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December 13, 2004
When C-Span Rules the Universe
So I was watching the Scott Peterson sentencing recommendation come in on CNN late this afternoon.... Just as the foreperson was about to read the verdict, the channel suddenly changed to C-Span. Susanne and I looked at each other to see who'd capriciously manhandled the TV remote, but soon realized that the remote in question was sitting quietly on the coffee table. Neither of our cats had interfered as well.
Before either of us could say anything, the channel switched back to CNN, just in time for the sentencing recommendation. (Death Penalty, but you probably already knew that.) For the next 10 minutes we forgot about the weird interruption -- that is, until it happened again.
Just as Wolf Blitzer was about to start offering Hard News to the world, the channel switched to C-Span. The channel was showing a rather dry speech by an academic about the history of the Electoral College. This time, the channel didn't switch back to CNN. I picked up the remote and tried changing the channel back to CNN, only to realize that the channel hadn't actually changed; rather, the C-Span signal had jumped to CNN's usual spot on the digital dial.
My next instinct was to channel surf, so I started pressing the remote. Up we went, channel 18, 19, 20, and so on. All the usual programming was gone: nothing but C-Span on every channel, that same dry academic and his Electoral College. I skipped ahead to channel 201 and higher, just to see if C-Span's takeover of the world was complete; indeed, there was nary a competing station left in my 500-channel universe.
We shut off the TV for 30 minutes, quietly reading and surfing the net while "Barcarolle" from Tales of Hoffmann played on the stereo and two cats lounged at competing ends of the couch. Just for kicks, I turned on the TV again. C-Span. C-Span. C-Span. A policy wonk's dream, a couch potato's nightmare.
At least my only choice wasn't Fox News -- but Rupert Murdoch is working on that. Stay tuned.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at December 13, 2004 8:40 AM
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