TechTV and G4 may merge

[dzinkin]

By some accounts, the only decent programming on G4 is Starcade... therefore, this seems apropos.

http://www.tvweek.com/topstorys/120803comcast.html

Thoughts?

 - David

[Jimmy Owen]

Well, as long as they keep Game Sauce....

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Dec 8 2003, 01:38 PM\']Well, as long as they keep Game Sauce....[/quote]
"Game Sauce" is now on GSN.  It's the first acquired half of the video game block that everyone loves.  

[Jimmy Owen]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Dec 8 2003, 01:48 PM\'] [quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Dec 8 2003, 01:38 PM\']Well, as long as they keep Game Sauce....[/quote]
"Game Sauce" is now on GSN.  It's the first acquired half of the video game block that everyone loves.   [/quote]
 I know, I wuz jes kiddin'

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'dzinkin\' date=\'Dec 8 2003, 11:37 AM\'] By some accounts, the only decent programming on G4 is Starcade... therefore, this seems apropos.

http://www.tvweek.com/topstorys/120803comcast.html

Thoughts?
 [/quote]
 If that meant TechTV was moved into the Digital Basic tier of my cable (say, where G4 lives now...even Analog would fine, but I'm not holding my breath) instead of the Digital Extra package they wanna charge me an extra seven bucks a month for, then I am 100% in favor of this acquisition.

[chris319]

When did Allen buy Tech TV from Ziff-Davis, around early 2000? It'd be interesting to Google around and find his purchase price at the time.

[inturnaround]

Yes, it was around January 2000 that Paul Allen bought ZDTV from Ziff-Davis. (It was rechristened TechTV in the summer of that year)

The going price at that time was $320 million dollars, so it's $20 million off the price Comcast is allegedly paying for it now.

I would suspect that this would indeed lead to wider carriage for TechTV/G4, but I don't know what the new channel would look like. I would suspect that a hybrid game/internet/gadget channel would see more eyeballs than just a video game channel and, as such, might even get moved to analog in some areas.

[ilb4ever2000]

I would suspect that a hybrid game/internet/gadget channel would see more eyeballs than just a video game channel and, as such, might even get moved to analog in some areas.

Anybody else get TechTV on analog? I have since 2000, at least.

[pianogeek]

I do here at Comcast Analog at Cherry Hill.  Since I'm also a TechTV fanatic in the their bulletin boards, let me briefly describe the network.

When the network started back in 97 or 98, it orginally was ZDTV.  The programming content was all news based on solely computers, techbusinesses, products and Internet, and live interactive "how-to" shows that teach a viewer how to fix a computer or work some gizmo.

After Paul Allen bought the company in 2000, couple of months later in November or December, beyond the name changing to TechTV, they dumped all news programming, kept the live "how-to" shows since they were popular, and started expanding their coverage of technology to other interests, not just computers and internet.  In addition, they started showing entertainment shows to fill the gap, like Max Headroom, Japanese anime, and Thunderbirds.  (Which in my opinion, I'm not a big fan of.)

Recently as you know, the network hasn't been profitable in making money and demo ratings.  (Yes, I read in their company profile at the site that they're hungry for a male 18-36 demo.)  And so, here we are.

I was a huge fan of the ZDTV in it's early days.  Tasteful information about computers and the Internet.  That's very similar to the programming we  enjoyed with Game Show Network in it's early days, before president David Fleming and programmer Jake Tauber took away the Goodson-Todman product (except TPIR and FF'94) and began that "Dark Period".

I don't know what the future holds for TechTV as they're in their quasi-"Dark Period" with the recent programming moves, but I hope the merger, if it is official, will satisfy both the ZDTV hardcorers (if that's a word) and today's TechTV audience.

~sanford

[chris319]

My question to the Tech TV people is this: Do they think all 18 - 34 males are hard of hearing? The reason I ask is because so many of their on-air talent like to SHOUT.  They SHOUT worse than first-year drama students. Leo Laporte SHOUTS. Martin Sargent's talk show is unwatchable because he SHOUTS his way through it.  When people come into my living room I don't want them SHOUTING at me. I mean geez, it's not like there's a live rock band in the studio that they have to SHOUT over.

Note to Martin Sargent: switch to decaf.

[Radiofreewill]

[quote name=\'ilb4ever2000\' date=\'Dec 8 2003, 03:32 PM\'] Anybody else get TechTV on analog? I have since 2000, at least. [/quote]
 Channel 54, been there since I moved into town in 2000.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Dec 8 2003, 02:28 PM\'] Leo Laporte SHOUTS. [/quote]
 Hmm. I'd like to see him on TechTV and see if Chris's interpretation of his delivery is anything like what it used to be when he did radio. Leo started out in radio in San Francisco...my first experience with Leo was when he was co-host on "In The Kitchen" with Harvey Steiman, and it was clear he was co-hosting because he was "the radio guy" and Harvey was the expert. Then he moved on to be The Radio Guy on John C. Dvorak's Sunday morning computer show on the same station, and he's stuck with computers ever since.

I liked his delivery on radio, it was energetic while inoffensive...I hope TV hasn't ruined him.

[Radiofreewill]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Dec 8 2003, 04:59 PM\']I liked his delivery on radio, it was energetic while inoffensive...I hope TV hasn't ruined him.[/quote]
Never got to hear Leo in his radio days, but that is a perfect description of his style on TechTV.

BTW, Leo is doing some radio and non-TechTV appearances this month. Here's the schedule from his weblog.

[DrBear]

For what it's worth, Tech TV is on ch. 44 on Time Warner Green Bay. Lower, anybody? (G4 is on channel 143 or something like that).

[tommycharles]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Dec 8 2003, 04:59 PM\'] [quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Dec 8 2003, 02:28 PM\'] Leo Laporte SHOUTS. [/quote]
Hmm. I'd like to see him on TechTV and see if Chris's interpretation of his delivery is anything like what it used to be when he did radio. Leo started out in radio in San Francisco...my first experience with Leo was when he was co-host on "In The Kitchen" with Harvey Steiman, and it was clear he was co-hosting because he was "the radio guy" and Harvey was the expert. Then he moved on to be The Radio Guy on John C. Dvorak's Sunday morning computer show on the same station, and he's stuck with computers ever since.

I liked his delivery on radio, it was energetic while inoffensive...I hope TV hasn't ruined him. [/quote]
 I always found Leo's delivery to be good - I haven't watched his show since it became TechTV, but he seemed like an intelligent guy, and if he was prompter-dependant, it didn't show.

Obgameshow: I was always waiting for techTV to create some kind of game show where folks had to hack into something (1st to do it wins), or that kind of thing.

T
www.46664.com (I'll put that in my signature one of these days so I can quit typing it everytime)