There are two kinds of cable channels in the United States: those operated by major media companies that have dozens of other channels, and those that are on their own.
The outlets in the second group, the independent channels, are feeling threatened these days. Some of the distributors they depend on — Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Verizon FiOS — are talking about dropping underperforming channels from their lineups, or at least paying them less. Al Gore’s low-rated Current TV, for example, was at risk of being dropped when it decided to sell to Al Jazeera last week and was, in fact, dropped by Time Warner on New Year’s Day.
Read the rest at Cable Channels Like Current and Ovation Feeling Heat – NYTimes.com.
