When BBC America unveiled what turned out to be one of the most talked about and critically acclaimed comedies in years, "The Office," American TV viewers asked two questions: "What’s BBC America?" and "Where do I find it on my TV?"

And even though most cable subscribers had a passing — as in passing it by on the way to something else — knowledge of the arts channel, Bravo, they were forced to get a lot more familiar with it when "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" became the water-cooler series of record.

Both "The Office" and "Queer Eye" are largely responsible for leading a minor revolution in how TV viewers surf what was, in decades past, the "dial." We are not at a point where most cable subscribers can tell a friend what they actually subscribe to, much less where to find it, but the nether-region away from the low-numbered broadcast networks is no longer alien territory.

The migration from channels 2-4-5-7 to, say, 56 and then triple digits, has been slow. As viewers subscribe to ever-bigger cable or satellite packages, along come a bevy of channels that are either unwanted or ignored. For example, if you sign up for the digital platform from Comcast cable — often a necessity to get BBC America — there might be a horde of channels that come with it that will be mere blips you pass by.

And yet, familiarization breeds popularity in the long run. The more you watch BBC America in search of "The Office" reruns (which always seem to gain in hilarity), the more you find other series and channels you might have missed had you been watching ABC instead.

As the viewing field, as it were, levels and more people seem less predisposed to the networks, we’re seeing the early returns of a paradigm shift. Where Bravo benefits, UPN or some other network loses ground. Already network television has submerged under the 50 percent mark for total viewership. That means people have finally found cable. But when they find more thantheir "expanded basic" offerings, the real trouble will begin.

Given all of this to chew on, here’s a look at who’s in and who’s out, channel-wise, with hipness and buzz the overriding factors.

In: BBC America. Well, duh. After that buildup? But it’s not just "The Office." In the last two years, BBC America has delivered a number of good dramas and wildly original comedies to establish it as a contender. Currently "Wire in the Blood" has drama fans abuzz and on Sunday the channel premieres "State of Play," an acclaimed and much-anticipated thriller.

Out: NBC. Honestly, it’s more than just "Friends" and "Frasier" dropping off the schedule or the ritual abuse of "Scrubs." Other than "The Apprentice," what doesn’t seem old and tired on this schedule?

In: Bravo. Again, this channel is more than "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" (or even Girl, which has just gone into production). It’s the out-of- nowhere buzz show "Significant Others," or the long-running staple, "Inside the Actors Studio," and newer arts offerings like "Cirque du Soleil." Although it appears Bravo will veer toward more reality series, these at least seem to be on the tame arts and entertainment side and not based on sleaze. This is a channel that got revitalized and has a sense of promise to it.

Out: The WB. What happened here? Once a spot for hip, even smart youth- oriented shows like "Dawson’s Creek," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" - - all gone or going — the network has taken a disastrous creative plummet. "Everwood," "Smallville" and "Gilmore Girls" remain about the only interesting fare left — and even they seem to have lost some of their bloom. One day you have stars on every magazine cover, then you’ve got ... nothing.

In: Discovery Channel. Despite a recently disturbing trend to take one idea and photocopy it into blurry creative oblivion, there’s something to be said for a channel devoted to nonscripted programming where, after diving into the offerings, you don’t have to take a shower at the end of the night. There’s a world of difference between the ultra-cool "American Chopper,’’ for example, and "The Swan." Where Discovery had always been a channel where you could get your information kicks and feel at least minorly educated in the process, a whole new hip factor emerged when it successfully launched "Monster Garage" and "American Chopper" and "Mythbusters" — series that proved the viewing audience had grown tired of the stale sitcom formula.

Out: E! Once a growing channel for superficiality and fun — hey, everybody needs that — others simply began to do it better and fluff like "True Hollywood Story" just got overexposed, not unlike "Anna Nicole."

In: FX. This channel proved to other basic cablers that one good hit can be the building block to respectability and essential viewing. "The Shield" and Michael Chiklis gave FX immediate gravitas, and though the channel passed on the very funny sitcom "Lucky" after one season (there was nothing else funny to build it around), it struck gold again with "Nip/Tuck," a powerful, adult drama about plastic surgeons. It’s a slow build, this empire making, but FX is off to an exceptional start.

This exercise, by the way, could drag on if allowed to. Because it would be easy to clump MTV and VH1 in the out group, replaced on the "in" side by sibling Spike. You could argue that PBS has been replaced by a series of better cable offerings and debate the merits of the Disney Channel versus Nickelodeon.

What’s clear, though, is that with the networks delivering fewer surprises or real quality (only CBS and Fox seem vital), cable is pressing for added attention. Sometimes the arguments are old — Showtime believes it is rising out of HBO’s shadow, for example — and sometimes there are legitimate claims to being established (USA Network, which has "Monk," "Touching Evil" and others).

In either case, yes, the cable universe is definitively less fringe than in the past — now more in than out — and it is successfully changing the landscape of television, one cult hit and obscure channel at a time.