G4 Drops TechTV Name

MrM writes "According to the latest press release from G4techTV, G4 will drop the TechTV name in mid-February 2005. This comes as a major step to the old TechTV viewers, as the focused content has become gaming-oriented once more. G4 also released a copy of their "redesigned" logo, but quickly pulled it off the web after release." The article also includes details of "two new series, "Formula D" and "Girls Gone Wired." Formula D appears to be coverage of Drift Racing (because obviously gamers love that), and unfortunately Girls Gone Wired appears to be exactly what you'd expect: Guys ogling video game characters in a beauty pageant.

Uh oh...

[grub]

The dumbing down of G4 starts.

Soon you'll have "Trading CPUs" where neighbours trade machines for a day and soup them up and "What Not to Warez" where a couple of leet kids go through your hard disk and erase downloaded software.

Well Duh.

[allenw]

They are obviously trying to steal "back" the viewership from Spike TV. That whole Video Game Awards thing means war!

Re:"Girls Gone Wired"

[Israfels]

That's because there's more virtual women than there are ACTUAL women that are into technology.

And the verdict is out!

[ZeeExSixAre]

Girls Gone Wired appears to be exactly what you'd expect: Guys ogling video game characters in a beauty pageant.

"She's not even real!"
"But she's hot..."
"But SHE'S NOT REAL!!!"

Re:Uh oh...

[stupidfoo]

Queer Eye for the 'Pretending to be a 14 Year old Girl' Guy?

Re:Uh oh...

[ch-chuck]

A good show might be "Windows Eye for the Linux Guy".

Dan Rather's new job

[AtariAmarok]

Don't forget Dan Rather's new TV show on G4 after he leaves CBS. His first show is an expose on Bill Gates' monopolistic tendencies. He uses as evidence Microsoft Office 97 files which Gates filled out with incriminating information in 1977.

Re:Hmm...

[Anonymous Coward]

Offtopic? Did you see the list of shows...there is nothing to see here...

comcast board meeting transcript:

[Packet Fish]

comcast board meeting transcript (spring 2004):

TechTV guy: No, I think our game content is fine the way it is. Plus our rating have never been higher.

Comcast G4 guy: Fine, I didn't want to own your network anyway. I'll just go start my own network with my own shows, with black-jack, and hookers. Infact, forget the shows.

This is GREAT NEWS!!!

[bman08]

Finally, an opportunity to get my knitting show aired. If anyone from G4 is reading this; it's a show about knitting... FOR GAMERS. The needles are sharp, and so is the humor. This is a match made in heaven. G4 CONTACT ME!!! I've got other shows too that'll be perfect for the gamers; including an English Lit project that... it's just a fit. I know it.

Next up...

[bill^2]

... the merger with Yahoo, creating G4Y! network.

Geeks everywhere nod in agreement.

/bev/null... need more beer

Re:words fail me

[hoggoth]

>> a digital beauty pageant featuring the hottest 2D and 3D women on the planet"
> Thats just sad...

Yeah, how stupid just featuring video game women, overlooking such hotties as the Little Mermaid and Jane Jetson.

Re:Not a huge surprise

[Punk Walrus]

Pure tech is too hard to translate into a full channel, and if you dumb it down to reach a wider audience, the core people who would watch a pure tech channel can't stand the content.

One fix may be daytime "4 n00bs" programming, and then after, say, 8pm, when those people are watching CSI or some reality TV, have more hardcore stuff.

8am: Anime for the jobless
9am: Anime for the stoners
10am: TechVision presents: Gadgets for the kitchen
11am: Alton Brown
12nn: Squared Foot gardening: Gardening for people in apartments
1pm: Shojo anime
2pm: Anime for stoners: repeat (they won't know)
3pm: Anime for teens
4pm: Anime for preteens who want to be teens
5pm: Anime for kids who want to be preteens
6pm: Robots that fight with each other
7pm: "Call for Help" - for newbies
8pm: New Gadgets
9pm: Gamer's Hour
10pm: "Call for Help" - for case modders/tweakers
11pm: "Call for Help" - Linux/BSD (this may need to be 2 hours)
12mid: "Disclaimer" - Hacks for Hackers on the Edge of legality
1am: "Look what we found on Bittorrents!
2am: "Don't do this at home"
3am: Anime for stoners: repeat (they won't know)

Re:Uh oh...

[Esion Modnar]

Dumbing down starts? I don't think you can get any "dumber" than G4 already is. The poor TechTV souls...

At least not until the yet-to-be-announced merger of G4 and SpikeTV.

Re:SOB....

[99x]

what was comcast's intent in consolidating the 2 channels in the first place? within a couple months tech tv was barely recognizable ? what's left...TSS, Anime Unleashed and X-Play. I think the head of Comcast is a Morgan Webb fanboy and is hoping to get lucky.

Better yet

[Swamii]

Query Eye for the Oracle guy

Re:Not a huge surprise

[SunFan]

Pure tech is too hard to translate into a full channel...

For hard core viewers, it is actually very easy. Just broadcast PCI bus waveform traces of people downloading porn over their network card.

The "drift racing" show idea is even dumber.

[Darlington]

OK, maybe nothing's dumber than the "Girls Gone Wired" idea, but "Formula D" is right up there:

"Formula D," the first-ever series to showcase the world of drift racing, will burn up the screen in April on G4.

For those who don't know, drifting is the act of powersliding your car sideways. It's something rally drivers do to maintain speed around tight corners, but apparently idiots get together in parking lots and just drift in big stupid circles for hours. So it's not even a sport, it's a small part of a sport. It's as if someone took away the football and just had 22 guys run up and down the field for three hours, and said, "look, a new sport."

I was going to tell Comcast to drop dead, but clearly they're trying to commit commercial suicide and don't need my encouragement.

Re:logo?

[Anonymous Coward]

This it? [textamerica.com]