Did Network TV Programming Strategy help cable clean their clocks?

For years while the big three networks were the only game in town, they always tried to match each other line for line with programming. If ABC had a sports event on at a given hour, then CBS and NBC had to have some sporting event of their own. If one had a drama, all three had to have dramas.

When cable came along, I thought they would start differentiating their programming, figuring that if one has sports, the other two should go for the market that doesn’t want to watch sports. But no. Even today, with video tape movies, DVDs, Cable, Satellite and Internet programming, they are still in lockstep with each other and still losing market share. Why?