They are TV's ghosts — networks that somehow survive with little reason to watch them anymore

Cable television is filled with ghosts. They're networks that somehow survive as shadows of themselves, with schedules clogged with reruns and devoid of any real innovation. Fueled by the onset of streaming, this has come on quickly: once-thriving networks like USA, MTV, Disney and BET have lost more than half of their viewers in only a decade. As they fade, so are the communities they helped to create. Streaming has revolutionized how people watch TV, and industry leaders have raced toward what they regard as the future. But for the cable networks left behind the question has to be: did it really have to be this way?