HDNet to Become AXS TV - Page 2

Sounds like a Palladia duplicate

Thanks, missed it on first reading. "HDNM will remain as is."

Just get it back on TWC please.

I do not watch the concert stuff. I watch the MMA coverage, but if they are gutting Art Man then I will be watching a lot less of this channel.

I read it as eliminating the Girls gone wild themed programs, sorry Pappy97. I love the Art Mann show.

Yep. For a while, I missed HDNet after our cable provider dropped it.

I don't anymore.

Mark sold us out!

Mark is out to make money!

i'm with archi.

don't mess with hdnet movies. one of the best hd channels available

Agreed. I've watched at least 3 movies on the channel this week alone - and it's only Thursday.

Saw the title of the thread and my first thought was why not go all the way and just call themselves "T!ts and Axs" but alas, they are heading away from that programming.

Will they still air concerts without censorship? If they start censoring, I'll be bashing Cuban more than any of you have so far.

My guess (and that's all it is) would be no.

Obviously due to the quotes around first-crack, they mean first crack after the ticket brokers get all the REAL tickets, and only leave the worst seats.

Well they can't upset that market.

Good because right now with so many reruns its no better than the old voom channels. I cant remember the last time I watched it. And to think how great I thought it was when it was one of a handful of channels.

I think most viewers here would agree with you, it was great at the time because it looked so good, and they had live major league sports with MLB & NHL.

This is just another object lesson on how hard it is to program a network with original programming.

Not to mention the Kentucky Derby and the Olympics. I'll never forget the jaw-dropping images back in the day when HDNet had a whole D* transponder to itself. And our NBC affiliate gave their feed the whole digital pie. MAN that looked good.

HDNET is still one of the handful of really fantastic looking HD channels no matter how many repeats they show...yes the shine is not as great as it used to be when HD was in its infacy but I still think they are in the Top 5 of HD quality

Drinking made easy got picked up for Season 3. That will air in the fall, at least that's not going to change!

More like how hard it is to program a network with original programming whilst most of the providers are screwing you over and dropping carriage - removing most of your funds to pay for original programming.

And then Cuban received no backup from HDNet fans whatsoever - when their cable provider dropped his channel they stuck with them instead of going to satellite or telcoTV. The most they might've done is write a whiny e-mail to their cable company... all the while continuing to pay them...

Agreed. Why there wasn't a big outcry over losing HDNet Movies from Time Warner subscribers is a mystery to me. If it happened with my carrier (FIOS), I'd both write them and then drop the service.

I outcried! Plenty. Didn't do any good. Never got any answers as to why they were dropped from TWC; it's still a bloody mystery to me. Unfortunately, when you get your broadband from the cable company which enjoys a virtual monopoly granted by local government, it's often easier to swallow your discomfort with the company and their individual policies in favor of the convenience of one-stop shopping and bundled rates. They count on that, of course.

Am I the only one worried about losing World's Coastlines From Above, Baltic Coasts, Smart Travels with Rudy Maxa, and Rick Steves' Europe? It's hard to find more relaxing and interesting programs.

RCN also dropped both HDNET and HDNET Movies a few months back...apparently they wanted to raise the costs...not a coincidence that both RCN and TWC dropped them around the same time

I switched to FiOS in September so I'm glad to have those channels back

Cuban was wanting 55 cents per subscriber for HDNet and 45 cents for HDNet Movies back in '09 when providers started dropping them.

But here's the thing: HDNet was on a separate "HD tier" on Time Warner Cable that cost like $8 a month. This tier had like five channels including HDNet.

Those greedy chuckle****s at TWC dropped HDNet/HDNet Movies because it would eat a whole dollar out of the $8 they got every month from people subscribing to the HD tier. And we certainly can't have that, can we?

For the record, HDNet and HDNet Movies have no traditional commercials so their only way of getting any revenue is from subscriber fees... so they have to be a little bit more expensive than most other cable networks. I guess that's all going to change now as they become another ad and reality programming-infested cable network.

Well, supposedly that's not going to happen with HDNet Movies at least.

TWC dropped them a few years ago, back in '09 probably. And, as posted above, they were even on a separate HD tier - the only worthwhile content on that tier as I recall.

I know this is all about money in the end, but it was great while it lasted. The fact that there will be an SD version is pretty telling. I thought broadcasters were getting away from SD? I love the channel due to the the unfiltered/unrated content. Art Mann is great, but it looks like that show will be gone along with all the other "unrated" ones.

I always thought Cuban was cutting-edge, and more than about the money. Guess I was wrong. He's taking a one of a kind channel and morphing it into a Fuse or Palladia.

What's next, a B/W version too?

Art

To be fair, HDNet's only real strength was that they were providing HD programming when no one else would/could. They *do* have a lot of worthwhile original programming, but at this point it's kind of like shouting in the middle of a hurricane.

Once the big-media companies ramped up their HD distribution networks and started "recalling" all of their HD content, the writing was pretty much on the wall. Frankly, I'm surprised that Mr. Cuban has stuck with the "original formula" this long.

IOW, perhaps HDNet as we've known it has fulfilled it's original purpose and it's simply time to move on.