The new "SyFy" Channel

My disgust with the SciFi Channel has reached a new zenith with thisannouncement first brought to my attention by the folks over at Penny Arcade. I'm tempted to say I

My disgust with the SciFi Channel has reached a new zenith with thisannouncement first brought to my attention by the folks over at Penny Arcade. I'm tempted to say I

"By changing the name to Syfy, which remains phonetically identical, the new brand broadens perceptions and embraces a wider and more diverse range of imagination-based entertainment including fantasy, paranormal, reality, mystery, action and adventure, as well as science fiction."

I don't understand the reasoning to change the name at all if the programming will remain basically the same.  They've aired series that were not exclusively science fiction for years now.  Hercules, Ghost Hunters, ECW professional wrestling, Painkiller Jane, Sightings, Scare Tactics, and Tremors can all be classified outside the definition of science fiction and yet they ran on the network. 

I've read that they are trying to shed their geek image and broaden their audience, but I believe all they will wind up doing is alienating their core causing the people who do watch the network to go elsewhere for their entertainment, just like G4 when they attempted to lose their video game based identity.  Scifi wants to discard the geek image why change the name to something that is phonetically the same exact thing?  Although, I do understand that the new spelling will allow the network to copyright productions that bear the name, i.e. Syfy Presents.  Although, that never stopped The Discovery Channel, Military Channel, Science Channel, Food Network or DIY Network, so actually it still makes no sense.  Like Scifi is meant to be short for science fiction, DIY is short for do it yourself. 

Anyway, I hear there is a new Stargate series in the works...I never liked Atlantis, but I am curious, hesitantly so.

Make some cool moives and not B- movies I hope 

I love Sci-Fi but the only thing I have watched on there for a long time has been Battlestar Galactica.

“When we tested this new name, the thing that we got back from our 18-to-34 techno-savvy crowd, which is quite a lot of our audience, is actually this is how you’d text it,” Mr. Howe said. “It made us feel much cooler, much more cutting-edge, much more hip"

Yeah thats less geeky. Cause we all know the "techno-savvy" kids are the "cool" kids. Ridiculous!

@PenguinDust: You hit the nail on the head in almost every way. This DOESN'T make since at all. I can understand on a basic level why they might want to change the name to reflect their broader programing, but you would think someone in the company would realize the reasons why this is a horrible idea far out weigh the good. Its almost like this was some bad April Fools' joke that was going around the office and just wound up getting out of hand. As for Stargate, I did like Atlantis even though it had a LOT of missed potential, but I'm not feeling too excited about the next series based on what little I've heard about it so far.

@Gmanall: B-? Isn't that being a big generous?

@Maxszy: Eurika is actually pretty good. You might want to give that one a shot. And as for Battlestar... well, let just say I'm just not in the mood for another rant. Here's hoping the finale tonight actually manages to salvage something out of the series.

@graphicartist21: And remember what Jeff and Vinny learned; popularity leads to intimacy. It all makes since now! Those poor repressed SyFy execs...

They play Twilight Zone sometimes... Otherwise that channel doesn't need to exist.