Are you annoyed because its "Syfy" or just name change in general?

[jefferiestubes8]

Syfy Universal

NBC Universal is rebranding SyFy in the Asia market which is still called SCI FI Channel to
Syfy Universal

SCI FI Channel becomes Syfy Universal 26 July 2010 at 11pm (SG, HK), 10pm (TH, JKT) 2 June 2010, Singapore –

The core channel rebrand underlines NBC Universal’s ongoing pay-TV channels expansion towards 100 international channels

The rebrand is part of NBC Universal’s multi-million dollar plan to reposition its global network of pay-tv channels around five new core brands – Syfy Universal, Studio Universal, Diva Universal, 13TH STREET Universal and Universal Channel – under the banner of Universal Networks International

Syfy Universal, imagine greater.

June 2, 2010
http://www.mediaresearchasia.com/view2.php?type=press&id=970

A year later and that's what they use in that market?

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^They're using the same branding in the UK now too.

 

[Klaus]

I'm annoyed because most of their programming sucks, whether they call it Syfy or Skiffy or Fred...

 

[Greg Cox]

I'm over the name thing. As long as I get new episodes of WAREHOUSE 13 this summer, I'm happy.

And, I admit, I'll probably check out SHARKTOPUS, just for fun.

 

[Silent_Bob]

The name is stupid. Replacing the I's with Y's.

It just reeks of stuffy old men in suits trying to appeal to the kids by making the name look like something on a poorly formated Twitter page.

Actually the odour you can detect is the stench of management consultants. The whole thing reeks of them, from the "hip" new name to the condescending press release.

No doubt a significant fee was paid to produce the "radical" new name for the Sci-Fi channel, which i am sure will lead to far more success for the old men in suits than investing the money into quality programming.

 

[RoJoHen]

I'm annoyed because most of their programming sucks, whether they call it Syfy or Skiffy or Fred...

Agreed. The new name is dumb, but I don't really care about it. I just wish they would have tried to stick exclusively to quality science fiction. They did it once!

 

[Trekker4747]

So bumping a year-old thread.

Sigh.

 

[Noname Given]

As "science fiction fans" (thus this belongs in this forum), I wanted to know:

a lot of media (Airlock Alpha, Colbert, etc.) has been criticizing Scifi Channel's name change.

The odd thing is how many reporters seem to think we're annoyed that its "Syfy" specifically, and not some other name, like the rumored "Beyond" (they did say they were trying out 300 alternate names in trials)

the point is, I do think "SyFy" is a crowning moment of stupidity for a name (it's pronounced the same, so the hardcore fans will stay! But it will attract new non-science fiction fans!....ugh)

****Okay, *I* just categorically hate that they're changing their name...AND the reasoning behind it -- "attract a non-scifi audience", etc. -- because its a tacit admission that they couldn't live up to the title of being "the Scifi Channel"

So its a perfect storm for me in that it is BOTH a goofy way to try to make your name SLIGHTLY different (Beyond wouldn't have been quite as bad), AND I think its them just openly saying "we hate science fiction"

So I categorically don't like the name change, not so much for what it is, but that they changed it at all.

SYFYlis brought this upon themselves: why have their upfront THIS week? With all the hype from the BSG finale, EVERYONE has now heard that they're changing the name, and are focusing on that instead of BSG afterglow.

***I think Hinman on Airlock Alpha actually made a salient point: it's not so much that its an outrageously insulting move, but that it is the ***LAST STRAW IN A LONG LINE of slights, failures, insults, and abuses.

Truthfully, I could care less about the name. I just wish their programming choices (and ovrall quality of programming) would improve; and Wrestling would get the boot altogether. (Yes, I know it won't as it's some of their highest rated programming; but I can dream). I want Science Fiction (and could also understand those that want high fantasy although I don't care for it); but I swear, SyFy shows as much (if not more) horror related programming than Chiller (the new horror based channel).

 

[Greg Cox]

I'm annoyed because most of their programming sucks, whether they call it Syfy or Skiffy or Fred...

Agreed. The new name is dumb, but I don't really care about it. I just wish they would have tried to stick exclusively to quality science fiction. They did it once!

I don't know. Originally, the Sci Fi Channel seemed to be just a graveyard for cancelled tv shows. I can't say I ever watched it much.

At least now, they keep attempting original programming. Not to mention the occasional import like PRIMEVAL or MERLIN.

I just wish they could have held onto DOCTOR WHO! It drives me nuts that we don't get BBC America.

 

[RoJoHen]

I'm annoyed because most of their programming sucks, whether they call it Syfy or Skiffy or Fred...

Agreed. The new name is dumb, but I don't really care about it. I just wish they would have tried to stick exclusively to quality science fiction. They did it once!

I don't know. Originally, the Sci Fi Channel seemed to be just a graveyard for cancelled tv shows. I can't say I ever watched it much.

At least now, they keep attempting original programming. Not to mention the occasional import like PRIMEVAL or MERLIN.

I just wish they could have held onto DOCTOR WHO! It drives me nuts that we don't get BBC America.

I just miss Farscape.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Syfy annoys the hell out of me for two reasons.

First, the name change.

Second, it seems to have become a vehicle for C. Thomas Howell to direct and act in crappy movies that are so shitty they can't even be considered "B" movies. But, in all fairness to C. Thomas Howell and his "career," he's not the only one who's making movies that make Uwe Boll's films look like Oscar-winning masterpieces.

 

[Morpheus 02]

"Beyond", "Imagine", or "IF" would have been great for a name for a science fiction network. Since SyFy doesn't want to be that anymore, I'm kinda glad they didn't choose those names. "SyFy" is a ridiculous hybrid, though. Am I the only one whose mental tongue slows down every time she reads that? It's as if the diphthongs in the y's get tangled in my brain.

Seriously though, I think the overall reaction has been one of a cathartic release of pent-up frustration with the channel failing to be what sci-fi fans wanted it to be. When it first launched, it was like geek heaven. I remember watching the news mag show that Chase Masterson hosted and just loving it. I remember lazy Saturday morning MST3K with unhealthy late breakfasts and more hilarity than a person should be allowed, even on a Saturday. I remember Sci-Fi Fridays with nostalgic fondness - the programming wasn't always fabulous, but at least they were trying. And you had weekday marathons that you could set up your VCR to tape and get caught up on great old shows that you missed the first time around because you weren't born or were too young to appreciate them.

THOSE were the things I loved about the Sci-Fi Channel. I miss it.

Really, I'd be happy with a sci-fi classics channel that didn't do any original programming at all - just ran reruns of all the old shows and bought the rights to new shows as they came along. Create an AMC or a TCM of science fiction, and I'd been in geek heaven.

For me, IF would hav been the best...their bumper commercials would have been a good transition.

The name would be able to cover fantasy shows (including wrestling ) and psuedo-reality shows


Hmm...don't suppose anyone wants to start a "Sci Fi CLASSIC" channel?

 

[Davros]

The name change just seems stupid and without reason.

 

[melancholymecha]

I have a feeling that in a few more years SYFY will just become another version of Spike Tv. Generic programming aimed at that coveted young male demo. Theyre already halfway there with the wrestling and dumb B action films(Im not gonna call them sci-fi cuz that's just insulting.)

 

[Python Trek]

I'm annoyed because most of their programming sucks, whether they call it Syfy or Skiffy or Fred...

Agreed. The new name is dumb, but I don't really care about it. I just wish they would have tried to stick exclusively to quality science fiction. They did it once!

Yes! With all the channels out there showing stuff from the various genres that Skiffy covers, why not give us more actual _science_ _fiction_? The Speed Channel shows races, Cartoon Network shows 'toons, the Food Network has shows about food, but for some reason, less than ten percent of the SyFy/Sc-Fi Channel is actually sci-fi!!! Ugh.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^Well Cartoon Network are branching out in to live action, MTV rarely does music nowadays, they're not the only one.

 

[Joeman]

I've hated the name change since day one. To me it was just a lame attempt at being "hip", while in reality coming off as just simply being retarded.

While I do find myself watching it from time to time, overall I think they give sci fi a bad name. While I'm not much of a a sci fi geek (Trek is my primary indulgence in that genre), it just seems like every time I try to watch a movie on there, it's some B level crapfest about giant spiders or gators or some other animals with absolutely horrid homemade looking computer graphics and terrible actors. So this gives me the perception that most sci fi TV is cheesy and lame with poor effects and poor acting.

On the subject of TV logo changes, I still don't get the sideways M in the Animal Planet logo. Is it supposed to be a claw mark or something? Bugs the shit out of me for some reason.

 

[Brent]

I'm annoyed because why can't they just be a Science Fiction channel and show Science Fiction? Why are they so scared to be this? Gosh I wish we had a real SCIFI channel. Why does the SCIFI genre get treated so

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I'm annoyed because why can't they just be a Science Fiction channel and show Science Fiction? Why are they so scared to be this? Gosh I wish we had a real SCIFI channel. Why does the SCIFI genre get treated so

It's not the only genre to be treated so, Music with a lot of the music channels, Documentaries with Discovery Channel, apparently Cartoons with Cartoon Network now, and I'm sure many more channels are/have branched out in to areas that aren't their original genre.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Don't know if it's already been mentioned, but it's called channel drift or network decay. It's when a channel changes focus, and some people feel it's a bit like when a show jumps the shark, often marked when a channel begins to refer to itself by the acronym alone. It's the reason The Nashville Network turned into TNN and then turning into Spike. It's why G4, a videogame channel, turned into a Spike knockoff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_drift

I'm not advocating the name change, but they changed to SyFy because they felt it was too restrictive for them in their broader plans. They wanted something where they could sound like "sci-fi" but not be tied down to it. Now in their eyes, they feel free to do what they want, that fans can't pin them down to a specific label, and that's how I feel they're getting away with it.