Flipping Channels
When adjusting to TV in another country foreign viewers need all the help they can get. Even something as basic as the name of the channel can provide indispensable clues to the kind of programmes likely to appear. Unfortunately after flipping through the channels on American TV I’m none the wiser. The naming of networks here seems to be ironic. All I found on The Travel Channel were programmes about the excessive intake of high-calorie foods which make Americans less able to move. When I turned over to The Learning Channel I saw wall-to-wall programming about people without formal educations. By the time I got to The History Channel I wasn’t at all surprised to find a show about the latest cars on the market. Given that the networks score hit-after-hit by commissioning against type, I’ve come up with a list of channels that might benefit from a bizarro re-brand:
Current Network Name: HBO (Home Box Office)
‘It’s still TV’
New Network Name: OGSD (Outdoor Gas Station DVD)
New Slogan: ‘It’s still TV’
Changes to Network: The channel ident will have to be changed. Instead of celestial white letters burning transcendently out of the white noise of a TV screen against the sound of a heavenly choir, there will be a pixelating logo of a limp hot dog on a pirated DVD menu (with only a ‘Play Movie’ option) for a 90s thriller starring Ice Cube and the sound of a trucker dumping audible in the background.
Marketing Strategy: Subscription free with any Slurpie.
Current Network Name: USA
‘Characters arrested on sight’
New Network Name: The Islamic Republic of Iran
New Slogan: ‘Characters Arrested on Sight’
Changes to Network: The network will commission a new Law & Order spin-off called ‘State Torture Victims Unit’. They will also develop a home-cooking themed reality show called ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Ahmaddinejad?’ in which the Iranian President drops by to share the evening meals of families across America.
Marketing Strategy: Sell original programmes to a rival network until they become hit shows on the other channel and that network starts to make its own original programming. At this time the network president will appear in public denouncing the rival network’s original programmes and demand that they cancel them. If this strategy fails the network will threaten their rival with a ratings war by putting on all-day back-to-back re-runs of Two and a Half Men.
Current Network Name: PBS (Public Broadcasting Service)
‘Funded by Hostile Takeovers’
New Network Name: The Romney Channel
New Slogan: ‘Funded by Hostile Takeovers’
Changes to Network: Bert and Ernie will need to be evicted from Sesame Street in accordance with network president Romney’s views on gay marriage. Downton Abbey will be pulled and replaced by Downtown Antimony, a historical drama about the Utah metal mining industry.
Marketing Strategy: Instead of telethons, funding for the network will come from Super Pacs and rather than a free tote bag, viewers will receive a visit from a Mormon minister, whether they contribute money to the network or not.
Current Network Name: The Weather Channel
‘Weather has never been less important’
New Network Name: The Air Conditioning Channel
New Slogan: ‘The Weather Has Never Been Less Important’
Changes to Network: Reporters will now do their segments to camera indoors standing in front of the draft from a dehumidifier for dramatic effect. Al Roker’s ‘look at the weather where you are’ will become a close-up of a thermostat.
Marketing Strategy: Are you kidding me? How the hell do you market weather anyway?
Current Network Name: Fox News
‘Distorted and Unhealthy’
New Network Name: Fox Unsubstantiated Rumours
New Slogan: ‘Distorted and Unhealthy’
Changes to Network: None.
Marketing Strategy: Anchors will no longer have to pretend that they don’t agree with everything Karl Rove says or concede to statistical facts like election victories. Otherwise, on message.
Current Network Name: Lifetime
‘Your death. Your purgatory’
New Network Name: All Eternity
New Slogan: ‘Your Death. Your Purgatory’
Changes to Network: To compliment the feeling of burning in hell forever original movies will run continuously on a loop without episodes of Frasier to break up the torture. Dance Moms will have a themed episode in which the students re-create the Thriller video and Abby Miller, hopefully, decomposes.
Marketing Strategy: Re-tool all original reality shows to include death. One Born Every Minute gains a sister programme called Make Way for Babies in which new parents have to decide on an old person to kill in order to balance the population. The Week the Women Went takes on a darker aspect as it becomes clear they’re not coming back.
Watching TV with Americans 
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