Radio, Television, Cable

Local TV/news stations are continuously challenged to produce quality material to capture a wide audience base.  There are “rating wars” to see who is the most successful.  I feel most local/network television channels are similar in their programming.  The three big networks; ABC, NBC and CBS strive to capture as many viewers as possible.  

I watch specific television stations based on the programs offered.  When the Packer game is on one channel that is definitely the one I watch.  With the winter Olympics, I watch the channel they are one. The network providing coverage for this event has been very successful with capturing a huge audience.   I am not a huge television viewer and choose to mainly watch sporting events.  

I chose to pay for cable television based on the limited number of programs appealing to my interests on local television.  I have access to a wider variety of shows and many times I will find shows I didn’t even know were on that appealed to my interest.  There have been a couple of times when two of the local television networks were in “conflict” with the cable provider.  The local channels were blocked from the cable provider based on money.  This was frustrating to me especially when I was unable to watch a few sporting events.  

I have noticed that many of the local television station channels are repetitive on what is shown on a daily basis.  The news aspect of the local channels is so similar; I have switched from one channel to another and find the same news being reported.  I also find the 6 pm news to be exactly the same as the 10 pm news with the exception of any recent breaking news events.  

It appears to me that commercials are more and more prevalent with local TV/news programs than cable programs.  This is another reason I don’t watch shows unless they are appealing to me.  Recording programs (DVR) and watching them later is also quite useful and can eliminate the commercials when watching.