History Channel Ticking Me Off!!!

[TimM]

But doesn't the FCC have to give them a license to broadcast?  Well, that should be spelled out, you stick to what you're supposed to broadcast, or kiss your license good-bye.

[Robert_Hall]

I do not think the FCC  has control over cable stations.  They do not operate over public airwaves. This is why, if one wants to pay for them, one can have porn in the home, so to speak [or, more common, I imagine,, in hotel rooms]

[TimM]

Surely there must be some kind of rules in place.  Otherwise any Joe Schmoe could broadcast over the air.

[Robert_Hall]

Well, he could if he had the money and a cable company picked him up.

[Naslednik]

Someone needs to start cracking down on these channels to make sure they remain on their original mandate

But maybe that's not such a far-fetched idea!  How about returning to the American corporate charter system of the 19th century?  You have to have a stated purpose and stick to that stated purpose if you receive the benefits of being incorporated.  If you don't stay within your chartered purpose, the courts can shut you down. 

[Robert_Hall]

Not going to happen, at least in this case.  The banks are regulated and look what they got away with.
  This is fine ground, as these are private stations, essentially and freedom of speech issues  would arise with a vengeance.
 I doubt if any station has any sort of mandate.  History, for example, can put the  junkers and pawn shop shows on  and take a nod to history, as they do explain the provenance.  Personally, I became bored with the show, been in the business too long.  However, truckers and axe men sort of does escape me.
 All in all, if you do not like the sation or it's programmes, do not watch it. It is called a "marketplace" after all.

[Naslednik]

Yes, you're right don't watch it -- or buy into cable at all!  That was my choice.

As for regulating things (banks) we never should have repealed the Glass-Steagall Act provisions in 1999..but that's OT!!

[TimM]

Still I think the rules need to change.  If you're gonna call your channel History, then the shows on said channel should be history shows.

[Alixz]

History was losing its watcher because of the "Hitler" channel nickname.  It is true that a lot of time they were rehashing World War II.

Like everyone who is in, business they want to make money.  The had to do something to change the image.

With the shows they are now broadcasting, they call them "History in the Making" and that way they can put some kind of a tie onto their claim to show history shows.

Like Nasledink - I chose to abandon cable.  Not all of it because I don't have an antenna anymore and I believe there will come a day when broadcast will be a thing of the past.

[TimM]

an antenna

Didn't those become useless when the U.S. went digital a couple of years ago?

History was losing its watcher because of the "Hitler" channel nickname.  It is true that a lot of time they were rehashing World War II

Yeah, there is a lot more to history than 1939-1945.  How about the main reason this board exists, the Romanov's, for example. 

[Robert_Hall]

A Romanov station ?  That would be a  bit too much, IMO.

[TimM]

Whoops, I didn't mean Romanov's 24/7.  I was just using them as an example that there is more to history than World War II.

The Canadian History Channel right now is showing an excellent mini-series about John Adams (the second President of the United States).  Shows like that, for example.

[thelastimpofrussia]

You just know I would beg my parents to get cable for a romanov channel. Who knows, it may happen one day. *Crosses fingers* personally, i think PBS is loads better than HC. They have so much more variety... No romanov documentaries yet... Although Nova did do something with genetics a while back, and I always keep a lookout on History Detectives and Antiques Roadshow for anything related to Russia.

[TimM]

Yeah, PBS is good.

[LauraO]

i find PBS to be more accurate as well. lol, me too i'm always anxious that if i don't watch antiques roadshow when its on i'll miss something royalty related, was late to an important evening event once because i refused to leave antiques roadshow while they were showing princess alice and louise dresses
history channel's favourite thing to do is to get things wrong,
i turned it on the other day and it was showing charles and camilla and said "here comes william's mother and step father" it was like the biggest mistake its possible to make.