It's all about niche marketing kids. As a guy who owns a production company I do more 30 second spots than you can shake a tail less P38 at. Right now it's plenty of ole fashioned mud slinging political spots as it ti's the season here in the states.
HiTech is right on track with running the spots on History Channel and Military Channel. The target market for their product is sitting there with their eyes glued to the set. And I will guarantee you that the cost per spot on those cable networks is less than hitting the major US networks, even if you don't have a wiz kid Media Buyer.
So in short, you're hitting more eyeball of your target market on cable than you would on network...and it's cheaper.
Big Mickey