Americans Get Hundreds Of TV Channels, Can Still Only Handle 17

Wall Street Journal ^ | 05/07/2014 | Steven Perlberg

[SeekAndFind]

It seems every year Americans have more TV channel options than the year prior, but one number has remained consistent — 17.

That’s the average number of channels viewers actually tune in to.

In 2013, the average TV home received 189 channels, up from 129 in 2008, according to a new report from Nielsen. Back in 2008 Americans tuned in to an average of 17.3 channels, as opposed to this year’s 17.5 figure.

Maybe that’s all we channel-surfers can handle.

“This data is significant in that it substantiates the notion that more content does not necessarily equate to more channel consumption,” writes Nielsen. “And that means quality is imperative—for both content creators and advertisers. So the best way to reach consumers in a world with myriad options is to be the best option.”

[dfwgator]

Mine is YouTube.

[dfwgator]

Actually the Spanish channels get boffo ratings.

One of the highest rated shows on TV is “Sabado Gigante.”

[chajin]

We were the last house on the block to get color. Just before Christmas 1975.

Ours was the first, in 1962. My parents also had the first TV on the block, back in 1947, the year they were married. The family story was that the living room in the second-floor walk-up (over the local bakery) consisted of two folding chairs, an orange crate, and the television. In '47 my father taught radio and TV repair, a GI teaching other GIs the career of the future. He would later become the TV repairman at downtown Wanamaker's in Philly, before taking an electronics job at the Philly Naval Shipyard, where he spent the remainder of his career, minus a three-year contract at Yokosuka NB, Japan. OTOH, my father never became was an amateur radio operator, and until his death in 1996, he refused to learn how to use a personal computer--he had lost his love for electronics when the integrated circuit replaced the transistor, which had replaced the vacuum tube. And that's more than anyone here needs to read :-)

[oh8eleven]

Great - WTF do I have to pay? On the other hand, I have surfed onto the Spanish channel (Telemundo?) and some of the babes are just ... wow.

[Nowhere Man]

Guess I am old enough to remember the days when we only had 4 channels, but were lucky to live high enough on a hill to get a couple more from Ohio.

Than that 5th. channel signed-on using something called “UHF” and it was da bomb.

You must be near Pittsburgh. I remember getting 2, 4, 11, 13 over the air along with UHF channels 22 and 53 and later on 16. There were times I received channel 6 from Johnstown, channel 7 from Wheeling and Channel 9 from Steubenville. WE also received channels 27 and 33 from Youngstown. When we were kids, we watched channels 22 and the Money Movie on 27.

[latina4dubya]

It’s not a matter of not being able to handle more channels, it’s a matter of very few channels are actually worth watching.

there it is... i watch maybe 5 channels in all... 2 are food channels, 2 are sports.... 1 is a true crime type of channel...

[latina4dubya]

and some of the babes are just ... wow.

ha! my watches novellas... everything is very dramatic :)

[Ted Grant]

Spanish speaking TV will probably thrive. Last year we started seeing Spanish TV shows performing very well in the nightly ratings.

[txrefugee]

Half the channels advertise stuff we would never buy. Why are we paying for their commercials and they are also paying DirtecTV for their commercial space??? We will ditch it next January when our contract expires. We don’t get that much out of it.

[latina4dubya]

Mine is Netflix.

what do you watch? i think Netflix offers the best television viewing right now...

[dfwgator]

The actresses on the novelas are way hotter than most of the girls on the Anglo shows.

[latina4dubya]

On the other hand, I have surfed onto the Spanish channel (Telemundo?) and some of the babes are just ... wow.

let me try this again... my momma watches novellas... everything is very dramatic... she also watches Sabado Gigante...

[latina4dubya]

The actresses on the novelas are way hotter than most of the girls on the Anglo shows.

i agree!

[Hot Tabasco]

Guess I am old enough to remember the days when we only had 4 channels,

I only had 2 in northern Michigan.......

Remember the "horizontal hold" and "vertical hold" buttons on the TV?.......and tinfoil on the rabbit ears..........LOL!

[I want the USA back]

Too many channels, and most are crap.

[Nea Wood]

I watch local and if I want more than that, I go to Netflix, Hulu and Apple TV.

That's what I want to do, but if you cut cable, how do you still get local?

[Buckeye McFrog]

I only had 2 in northern Michigan.......

I was in Marquette in the early 90's, and I believe there were only two channels then. One was PBS, and the other a commercial station on which all of the networks were sharing time.

I remember watching an ABC college football game that ran late. Then they started the CBS primetime lineup around midnight.

[Zack Attack]

No matter how many channels they add, there is still only so many hours a day we can watch. And these channel guides now can take 30 minutes to scroll through.

I usually just scroll down to the first thing I see that looks tolerable since I usually only half pay attention anyway and DVR the few shows I really care about, speaking of which, the new “24” began this week.

[Utilizer]

Related thread: http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3152884/posts

[SampleMan]

On the other hand, I have surfed onto the Spanish channel (Telemundo?) and some of the babes are just ... wow.

Yea, I once watched a station for about 2 minutes before I realized that the woman was speaking in Spanish. It was another 2 minutes before I realized that she was giving the weather.