Cable channel concentration
My local cable TV system (Comcast) offers 77 channels in its standard offerings, most free, a few (like HBO) costing a premium fee. But those 77 channels are owned by an ever smaller group of companies. A seeming wealth of choices is in fact a pseudo-variety.
Comcast is now the largest cable TV supplier and its offerings are pretty typical. There are about a dozen other channels that are widely offered currently by other cable systems, but Comcast carries all the really important ones.
If we take the list below and eliminate the few local, independent stations along with the public service stations (PBS, C-SPAN), the remaining stations are owned by a very small number of media companies. Viacom owns 12 of the channels. AOL-Time-Warner also has 12. Disney owns 10 channels, in full or in part. Liberty Media has an interest in nine channels. GE owns seven in full or in part. .News Corp. (Fox) owns five. Comcast itself owns or has an investment in five.
Note that sell over half of the stations are owned by five dominant media companies, plus the cable company itself. But that reckoning gives only a small sense of the extent of the oligopoly. Almost all of the other channels, with a few exceptions, have lower ratings than the ones owned by the big five. The apparent variety is filtered through a very small number of decision-makers, all of whom think very similarly.
The oligopoly is not stable as the players buy and sell to improve their hands. Recently. AOL sold its interest in the Comedy Channel to Comcast. Liberty Media keeps extending its holdings. It recently announced that it will buy out Comcast's holdings in QVC. And the News Corp. not long ago bought the Speed Channel (auto racing). The Sci-Fi channel and a share of USA Networks is in play with Vivendi Universal's sale of assets.
The big cable companies form a powerful oligopoly, that (except for satellite) resembles a local monopoly. But they are an oligopsony to the program providers. Cable stands as a powerful example of our idea of an oligonomy. This time the oligopsony created a defensive oligopoly, as only the big TV channels/networks can negotiate with any strength against the big cable companies. (See also our notes on channel position.)
| Number |
Channel |
Owned by |
| 2 |
CBS |
Viacom |
| 3 |
PBS |
|
| 4 |
ABC |
Disney |
| 5 |
NBC |
GE |
| 6 |
PBS |
|
| 7 |
WB |
AOL-Time-Warner |
| 8 |
Fox News |
News Corp. |
| 9 |
CN8 |
Comcast |
| 10 |
Local access |
|
| 11 |
Showtime |
Viacom |
| 12 |
PBS |
|
| 13 |
QVC |
Liberty Media, Comcast |
| 14 |
Fox |
News Corp. |
| 15 |
Local independent |
|
| 16 |
PAX |
Paxson Communications |
| 17 |
Cinemax |
AOL-Time-Warner |
| 18 |
Local independent |
|
| 19 |
UPN |
Viacom |
| 20 |
HBO |
AOL-Rime-Warner |
| 21 |
The Weather Channel |
Landmark Communications |
| 22 |
Starz! |
Liberty Media |
| 23 |
Home Shopping Network |
USA Interactive |
| 24 |
Animal Planet |
Liberty Media, Cox, Advance/Newhouse |
| 25 |
ESPN |
Disney |
| 26 |
Headine News |
AOL-Rime-Warner |
| 27 |
CNN |
AOLTime-Warner |
| 28 |
Nickelodeon |
Viacom |
| 29 |
A & E |
Disney, GE, Hearst |
| 30 |
ABC Kids |
Disney |
| 31 |
MTV |
Viacom |
| 32 |
Lifetime |
Disney, Hearst |
| 33 |
AMC |
GE, Cablevision |
| 34 |
USA Networks |
Vivendi Universal, Liberty Media |
| 35 |
Comcast Sports |
Comcast |
| 36 |
Disney Channel |
Disney |
| 37 |
Comedy Central |
Viacom |
| 38 |
Discovery |
Liberty Media, Cox, Advance/Newhouse |
| 39 |
TNT |
AOL-Time-Warner |
| 40 |
CNBC |
GE |
| 41 |
VH1 |
Viacom |
| 42 |
Spike TV |
Viacom |
| 43 |
TLC |
Liberty Media, Cox, Advance/Newhouse |
| 44 |
FX |
News Corp. |
| 45 |
Bravo |
GE |
| 46 |
ESPN2 |
Disney |
| 47 |
Local independent |
|
| 48 |
Local independent |
|
| 49 |
Game Show Network |
Sony, Liberty Media |
| 50 |
E! |
Comcast, Disney, Liberty Media |
| 51 |
BET |
Viacom |
| 52 |
Outdoor Life Channel |
Cox, Continental, Comcast |
| 53 |
Telemundo |
Telemundo |
| 54 |
Travel Channel |
Liberty Media, Cox, Advance/Newhouse |
| 55 |
Food Channel |
Scripps |
| 56 |
MSNBC |
GE, Microsoft |
| 57 |
Style |
Disney |
| 58 |
Cartoon Network |
AOL-Time-Warner |
| 59 |
TV Land |
Viacom |
| 60 |
Discovery Health |
Liberty Media, Cox, Advance/Newhouse |
| 61 |
The Speed Channel |
News Corp. |
| 64 |
TV Guide Channel |
News Corp. |
| 65 |
Univision |
Univision |
| 66 |
C-SPAN |
|
| 67 |
CSPAN-2 |
|
| 68 |
Court TV |
AOL-Time-Warner |
| 69 |
History Channel |
Disney, GE, Hearst |
| 70 |
Home & Garden Channel |
Scripps |
| 71 |
Turner Classic Movies |
AOL-Time-Warner |
| 72 |
Golf Channel |
Comcast, Tribune |
| 73 |
Sci-Fi Channel |
Vivendi Universal |
| 77 |
Eternal Word Television |
|
| 78 |
Local independent |
|
| 95 |
Country Music Television |
Viacom |
| 96 |
HBO2 |
AOL-Time-Warner |
| 99 |
TBS Superstation |
AOL-Time-Warner |
| 303 |
HBO Signature |
AOL-Time-Warner |
| 350 |
The Movie Channel |
Viacom |
7:05:11 PM 
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