Edge TV, new gaming channel, announced

[Robair]

Here's a news release about a proposed new gaming network which could take direct aim at GSN, called Edge TV.

This could wind up being an interesting proposition, but it begs the question...how the hell did GSN drop the ball on some of the things this new channel is proposing? The American Crossword Tournament? That BEGS to be televised! (Note the sarcasm meter is off) And chess? Many the day was I was lured away from that first season of TPIR by the live coverage of the Chess Tournament featuring Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, from Iceland, on Channel 13.

[bulldog_06]

Uh oh! Some competition in the mix for next year. I hope this will revert GSN to more classic game shows and ship all crazy games to the new channel.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'bulldog_06\' date=\'Apr 30 2004, 11:23 AM\'] Uh oh! Some competition in the mix for next year. I hope this will revert GSN to more classic game shows and ship all crazy games to the new channel. [/quote]
 I don't think Edge TV will cause GSN to ship any of their non-traditional stuff to the new channel, nor put more classic game shows on GSN. It also isn't likely, much as we might like it, Edge TV will clamor to pick up the rights to air classic game show reruns.

[Mario500]

Game Show Network, if that's what "GSN" means anymore, look what y'all have done? This name "Edge TV" should have been the perfect name for what is now "Spike TV", or should I say "The Non-Spike Lee, Non-Nashville Network".

[itiparanoid13]

I dont think this will cause them to get more non-traditional games.  If anything, with strong competition it will cause MORE of those games.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'itiparanoid13\' date=\'Apr 30 2004, 02:16 PM\']I dont think this will cause them to get more non-traditional games.  If anything, with strong competition it will cause MORE of those games.[/quote]
What strong competition?

GSN has 55 million more homes than Edge TV has now.  Even with digital tiers opening up, it's going to be difficult for any new channel to gain a foothold, unless they can make deals with the big MSOs.  Just because they've put out a press release doesn't mean that the channel's going forward.  I'd rather wait for the launch date (and see if they launch with over 10 million homes) before making any pronouncements about Edge's success and their effect on GSN.

[itiparanoid13]

It will eventually start to take some viewers.  It depends on the programming.  If that Edge TV has better non-traditional programming, im watching that over GSN.  I just expect an increase in those nontraditional shows.

[That Don Guy]

[quote name=\'Robair\' date=\'Apr 30 2004, 11:21 AM\'] And chess? Many the day was I was lured away from that first season of TPIR by the live coverage of the Chess Tournament featuring Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, from Iceland, on Channel 13. [/quote]
The problem is, considering the politics concerning international chess over the past few years, it would be impossible to schedule.  I know at least one major media outlet - I want to say the New York Times - actually told its chess correspondant that they would no longer be covering major events like the World Championship as they couldn't afford to send anybody to various points around the world only to find out that the match was called off yet again.

Even if they did agree on when and where, covering a chess match live is a time-consuming deal - what happens when somebody takes 30 minutes for their next move, which is quite possible in the early part of a championship match with 2 hours to make the first 40 moves?

(I remember the PBS coverage of Spassky-Fischer - the chess experts were in the middle of analyzing each move when they were interrupted by the DING DING DING of the teletype bell followed by a printout of the next move.)

-- Don

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'Robair\' date=\'Apr 30 2004, 11:21 AM\'] a)  The American Crossword Tournament? That BEGS to be televised!


b)  And chess? Many the day was I was lured away from that first season of TPIR by the live coverage of the Chess Tournament featuring Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, from Iceland, on Channel 13. [/quote]
 a)  Only if they brought it back in the original "Cross Wits" format.  


b)  The only time televised chess was ever fun is when Gary Kasparov took on David Letterman during his "Late Night Chess" segments in the late 80's over at NBC.

[inturnaround]

find the NPR interview here.Yeah, I agree, EdgeTV would have been a great name for SpikeTV. I think, though, it's a horrible name for a channel that wants to occasionally air chess or crossword tournaments. What's edgy about that?

Still, if Will Shortz is on board like the press release says he is (and I always take press releases with more than a grain of salt, especially in this verrry early stage of development for the channel), then it certainly has picked a great man to advise them.

(On the Fischer-Spassky note: there's a great book on the match and what went into it called "Bobby Fischer Goes to War" that's out now. I found out about it on NPR. They had a great interview with the book's authors. You can find the NPR interview here.)

[Fedya]

If you think the idea of a chess channel is odd, there are two baduk (ie. go) channels in Korea.

(From what I understand, there are also made-for-tv lightning tournaments that are popular in both Japan and Korea, where each player is given a time limit such that the game ends in about an hour, as opposed to the three hours or more per player common among professionals.)

[dickoon]

[quote name=\'Fedya\' date=\'May 1 2004, 04:58 AM\'] If you think the idea of a chess channel is odd, there are two baduk (ie. go) channels in Korea.

(From what I understand, there are also made-for-tv lightning tournaments that are popular in both Japan and Korea, where each player is given a time limit such that the game ends in about an hour, as opposed to the three hours or more per player common among professionals.) [/quote]
 There are frightening and only slightly out-of-date amounts of information about the made-for-TV lightning go tournaments in China, Japan, Korea and across all three in the web site I used to work for.

Undoubtedly good news for those of us with liberal definitions of game shows and a very interesting sign noting the recent developments on ESPN2. Will I get voted off the island for suggesting that this looks more interesting to me than GSN? ;-)

Cheers!
Chris

(who caught a bit of GSN while in Boston last month and is thrilled that his wonderful new girlfriend will watch the $100,000 Pyramid with him)

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'dickoon\' date=\'May 8 2004, 01:14 PM\'] (who caught a bit of GSN while in Boston last month and is thrilled that his wonderful new girlfriend will watch the $100,000 Pyramid with him) [/quote]
 Oh, congratulations, my friend. Marry that one.