get them on your local cable service if you are on the east coast. ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-movie-channels-only-show-the-same-movies-on-all-the-channels/522803/6 "2009-12-28T17:33:12Z")
it looks like they’re offering the same movie in different formats–spanish for people who speak spanish, HD for people with HD sets and Standard def for people without. And the west coast feed is usually just that–the same channel time shifted for viewers on the west coast. If there were more variety on those channels, people would complain (“How come only Spanish speakers get to see this movie at 8:00”, or “it’s not fair that only folks with HD sets can watch Die Hard at 8”) (I used to work customer service for the cablec company–and I am confident this is exactly what would happen if the HD and Latin channels always had a different selection on than the other channels, based on the public reaction to nearly everything else we ever tried.)