i miss when television networks actually had an identity....

[Chrysalis_Changling]

now it's...Watch our shows and shut up!

in the 90's and early 2000's kids networks put in a lot more effort in the way they presented themselves as did many other channels but now many channels just hone in on one or two hit shows and marathon the hell out of them as often as possible without any effort put into making their network look pleasing to the eye(with fantastic bumpers and a network identity that showed you who they were and how they were different)

[AndrewCrossett]

Television networks are just content producers now.

[Chrysalis_Changling]

and that's not how it should be....i wanna have a good time watching television i don't wanna feel like I'm in a board room with men in suits talking about this show is next....this is who we are blah blah blah bye

[MaxMatrix]

Well for one you have far more options in how and when you watch your content so for many networks they are just providing content that you, the viewer, have ability to curate.

Yet there are numerous networks that have a very distinct identity and work towards it:

Adult Swim on CN hasn't changed, at least in this category, since the mid-2000s.
Disney isn't any different...
MTV, even though Music barely is on the network, actually does have the thing you are talking about. They just don't have music any more.
HGTV, Food Network, ID, etc. are all distinct networks, with their own distinct ways of framing their network (some have skits, some have mini-shows inbetween, etc).
Then you have the Reality TV factories like BRavo and Vh1...

[Iron Fist]

Well NBC and Fox's identity is still that they'll fucking cancel anything good.

[Vakanai]

I'd argue the CW has an identity.

[Vic Vega]

Bah, CBS is STILL the Geezer channel and 90% of its content is still Police Procedurals of some sort.

The CW is as enamoured of its young, pretty, overwhelmingly White protagonists as ever.

Fox is still the home of Adult Animated Sitcoms.

Maybe the OP is thinking of Cable TV.

[simbob4000]

Bah, CBS is STILL the Geezer channel and 90% of its content is still Police Procedurals of some sort.

The CW is as enamoured of its young, pretty, overwhelmingly White protagonists as ever.

Fox is still the home of Adult Animated Sitcoms.

Maybe the OP is thinking of Cable TV.

My guess is they are thinking about just cable, because other than NBC, (who can't seem to get anyone to watch there stuff anymore, even if it's good) all the networks still have basically the same identity they've had since Fox came around. Although Fox's has changed somewhat, as they don't really do stuff like midgets vs elephant anymore.

[Look]

The dinosaur tv networks once stood for something, they had a personality, they spoke for a nation and had a sense of patriotism, they were run by a small group and had a family name. If you watched an American tv station or French or British or Canadian or Aus you knew you were getting something different, now they are all becoming the same thing and afriad of their ass of getting sued by some random lawyer. Tv has done great in the past, great interviews, great documentray, good ground breaking news and journalism, great entertaining artistic tv shows but tv has made mindless trash. Today they are just corporate shills, groveling to some burnt out B-list celebrity and taking bribe money from euro bank gangster telling us how to panic during the next crisis or taking money from radical loons financers in Qatar, Jerusalem, Dubai and Tehran. The tv networks go around ass-sniffing for the next wanabe comedian, kiss up to some loser rap star or rocker and peddle whatever political agenda that happens to be going on, the Iraq war, pro-abortion or anti-abortion, the rent-a-crowd issue of the day for the chat shows and newsmedia. Tv is too concerned now with itself calling the Hebdo Mohammed cartoons blasphemous or rubbing elbows with the next producer that will make the next FIFA world cup, the next Cosby Show, the next commie red scare for the news, jumping on the hype of the next Olympics or charging us insane cash to broadcast whatever sports game is going on. Tv is also responsible for producing some terrible tv like the Survivor Islands, the X Factor Idols and the Big Brothers the interviews, its all a hysterial stampeed to interview the latest victim of the latest Ebola scare or get to chat face to face with some ******* from the Middle East or some drug doping sports star. It's a dying medium and its been replaced by amazons downloads, dvds, video gaming, and the internet. the free media, bluraydvds, netflix and real life live entertainment will continue to eat tvs audience. i won't miss the tv because i rarely watch it the television networks are corporate sell outs and their deaths can not come sooner! I only watch a bit of sports, music show, some documentary and the cartoon channel, the series I like I can all binge watch on boxset dvd and realized I don't need that damn tv anymore......so many channels, 1200 channels and nothing to watch

[Acecool]

now it's...Watch our shows and shut up!

in the 90's and early 2000's kids networks put in a lot more effort in the way they presented themselves as did many other channels but now many channels just hone in on one or two hit shows and marathon the hell out of them as often as possible without any effort put into making their network look pleasing to the eye(with fantastic bumpers and a network identity that showed you who they were and how they were different)

I feel like you're talking about the "how it's made" channel, I mean science channel.

[banky]

I feel like you're talking about the "how it's made" channel, I mean science channel.

heh. Science (channel) should totally change their name to "How It's Made & Mythbusters" network. It's a shame because I used to like their eclectic, Survivorman/nerdy cool CGI Space stuff/ your favorite astrophysicsts blow your minds programming. It definitely helped my sleep habits much better than the mythbusters reruns "ooh, we're blowing stuff up again!"

[simbob4000]

Isn't Science Channel one of those weird little cable stations that always sucked, that basically no one really ever had back when cable stations had their own little identities? The decline of cable networks having their own strong identity was in full swing by the time people started watching Science Chennel.

[Ghost]

Nickelodeon has really fallen a long way (its childrens programming anyway). Now it just seems to mimic Cartoon Network and pray another Spongebob will eventually show up.

[ChaoticScholar]

People who want specialized stuff just don't watch tv. At most, they DVR what they want.

[TheInvisibleMan]

this conversation intrigues me, the OP does have a point, but that changes as there are more options and also just more studios and people creating content

networks used to produce ALL their shows, and that fed into the identity and its really not like that anymore

the networks now frame the content coming in so that is going to change the "feel" of things