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reasonedof t1_jdu0wvo wrote

Reply to comment by 8i66ie5ma115 in No episode of the new season of Party Down has made the top 100 airings of original cable telecasts (non delayed viewing). Other Starz shows frequently make the list. by mar5526

Any idea why this is? I was aware of this but I am not in the US

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blametheboogie t1_jdudjky wrote

Cable is still popular for sports fans. Based on my life experience black people are more likely to be sports fans than other ethnic groups. My experience only extends to people in the US through.

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Frazzledsoul t1_jdw2k5z wrote

This was the case when I worked the cable company 6-8 years ago. Our customers didn't care about HBO (I have literally never met anyone in Alabama who watched GoT other than me) and liked Showtime occasionally, but Starz was very, very popular because of Power. We got tons and tons of Starz merch. I've still got a bunch of that crap in my car.

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reasonedof t1_jdweud9 wrote

So is it more regional than race - i.e do cable companies in the US only serve a specific area? In Australia there only is one so there are no regional differences.

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Frazzledsoul t1_jdwi2to wrote

The cable company I worked at from 2014-2016 only serviced specific areas in Alabama. They serviced the city of Birmingham (which is just under 70% African-American) and rural Alabama (which is mostly white). A different cable company serviced the suburbs (though they are the same company now).

Almost all of our merch was Starz-focused and revolved around Power. That's what people called in for. That's what they wanted us to pitch.

If anyone was obsessed with a franchise at that point in time, it was The Walking Dead. You didn't call in for that because you had it as part of your cable package. I cannot stress enough how big of a deal that was regionally. Everyone I knew was obsessed with it. It was absolutely a communal experience. This completely fell off over the past few years.

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bros402 t1_jdwtjge wrote

> do cable companies in the US only serve a specific area

yeah, most places only allow one company to serve their town

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reasonedof t1_jdwelnm wrote

So is it more regional than race?

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Frazzledsoul t1_jdwghup wrote

Well, most of our customers were African-American so not necessarily. However, if a lot of Starz's customer base is just there for Power, I don't think they're going to be interested in watching Party Down.

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8i66ie5ma115 t1_jdu25mk wrote

I’m just taking a shot in the dark here, but it could be black folks becoming more upwardly mobile, and after not having cable while younger they get it now as they are now better off financially than the generations before and we’re at a more disadvantageous place financially in their youth?

It could be simply more content that appeals to them on cable, than the streamers.

It could be something nefarious where black communities maybe tend to have less broadband options than white communities so black folks end up forced into cable internet and then “well, for only $30 more a month we can include Cable TV” and now they’re roped into that.

Cutting cable has gotten more expensive and difficult than it used to be and now there’s a hundred different streamers. So maybe they went back because of that.

(Again, a lot of this isn’t African American specific but is more of a socioeconomic issue and black folks still trail other groups in median income, and again, because literally all of American History has been spent screwing then over and making them literally stand in the back of the proverbial line.)

I’m just pulling ideas out my ass tho. It’s probably a little of each of these things. But again, I’m talking out my butt and just making educated hypothesises.

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