Are pay TV channels like specialist magazines ?

Last year B&T magazine (20/9/04) asked if Australian pay TV channels are like specialist magazines.

And the representatives of these channels replied YES. This is not surprising because they typically pitch pay TV to Australian advertisers as delivering both targeted and highly involved audiences. The argument being that specialist channels attract specialist audiences. And because viewers have chosen to pay for the channel, so the argument goes, they must be interested in the content and they must therefore ‘watch more intently/closely’.

While this sounds plausible, it’s actually a load of nonsense.