Cable, Reality TV and Losing Identity

We don't have cable television at home. I don't regret it. It's not for the elitist, t.v. is evil concept. I just get bored with it. Cable TV should just be renamed Reality TV. I'm watching it and I'm baffled (I don't normally have it). None of them have programming that match their channel names. National Geographic has no geography. The History Channel has no history. There's no discovery happening on the Discovery Channel, no learning on The Learning Channel, no music on MTV, VH1 or CMT, no art on A&E, no actual cooking shows on the Food Network, and no weather on the Weather Channel. AMC is not running any classic movies. And HBO isn't showing movies. They're doing a video version of books on tape. I'm flipping through and people are arguing over storage spaces. Yeah, that's what passes as television. I'm not sure why it happened. I'm not sure if it's what people want. But it has me thinking a lot about digital spaces and the way the medium reshapes the message. It has me thinking about the lack of intentionality that happens when an organization (business, channel, etc.) loses its identity in a goal of chasing the numbers. photo credit: mharvey.nyc via photopin cc