For the second time in two years, the Solutions Research Group did a survey asking consumers to choose their ‘must keep TV brands if they could keep only a limited number of channels to watch in their households.’ The top 10 results are as follows.

1. ABC
2. CBS
3. NBC
4. Fox
5. ESPN
6. Discovery Channel
7. History
8. Sci Fi Channel (up from No. 14 a year earlier)
9. HBO (down one position from a year earlier)
10. Food Network (first time in Top 10)

I find it surprising to see History and the Sci Fi Chanel to be higher on the list than HBO. This may be a result of the added cost that HBO incurs, even though it is unclear how this factored into the survey. In any case, it is clear that the History and Sci Fi have attained an important position in the market during the past five years- Battlestar Galactica was launched in 2003. Other top risers in the survey were USA and TNT.