History Main / NicheNetwork

A simple ShowWithinAShow gag. With the sheer number of television stations available in this day and age, a channel that only has programming which relates to a single hobby or niche can be viable. Think "The Golf Channel" or "Soapnet" for real life examples of this. Naturally, these niche' networks aren't all that appealing to people who aren't interested in the networks' subject matter. (Because of this, they are susceptible to NetworkDecay, if their original incarnation is not giving them high enough UsefulNotes/{{Ratings}} to keep up with the cost of staying on the air.) Some shows like to exaggerate how uninteresting these channels are to non-hobbyists. They do this by having a character turn to a channel that only runs programming about an unbelievably inane subject 24 hours a day.

The gag works because the channel is boring in two different ways. Even if you somehow manage to find the boring subject matter intriguing, the channel is implied to be repetitive ("We're all X, all the time" or "X, 24 hours a day.). As if that wasn't enough boredom, some shows add to this gag by having an extremely bored sounding man narrate the channel's programming in a bland monotone.

[[caption-width-right:350: [[IncrediblyLamePun They seem to have hit their target audience.]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350: They seem to have hit their target audience.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "Daylight Savings" the Professor gives the girls a curfew. The villains take advantage of this and when the Professor tries to watch TV, all the channels he switches to are discussing how Townsville is doomed. He finally finds one that is talking about something else: the time channel. On this channel, [[PunnyName Sonny Dial]] presents the up to the minute time. This reminds the Professor he forgot to set the clocks back, so he can sends the girls back out to save the day.

* And of course, video hosting services like Website/YouTube or Twitch TV enable the {{defictionalization}} of all the above plus a few that are [[UpToEleven even weirder]], [[FunForSome if you like that sort of thing.]]

* Creator/PlutoTV, an ad-supported free streaming service, takes this UpToEleven, as there's tons of channels devoted to only one show, like ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''. Most of these are in the "Binge Watch" section of their guide. Since Creator/{{Viacom}} bought them in 2019, they've loaded the service with channels devoted to Creator/{{MTV}} and Creator/{{VH1}}'s reality shows.

* The ''Radio/MartinMolloy'' radio show did a fake ad for its fictitious pay TV network which included "the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hat_block Hat Blocking]] Channel! All hat blocking, all the time! <{{beat}}> We don't know what we were thinking either."

* There are some Iranian satellite networks that only air one type of show, but a lot of the more well-rounded channels actually start with one video on loop for weeks before their official opening. Sometimes it's a 5 minute trailer of the channel with the date and time of the grand opening repeated all over again, sometimes it gets weird. Persian Toon played ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe2'' over and over and over again for two weeks before its official opening.

* SavedByTheBellTheNewClass: In one episode, Screech had "The Werewolf Channel," "The Worst Movies Ever Made Channel," and "The Hot Babe Channel."

* SavedByTheBellTheNewClass: In one episode, Screech had "The Werewolf Channel, "The Worst Movies Ever Made Channel," and "The Hot Babe Channel."

* SavedByTheBellTheNewClass: In one episode, Screech had "The Werewolf Channel,"The Worst Movies Ever Made Channel," and "The Hot Babe Channel."

* Though not TV networks, the 'guest newspapers' from which ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou'' takes some of its fill-in-blanks headlines for the final round are basically this trope. And they're all real.
* An episode of ''Series/AmericasFunniestHomeVideos'' had a segment that parodied niche channels. The channels featured were "Polka Planet", "The Fashion Channel", "Toilet TV", "The Belly Button Network", "The Chiropractor Channel", and "Tin Ear TV".
* ''Series/YouCantDoThatOnTelevision'': Lance complains that the program is taking a very long time to come back from commercial, only for his son to tell him that he is watching the all-ad network. It turns out the program he thought he had been watching was actually an add for a toilet bowl cleaner.

* On the ''Series/SesameStreet'' segment "Elmo's World", Elmo's TV tunes in to these kinds of channels to teach kids.

* The ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' episode "Fran Live" opens with the Sinclairs exploring their various new cable channels. One of the highlights is "The Hat Channel: 24 hours a day of hat news, hat features, and hat happenings." Robbie seems genuinely excited by the prospect of hat news.

* The ''Radio/MartinMolloy'' radio show did a fake ad for its fictitious pay TV network which included "the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hat_block Hat Blocking]] Channel. All hat blocking, all the time. <{{beat}}> We don't know what we were thinking either."

* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' has this as a common gag. The gag also appeared many times in the 1990s animated adaptation, ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''. Some examples include "The Potato Channel" (in which a man lists all the different ways to prepare potatoes), "The All Snail Racing Channel", and "The All Lasagna Channel."

* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'':
** Johnny once caught a glimpse of the "Fish" Network. The channel's content consisted entirely of video recordings of fish swimming. "All fish, 24/7"
** Johnny also once had a bear named "Chronos, The Master of All Time," watch the "Tree Channel" to try and cure his insomnia.

* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'': "The Nutz Channel. We're all nuts, all the time."
* ''WesternAnimation/SheepInTheBigCity'' had "The Watching Paint Dry Channel."
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' features "Teeth TV" "The Clown Channel", and "The Dungeon Channel".
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'': Carl watches The Llama Channel, a channel with nothing but shows about llamas.

* This was a running gag on ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatiansTheSeries''. Various channels on the pups' TV set included "The All-Dog Network", "The All-Cat Network", "The Gravy Channel", "The Poultry Channel", "Swine TV", "The All-Fashion Network", and various others.

* From ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': "Coming up next on The Clock Channel: 6:00."

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' featured the Pigskin Channel (a decade before the launch of NFL Network) and a fashion channel (which is very reasonable, there are many networks with strong emphasis on fashion).
* The ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012'' episode "[[Recap/LittlestPetShop2012S2E14ToParisWithZoe To Paris with Zoe]]" has the TV in the pet shop stuck to the Bread Crust Channel, then the Insect Channel. The latter consists of unaltered footage from a camera left at a landfill.
* The "[[Recap/MikeTysonMysteriesS1E7Kidnapped Kidnapped!]]" episode of ''WesternAnimation/MikeTysonMysteries'' had the Commencement Channel which specializes in commencement ceremonies.
--> And thanks for tuning into the Commencement Channel. Seriously. We didn't think anybody would ever watch.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'', Mike the TV will sometimes force some bizarre channel upon somebody and is the only one who doesn't find that channel annoying. His favorite appears to be The Commercial Channel, which has no shows--it's entirely commercial time.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'' occasionally went to this well with MJNN, The Music/MichaelJackson News Network ("With bureaus in London, Bangkok, and Disneyland") and The Dryer Channel, which was able to outdraw Jay's show in the ratings. Regarding the latter: "People watch this?" "They don't just watch -- ''they send it money.''"

* In Creator/JimHenson's pilot for ''Inner Tube'' (which would later become ''Series/TheJimHensonHour''), Kermit hawks the InnerTube cable system, claiming there's a channel to match one's IQ, income bracket and clothes. Some samples include the Millionaire's Shopping Network and the All-Kitchen Utensil Channel.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Puppy_Channel The Puppy Channel.]]

* And of course, video hosting services like Website/YouTube or Twitch TV enable the {{defictionalisation}} of all the above plus a few that are [[UpToEleven even weirder]], [[FunForSome if you like that sort of thing.]]

* In order to give their staff some time off, some networks will play a video of a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_log Yule log]] burning around Christmastime.

* ''Series/YouCantDoThatOnTelevision'': Lance complains that the program is taking a very long to come back from commercial, only for his son to tell him that he is watching the all-ad network. It turns out the program he thought he had been watching was actually an add for a toilet bowl cleaner.

* And of course, video hosting services like YouTube or Twitch TV enable the {{defictionalisation}} of all the above plus a few that are [[UpToEleven even weirder]], [[FunForSome if you like that sort of thing.]]