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An open letter to the soon-to-be new owners of the Travel Channel
Dear Soon-To-Be New Owners of the Travel Channel,Most reports are indicating that the Travel Channel's current owner, Cox Communications, is ready to sell the network for close to $700 million. The companies expected to submit an initial bid (due today) include NBC Universal, Scripps Network, and News Corp.
As I look over the Travel Channel's schedule of upcoming shows on its website, I find several whose presence on a travel network can only be explained by some sort of clerical error. Why, for example, is the ridiculous show Ghost Adventures featured anywhere on your schedule? Why does this Thursday evening appear to be devoted entirely to the antics of magician David Blaine? Why is the Robert Redford-Brad Pitt vehicle Spy Game playing this Saturday night? And finally, what the hell does the ubiquitous World Poker Tour have to do with travel? (Answer: "It's got 'World' in the title!")
To whomever purchases the Travel Channel: If you continue Cox Communications' infuriating habit of scheduling these non-travel-related shows instead of original travel programming like Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, Dhani Tackles the Globe, and, hell, even Bridget's Sexiest Beaches, you risk alienating your core audience, people who love to travel.
Focusing on magic, poker, and the occult might attract a few channel surfers, but it isn't worth losing your biggest fans in the process.
Regards,
Aaron Hotfelder
Filed under: Arts and Culture, Business
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
lizzie Aug 25th 2009 1:54PM
amen!!
Shawn Aug 25th 2009 2:56PM
Hallelujah! And run travel documentaries like A Map For Saturday and programs like that. There's a ton of great travel content, but I never see any of it on the Travel channel. I love travel, read travel sites religiously, but I do not subscribe to the Travel channel. That should tell you something :)
Ryan Aug 25th 2009 3:09PM
Yes, a thousand times yes.
johnmc Aug 25th 2009 3:33PM
I thought for a terrible moment that you were advocating the axing of No Reservations, although if Scripps gets their hands on it, they might just do it out of spite for Mr Bourdain. He's not exactly their biggest fan.
Jason Aug 25th 2009 4:37PM
I second your post! This is how I felt about MTV (Music Television) after it went to game shows only.
Willy Aug 25th 2009 6:59PM
Thanks for clarifying what "mtv" is. I was confused for a moment.
Joe Aug 25th 2009 5:53PM
Thank God someone else noticed this. I whine about their non-travel travel programming to my friends all the time, it seems.
Jeff Bridges Aug 25th 2009 7:03PM
Uhh, absolutely!
Rachael Aug 25th 2009 10:19PM
Amen a thousand times over!
kath Aug 26th 2009 10:23AM
Yay! I hope someone forwards this to the "powers-that-be" at the new owner's company. I stopped watching the Travel Channel for this exact reason.
john pasmore Aug 26th 2009 9:16AM
Never got the poker thing....at http://www.voyage.tv we're trying to put together the deepest well of pure travel content that budgets/time/creative bandwidth allow...
Thx.
cblock2 Aug 26th 2009 1:55PM
Actually, I can cut Travel Channel a little slack about the poker - they had managed to land the WPT rights before the height of the Texas Hold-em craze and they make decent money off it, and as TC was (and still is) like so many cable specialty channels, a financial gamble to begin with, I can't blame them for wanting to milk the cash cow, which back in TC's earlier days probably helped subsidize the rest of the network's offerings.
That said, I can't understand why the hell they'd be showing "Spy Game"...viewers looking for a move to watch are unlikely to look at TC's listings. Makes no sense at all.
Kathy Aug 31st 2009 1:39PM
I totally agree. When I put on the Travel Channel -that's what I want to see. Travel shows not poker or ghost stories. This used to be my favorite channel but when it started with non-related shows to travel I had to move on.
Kathy Aug 31st 2009 3:56PM
PLEASE KEEP SAMANTHA BROWN!!
Tara Smith Sep 1st 2009 6:05AM
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Susan Sep 3rd 2009 8:33PM
Yes, definitely keep Samantha Brown. I schedule my summer days around her two rerun shows! Passport to Europe and more recently Passport to Latin America. I am waiting for Passport to Asia! hopefully coming next.
Anthony Bourdain is cool, but I switch the channel when the eating gets too gross on some of the other ones: big eater (forget his name) and sometimes bizarre foods, DEFINITELY I switch it on Dr. Mike! (they eat him!)