Cable TV is full of special interest networks. Each one is focused on some specialty — comedy, culture, music, weather.

But several of them have since flip-flopped on how much time and focus they give that certain special topic.

Bravo was the niche network of all TV networks. More concise than A&E, it had a small and devoted audience that devoured its reruns of award-winning and brilliant — but canceled shows. That is, until NBC arrived.

When NBC bought Bravo, it ended the previous programming and successfully attracted a wider audience but at the cost of dumbing down the channel. The network has been riding high since “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” hit it big, and followed up with “Top Chef” and “Project Runway.” It’s a mainstream culture channel, not nearly as unique as it once was.

Informative channels have also changed their evening programming at the cost of leaving their original focus.

The Weather Channel was 24/7 weather. If there was a weather event it was on the network. However, the past few years has begun producing a few series — weather related documentaries like “Storm Stories.” Thankfully, there are no signs of a Friday night movie featuring “Twister” or “The Perfect Storm” anytime soon.

CNN Headline News, once a 24/7 news-only channel reshaped itself in 2001 to rolling news on the bottom and other screen information. Two years later, critics claimed the network’s screen was too crowded, so CNN revamped itself to compete with the likes of Fox News and MSNBC.

Personality-based programs arrived including celebrity and legal-based shows like “Showbiz Tonight” and “Nancy Grace.” Later arrived conservative talk host Glenn Beck. So long 24-hour news and features.

SCI FI, built on science fiction reruns, entered the 21st century finding a wonderful balance of scripted and unscripted programs. Building itself with the popular “Eureka” and the underappreciated “Battlestar Galactica,” the network has upped reality programming with “Ghost Hunters” and “Destination Truth.” But they have downsized older shows by eliminating the likes of the midnight showings of “The Twilight Zone.” The only way to regularly see classic science fiction is if you are fortunate enough to get Chiller, SCI FI’s sister network.

I am still trying to figure out why it picked up the WWE’s “ECW.”

There are certainly more channels with different interest topics. Comedy Central is for laughs, Lifetime and WE are for women. But some don’t truly relate to their topic anymore.

Sure MTV and VH1 have changed more than anything — something that can be analyzed for days on end. Nowadays, MTV is musi… enter… pop culture? As Justin Timberlake told the network at its Video Music Awards last year, “Play more damn videos!”

Sure some of MTV’s programs can be entertaining, but where is the music the name says we are suppose to have? Not everyone is up in the late night hours anymore. Where’s our constant weather? News? Some demand more than just music.

— Anthony Capps is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Oskaloosa.