Dan Rather's Audience Now Even More Microscopic

The washed-up former CBS news hack, disgraced in 2004 for trying to influence the presidential election with the use of forged memos on 60 Minutes II, now has an even smaller platform as his obscure network has been yanked by Time Warner cable in New York.

TIME Warner Cable in New York is dropping Mark Cuban's HDNet channel at the end of the month, officials said yesterday.

The move will effect Time Warner systems across the country and cost Cuban's pioneering HD channel more than 1 million of its reported 15 million subscribers nationally.

The programming on the channel includes special investigative reports by former CBS anchorman Dan Rather, live concerts and wrestling. "But in a world with hundreds of channels, simply being HD isn't enough," said a spokeswoman.

HDNet will go off May 31, when its current contract expires, she said, and will be replaced by Smithsonian HD.

Perhaps Smithsonian HD channel can air programs about TV relics who refuse to go away gracefully.