I recently had shoulder surgery and it's left me stuck on the couch for a few weeks with nothing but my laptop and TV. Anyway, the question and idea:<p>Aside from on the internet, has a HN-esque TV channel ever existed, or, is anyone aware of a lesser-known channel that is HN-like?<p>Similarly, has anyone ever pondered such a startup?<p>A side note, anyone familiar with IDEO an their techniques for innovation would be aware of their emphasis on shadowing and role playing. Being put into a sling for 5 weeks will definitely force an inventive mind to start finding solutions to the new set of problems that arise. If you've never tried putting yourself in the shoes of your customer or client, or even role-playing for the sake of creating new ideas, I highly recommend it for it's creative power. If you have no other lead, put on a sling for a week (on your dominant arm/hand) and watch how crazy your mind goes with solutions to problems you didn't know existed.
I'd contend that old G4TV, when it was TechTV, and before that ZDTV had some interesting cable television content.<p><a href="http://revision3.com/" rel="nofollow">http://revision3.com/</a> has a bunch of technology shows and a couple hacker oriented ones.<p>I've always thought that a television network aimed at startups of all types and starting a small business, maybe a variant of CNBC with a startup focus would do well, given the large number of people with the dream of having their own business.