Time Warner Cable Drops One Lightly-Viewed Channel, Others Obviously will Follow

Time Warner Cable is dropping arts TV channel Ovation from its channel lineup on Dec. 31, 2012 the first channel to suffer removal as part of Time Warner Cable's policy of not carrying lightly-viewed channels.

"Steeply escalating programming costs are forcing us to closely assess each network as it comes up for renewal,"  Time Warner Cable said. Ovation is not the only channel that doesn't get many viewers. Time Warner Cable says the channel is watched by "less than one percent of our customers on any given day."

The new policy is one step the cable operator is taking in an effort to halt the escalating cost of programming fees that threaten to make its video subscription service too expensive, relative to value, for many customers. 

Smaller networks without significant viewership will face similar problems, though the big test will come later, when the major network contract negotiations occur, some occurring several years from now. 

Of course, cable operators have other concerns than simply rapidly-escalating costs of video programming. The bandwidth used to deliver video progrramming could be used in other ways, such as to beef up the capacity available for business and consumer high-speed access services.

In fact, the conversion from analog to digital delivery formats was driven, in part, by the upside from freeing up capacity precisely to support high-speed access and voice services.