i canot speak for all sat tv in the USA, but at my parent's house, the only foreign channel they get is http://www.cctv-9.com/

were there a wider selection of non-american tv available, they would surely watch it. as it is, CCTV9 is pretty entertaining!

perhaps your JV partner found the biggest failing of america television. no foreign channels.

There are plenty of non-US cable channels available, but (except for some limited Latin news) most need to be special-ordered. And in some major urban markets, my own included, public/educational TV is found in small snippets, including foreign news: here I've seen news and tons of other programming in Spanish (multiple channels), plus chunks of Polish, Korean, Croatian, Russian, and a quite surreal Indian music video show on Sunday mornings, and a nightly half-hour of BBC World. And that's just free TV - I don't have cable. Of course, the vast majority of people who watch any of the foreign programming are immigrants themselves.

Why watch people who talk funny?

This seems like as good a place as any other to point out that Al Jazeera will soon be broadcasting in English.

In defense of my countrymen a citizen of Omaha, Nebraska can travel a thousand miles in any direction and never go anywhere that English isn't the most useful language. In that context English-only is a simple, correct strategy.

That having been said there are more Americans who speak German than in practically any country other than Germany, more Americans who speak French than practically any country other than France and more American who speak Spanish than practically any country other than Mexico.

I suspect that if things go on as they've been recently that more Americans will speak Arabic than in a lot of countries where it's the official language.

Dave, blogroll us!

Ooops this is the Lounsbury site of Aqoul so I speak out of turn. Blogroll aqoul.

Dave is quite right, I should have been clearer as to the drivers.

What I found interesting was the surprise on the part of JV partner. The insularity is natural and driven by completely ordinary and indeed insurmountable drivers.

Combine enormous geography with the fact that US immigrants in the past have been eager to "assimilate" and cast off the old tongue and ways, and immerse in the new; add also the economic success by which English is the world's lingua franca anyway, and the Anglo-Saxon insularity of the historical origins, etc. and you get a fair picture.

English has also been the primary language of science since the decline of Germany from preeminence in physics, chemistry and mathematics the early-mid 20th century.

Chinese as a publication language of scientific papers will inevitably grow as a percentage but it still lacks the global utility of English. It's hard enough getting a hard science doctorate without expecting Russians, French, Germans, Japanese, Indians, American etc. scientists to also master Chinese when most of their school systems make English language training readily available.

Not just the language issues, either: there's also the fact of a massive entertainment industry specifically catering to American tastes (plural). Why go looking anywhere else?

BTW, I love the idea of a Latin news channel. Non illegitimi carborundum!

I should reemphasise that my little note was not meant to beat up on the USA, there are good reasons for the non-diversity in re broadcast/cable etc offerings.

Rather I found it interesting my JV partner's remark on the issue and general puzzlement at the utter lack of international offerings. Even after my explanations, she found it wierd and bemusing.