SCI FI to Become SyFy?!

by Josh Roth @ 9:27 am March 16th, 2009

What the frak are you doing to yourselves, SCI FI Channel? First you start airing wrestling, then you cancel your flagship show (Stargate SG-1), then the wildly popular spin-off to your flagship show (Stargate Atlantis), and now this?! In an announcement that’s shocked and awed the sci-fi crowd, NBC Universal’s SCI FI Channel has announced it will be changing its name to SyFy to appeal to a wider audience. This is just the latest in a long line of bad ideas from SCI FI in an aim to make itself less of a geek network.

Dave Howe, president of the SCI FI Channel, says the change is meant to “without abandoning our legacy or our core audience, we needed…a name that we could own that invites more people in and recognizes our broader range of programming with literally something for everyone.” SCI FI Channel, for everyone? Isn’t the purpose of a cable network, to market to a specific audience? When we sci-fi nerds no longer have the SCI FI Channel as a refuge for our crazy science fiction classics then where do we turn? Since the dawn of cable SCI FI has been a refuge for us nerds and geeks, a place we can feel safe to turn to at any time of the day.

I suppose with sci-fi shows on the big networks (Heroes, Lost, Dollhouse, etc.) fans have other places to turn to for their science fiction fix… But I am thoroughly disappointed in SCI FI Channel management, yet again. This just reinforces what I said before, that SCI FI Channel doesn’t want to have anything more to do with science fiction. That’s a bit of hyperbole, but you get the point. They no longer want Stargate to be their flagship product, the problem is it’s not clear where they want to head from here. More reality shows? More wrestling? Ugh. Or maybe, just maybe, they’ll have more fantasy shows instead of only science fiction (a move I can get behind). But then why change the name at all?!

Not to mention the name is utterly meaningless. At least SCI FI actually means something. Phonetically the two are the same, but come on, it’s clearly a ploy to come off as ‘cool’ or ‘new’. Will people really see ‘SyFy’ and think “Hey, that looks hip”?

Regardless of SCI FI’s end game for changing their name, it sounds like an ignorant move that will further alienate their own fanbase. It sends the message that they’re no longer satisfied with having a loyal base of geek fans who are geeky and proud of it.

SCI FI Wire: SCI FI Channel to become Syfy; “Imagine Greater” is new message

TVWeek: Sci Fi Channel Aims to Shed Geeky Image With New Name