[fotno]

I think you're correct. They've been told it wont be profitable, so they never try: which makes no sense to me. The statistic based marketers are wrong as much as they're right, and that gets proven again and again, when shows that don't do all that well in the first season, subsequently develop a rabid and growing fan base later. NCIS is a perfect example. The first two seasons the show was on the verge of cancellation, and currently the show ranks consistently in the top 10.

If there's a large enough market in this country for a Horse racing, Golf or even a Romance channel then there's money to be made on a channel that is just as tightly focused on Sci-Fi or Horror. A huge library of films and shows are out there already, there's a proven market for those goods, and no one needs to look any further than the profitability of genre films and books to see there's money to be made. One example I've seen quoted often: Saw I cost 1.2 million dollars to make and earned 55 million domestically, and that's before DVD sales and rentals are counted in.

Ultimately I believe the problem is that the industry considers itself in the money making business, not the entertainment industry. They have no pride of purpose in their product, and don't care what they produce as long as it makes money.