Maybe this indicates a trend.

American Movie Classics nowadays shows movies that aren't really "classic" and which are laden with advertising. A&E doesn't seem to show as much of the fine arts as it used to. I suppose the History channel is falling by the wayside similarly.

The other day I saw a special on History regarding the Philadephia Experiment, basically an "area 51" supposed military project which resulted in a Navy destroyer getting teleported, sailors getting fused into bulkheads, etc. That doesn't seem like history per se, more like stuff kinda like history which also is vaguely entertaining.
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Yes, it's still about history. Topics like Nostradamus and Mayan apocalyptic prophecies are still a part of history, regardless of the conspiracy theories or hysteria surrounding them. That being said, The History Channel's goal is to air programming that will garner the most viewers, and unfortunately, that kind of stuff is what does it.
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Back in the day we used to call it the Hitler Channel because of their obsession with WWII. The problem is with variety, they started to stray into some things that don't really fit into the idea of a history channel, like those long documentaries on the antichrist that are based on pure speculation.
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Some of the content might not be as traditionally history based as it was in the past, but compare it to other channels and I'm sure you will agree that it still deserves to be called the History channel. Just think about what it does not air: no reality shows, no sports, no news, no cooking, no teeny drama shows, no comedies, etc.

Maybe I am a bit defensive since it is one of my favorite channels (UFO shows excluded).
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History Channel would be for History as MTV is for Music.
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