Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums banner

MuchMusic? More like MuchComedy

16K views 33 replies 22 participants last post by  Tridus 
#1 ·
MuchMusic has released their Fall 2013 schedule for September only, but it includes shows that have nothing to do with music whatsoever. Reruns of shows like The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show, Jimmy Fallon, which were originally on The Comedy Network, are now moving to Much. In addition to these irrelevant genre shows on Much, South Park, Tosh.0, Trip Bank, Drunk History and many other no music related shows are moving from The Comedy Network to MuchMusic.

What is your input on this? What do you think Bell Media has in mind for The Comedy Network and MuchMusic? A rebrand perhaps? We already know that MuchMore is rebranding to M3 in the fall, but no word on other Bell owned channels as of yet.

MuchMusic Fall 2013 Schedule (September Only)
 
#5 ·
There' no shortage of sitcoms in syndication. Maybe Comedy will pick up some Comedy Central programming. Not holding my breath though. As for MMM or M3 or whatever, it's just another channel that's been diluted, debased and destroyed by media concentration, mismanagement and broadcaster protectionism. Maybe they should call it D3. That could be an interesting programming concept.
 
#6 ·
Bait and Switch all over again

Nothing "much" really ever changes. They all simply shuffle programming around from one channel to the next hoping to attract new viewers.

MuchComedy, MuchMoreComedy, LessMusic, MuchLessMusic, M3, M3.1415926 ... it doesn't matter what they call themselves. There are a bunch of programmers purchasing content and then distributing it to the various channels that they own.

Conventional television is now for dummies and the Internet is for the educated folks. The content is similar, but the big difference is that when you use the Internet properly, you become the purchaser and programmer of your own single channel ... The Me Channel ... 24 hours a day ... 7 Days a week ... Consisting of content that Me likes and You might not.

I used to watch the new episodes of South Park on The Comedy Channel, Wednesdays at 10pm (or 10:30pm), but now that I discovered/invented the Internet, I don't care that it's now a MuchMusic exclusive.

I like to complain about everything ... even the Internet. By changing the schedules around, Bell has gotten some "much" needed attention. Keep on moving, Bell, because sharks like you can sleep while they move.

It's simply the bait-and-switch technique used to perfection (promise one thing and then switch it to something else), as the CRTC stands on the sidelines watching dumbfounded as this nonsense continues. We are the shark bait, and Bell is the shark.

Rebranding is often a cry for help, except nowadays, it often means that a company has realized that it is becoming obsolete and needs to branch out or spread its wings. It's now more about marketing your channel to the masses through social media to keep yourself relevant and fresh.

Bell and the others move content around from channel to channel and try to create viewing experiences for the lazy viewer. If you can't find what you're looking for, that's okay, just keep flipping through OUR various TV channels until something catches your interest ... and don't forget to stream from our website, or check us out on Facebook and Twitter to find out what's popular/trending with our viewers ... assuming that we still have enough viewers to keep us relevant.

The really scary thing is that we now have the power to control television content better than the actual content owners and programmers. This paradigm shift in power forces the owners of these channels to do really crazy things to stay alive. The channel marketing campaigns are often similar to infomercials that are designed to make an inferior product look like you can't live without it ... even though it basically sucks.

That's the way I see today's version of conventional television. It's a dinosaur that doesn't realize it's about to become extinct ... the meteor called the Internet killed it for me ... and when the Internet becomes too restrictive and less popular, something else will appear to entertain me properly.

Extra Note: Me-TV stands for Memorable Entertainment Television, but it is in no way related to The Me Channel that I own and operate every day.
 
#23 ·
...Conventional television is now for dummies and the Internet is for the educated folks. The content is similar, but the big difference is that when you use the Internet properly, you become the purchaser and programmer of your own single channel ... The Me Channel ... 24 hours a day ... 7 Days a week ... Consisting of content that Me likes and You might not.

...Me-TV stands for Memorable Entertainment Television, but it is in no way related to The Me Channel that I own and operate every day.
Get real.
You sound as though you think people actually watch just one TV channel or small number channels, even if they aren't interested in many of that channel's programs, and would never watch other channels even if they were aware of a program on it they might want to see. That situation has never existed. People have only ever watched shows they want to see, regardless of what channel or media they have to use.

And you know home video recorders were already common thirty years ago, right?
 
#9 ·
In this modern world, does time slot even matter anymore?

Stephen Colbert has a crappy time slot, but apparently lots of people still watch. I'd guess that much of the success of of shows that air between midnight and 2am is due to DVR users.

When you take that to the next level, do channels even matter anymore? My HTPC records the TV shows I'm interested in, and is typically configured to not care about the channel. I wouldn't notice if a show moved from network A to B.
 
#10 ·
I agree that the network a show is on doesn't matter, but I'm really glad that we're finally getting Conan at the same time it's on in the US. It means I can watch it earlier and be in bed by midnight. Comedy was originally set to air it at 11pm, but then Colbert/Daily Show fans raised a big stink, so they moved Conan to midnight.

I'm not very happy though that the Countdown is being moved to Saturdays. I like watching it on Fridays, like I've done for 15+ years (minus a couple years when it was on Thursday nights).
 
#12 ·
Oh I have a DVR and I use it extensively, but I was raised under the impression that late-night shows, much like sports and the news, were meant to be watched when they air. I almost never watch scripted shows or reality shows live (or at the earliest on a 15-minute delay so I can skip commercials).
 
#15 ·
Much Season Premieres beginning September 3

Tuesday, Sept. 3
4 p.m. – THE SIMPSONS *Season 8 Premiere*
4:30 p.m. – THE CLEVELAND SHOW *Series Premiere*
5 p.m. – LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON *Season 6 Premiere*
10 p.m. – TOSH.0 *Season 5B Premiere*
10:30 p.m. – THE JESELNIK OFFENSIVE *Season 2 Premiere*
11 p.m. – CONAN *Season 4 Premiere*

Thursday, Sept. 5
10 p.m. – DEON COLE’S BLACK BOX *Series Premiere*
10:30 p.m. – DRUNK HISTORY *Series Premiere*

Saturday, Sept. 7
7:00 p.m. – MUCH COUNTDOWN
9:30 p.m. – OUT THERE *Series Premiere*
12 a.m. – CHAPPELLE’S SHOW *Series Premiere*

Sunday, Sept. 8
9:30 p.m. – UGLY AMERICANS *Series Premiere*

Monday, Sept. 9
10 p.m. – COMEDY BANG! BANG! *Series Premiere*
10:30 p.m. – BUNK *Series Premiere*

Wednesday, Sept. 25
10 p.m. – SOUTH PARK *Season 17 Premiere*

Press Release.
 
#16 ·
Last night on the New York news, they were talking about people boycotting the MTV Music Video Awards. They complained that MTV had gone far away from what the station was meant to be like in the beginning: a station that plays music videos.

Isn't that the same problem we have with Much Music? Gone are the days when you had music all day but grouped in certain bundles. For example, at 5PM, you would have the Power Hour with nothing but the heaviest rock videos. That was on weekedays. There was even a 1 hour show of nothing but hot french artists but can't recall the name of it.

On weekends, you had concerts and stuff. Those days are gone. Bring back the music!!!!
 
#17 ·
@pokerface: Interesting post (Aug. 12). When the 500 channel universe was just getting started I made the comment that the viewer does not want 500 channels. What he or she wants is just one channel that shows only the shows that he or she is interested in seeing. The Internet and PVRs are making that day closer and closer to reality. Show times, overall content on any channel is now becoming irrelevant. We are all beginning to watch our one personal channel customised to our own taste when we want it.
 
#19 ·
When you have youtube and vevo for free, you really don't need cable subscription based channel to serve all your music video needs. The only thing good about Muchmusic was their video on trial (making fun of music videos), MMVA, and New Music Live (formerly known as MOD). Most of their recent programmings are just blatant imported shows from MTV, ABC Family, or The CW. Nothing original, nothing CANADIAN, well other than Degrassi. Why not just merge all the current programming from Much and MTV Canada, because MTV failed to capitalize the Canadian market with their own channel and with MTV now under Bell it would make sense to move all their programming over to MTV, and shut down Much? I dont need another channel showing the Simpsons, South park, Jimmy Fallon, Conan, etc. We already have 93084023 channels that shows them.
 
#21 ·
I think that's what they're trying to avoid doing with this move, and continuing to get our money every month. They take some programming away from one channel that has it, The Comedy Network, and put it on one of their increasingly pointless (alleged) music channels. People who have never watched Much but did watch The Comedy Network will now have to watch both channels if they want to keep seeing new South Park episodes, Conan, and Tosh.O, in addition to Daily Show, Colbert, etc., that remain on The Comedy Network.

What I don't understand is how these channels get and keep these category A licences with mandatory carriage and genre protection and not stick to the genre. We're not like the US where these channels can change at will (contractual obligations aside). If they want to do this, they should probably be forced to start a new channel (Comedy 2) and shut down Much if they can't keep it going as it was supposed to be.
 
#25 ·
I agree with you Poker. I have a la carte in Quebec. I decided not to pick History channel because the only show I like is Vikings. And A&E has only one show I like and that is Bates Motel. But A&E is not available a la carte. It is in a group of channels called favourites which costs $5 which for me is not worth it because I don't watch those channels. So I use Torrents for those 2 shows. If the price of my sub starts to increase and I know it will increase by alot (very fast) with Bell, I will reduce from 30 channels to 20 and eventually just to 15 channels + Basic. I will keep TSN and RDS with 13 other channels+Basic. Heck I'll even drop The Movie Network and get the content online.
 
#26 · (Edited)
MuchMusic has morphed into MuchComedy because the TV industry is at a crossroads

With a limited budget, we're all going to be more selective about what we watch and pay for. That's why free access is so addictive. If you hate the free content, you only wasted your time (perhaps more valuable than money), but if you also paid for that content, you just got suckered, twice!

If your favourite channels cut back on fresh content, move it elsewhere, and then expect you to keep paying the same price (or a bit more) for those channels and also expect you to subscribe to other channels that are not part of your current package, just to see 5 shows that you can stream for free online (perhaps even from the official channel websites), well my friends, that's not being very realistic.

Rebranding channels seems to be one of the preferred ways for the Cable/Satellite world to keep up with the changing times, but if rebranding starts to create more cord-shavers and cord-cutters, a better tactic will have to be implemented.

A&E has had the same reality-style format for many years now, so a rebrand is not the reason that some people might have recently dumped it from their package.

Paying $5/month for a theme pack containing A&E and a few channels that I'm not interested in, doesn't sound like a terrible deal, but $5 here, another $2.99 there, etc, begins to add up very quickly to a number that my bank account wouldn't tolerate for very long. And I also don't like the idea of supporting other channels in a package, if I never watch them (I'd rather that they go bankrupt and get replaced by newer channels).

Still, I don't really think that a la carte pricing is the answer to our viewing problems (especially since most channels now have unrelated content from here, there and everywhere).

What we really need is for the various cable/satellite companies to come together and stop this constant bickering about carriage and pricing, and instead work even harder at making the Canadian television industry a friendlier, more organized environment for people to be a part of.

We all want more bang for our buck, and since our time and money is already limited, it's often necessary to head to the Internet and sample a bunch of freebies, before even thinking about paying for something that we might not like, or already know that we can't afford.

The way things are set up now, in the broadcast TV world, I often feel like a trapped guinea pig, in a never-ending maze of incompetence.

The Internet is also a maze, but since I find it much easier to find satisfying rewards with minimal effort or cost, it's a maze that I don't want to escape from ... at least not until I'm being hunted by the authorities for failing to abide by their terms of fair usage.

Life isn't fair ... that's why the Internet works as well as it does.
 
#28 · (Edited)
What's wrong with the 500 channel universe is that specialty channels are created from old stuff - like Bravo and others that just rehash programming that was network based, or like Detour, programming that has been on other specialty channels before. More of this crap than entirely new programming. All the specialty channels could be condensed.....
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top