We’ve known this was coming down the pike for some time and figured once Bonnie Hammer was promoted with greater leverage at NBC Universal her influence over the SCI FI Channel would bring about several changes, the most noticible being a name change.
Rumors running across the Net is the channel’s bigwigs are considering the name “Beyond,” which to them will reflect the move “Beyond” science fiction which has been quite evident over the past two years. Not sure how the pay channel Showtime will feel about the use of this name since they already have a specific channel in their lineup with that particular title, but at this time, all this is rumor and speculation — however sound of a foundation it appears to be resting on.
Stay tuned to Slice of SciFi for updates.
Bigness says
Great, now they have an excuse to put more cr@p on like wrestling!
Jeremy from Seattle says
That name is TEH_MEH
virginia says
Wonder-Foul. The final nail in the coffin of the once-great Sci-Fi Channel. They have finally killed it completely. 🙁
Skiznot says
I remember the ray of hope I felt when Scifi started producing BSG. I remember when that ray was extinguished when Scifi produced Ghost Plumbers. Now instead of looking forward to more good space scifi I guess I can look forward to Mailmen looking for Bigfoot.
Vanessa says
This is a another sad day for us nerds…/sniff
Tallgrrl says
For a minute it was Beyond me why they’d pick such a lame-assed name. Then I remembered the wrasslin’ and other decidedly not sci-fi stuff they’re showing…and it dawned on me.
The name is to save face.
“Hey, we don’t just do sci-fi! We do other stuff as well so quit yer bitchin’ , you geeks!”
I still have the little SciFi Channel button I got at NAB (I think…or some other TV trade show) when it was kicking off.
I shall treasure it and mourn the loss.
ERIKA says
It is another sad day for us nerds. The SciFi channel has become more and more of a disappointment over the past year or so. Hopefully someone with enough $ and chutzpa will create a start-up dedicated to us Sci-Fi fans.
Hell BBC America has more going on than Sci-Fi channel.
the lows says
beyond? why not wwf? or stuff you dont wanna see on saturdays? or maybe MTV 3? no music or sci fi?
beyond epic fail i think.
darcy
M.Talon says
It started with MTV/VH1/MTV2. None of those channels show music videos anymore unless it’s early in the morning, late at night. Most kids probably don’t even know what the acronyms stand for.
The real slide began when TechTV gets bought by G4 and turned into a Spike wannabe that is neither about tech or gaming anymore. Fitting, since Spike was originally The Nashville Network, a country music channel that got homogenized.
Now Sci-Fi is going that route. Specialized channels are definitely going the way of the dodo. And people wonder why I keep considering ditching my TV and putting a PC with a large flatscreen in there.
Brandon says
Bleh…
I’m just glad I have The Science Fiction Radio Theater to fall back on for all of my science fiction needs.
–end shameless plug–
Seriously though, I don’t get it, why change the name?
Brandon from TSFRT
Eric says
If they do change their name it means that someone could make a real Sci-Fi channel.
Emily says
And the real funny thing is I was just about to say that Eric.
Don’t you feel a little kick in the face when you read this? But this really is a outward blow to our faces that the audience it started with is not the audience they want anymore . Honestly, FOX has more scifi then scifi. “Beyond”? Beyond what? Beyond crap? Beyond the ability to come up with something good?
connie mc says
SiFi use to be one of the best channels. they spent so much time in redoing battlestar gal & dropped all of its competion. then putting wrestling on. wtf?! since when was wresting science fiction. its a sport. now i know what the problem is.. nbc is running it. everyone knows nbc is always last in the popularity race. has been for many years. makes me wanta turn my sat off!
stevehops says
Good, maybe my site http://tvscifi.com will stop getting their complaint emails!
I knew something was up when FOX and USA both show more scifi than scifi channel. Some new possible network names:
“Tights,” the wrestling channel
“Canadian Monster Vision”
“Degree,” The Product Placement Network
“Infomercial Central”
stevehops says
Skiznot on September 24th, 2008 7:02 pm
“Ghost Plumbers,” LOL
Yes, that “reality” scifi is even worse then the fake wrestling!
seth says
good… let it die. I for one am glad that they are moving “beyond” sci-fi.. the channel has been a MAJOR disappointment for a long time… yes there are shows on that channel that i love… atlantis sg-1 ..even ghost “plumbers” (lmao!!!!)
but if sci-fi isnt going to make science fiction its modus operandi then screw them… let them have their wrastlin (yes im from the south! LOL) and let them have their shameless plugs… ill move over to spike and watch DS9 and voyager… i am okay with ditching them…. you know kinda like they did to us…
sci-fi channel = EPIC FAIL
ALibertarian says
Why is it that there is so much source material out there that gets produced SO BADLY? Movies, TV and SciFi channel. Occasionaly we get a bright star like BSG but most of the time we get junk. I gave up on SciFi when they put on wrestling
Nathan Ealy says
When the SCI-FI channel goes away, I think we can all be thankful that those awful SCI-FI produced movies will go away.
This sort of thing seems to happen with every basic cable channel. They stray from its orginal focus. It happened with MTV. Remember then they actually showed vidoes? TVLand is straying now. They’re producing reality TV shows now. How does George Foremen = classic TV? The History Channel shows Ice Road truckers. I watched a lot of that. They managed to squeeze 30 seconds of history content into each episode.
It seems the people who run these channels aren’t skilled enough to keep their channels interesting and keep their focus.
On the bright side though, after the SCI-FI Channel is completely destroyed, they’ll probably create SCI-FI II. Where they will show actual SCI-FI, like MTV 2.
steve davidson says
Check out The Classic Science Fiction Channel, my ‘rant’ on the broadcaster I call ‘skiffytube’.
Lot’s of great stuff that OUGHT to be showing on SciFi Channel, but has been replaced by wrestling and ‘paranormal reality’ shows.
Good riddance, I say
Melissa says
But why change something if it isn’t broke?
I think they have too much free time on their hands between green lighting those craptastic Saturday night movies and allowing wrestling to take over Tuesday nights.
This is what Scifi should be:
http://video.scifi.com/player/?id=22139
Kyle Nin says
I was wondering. If they do change the name, would that mean that they’ll change the “saturn” logo as well?
marilyn says
We have been devoted sci fi fans for years, and to be so INSULTED by the producers and program directors of the sci fi channel is too much to be tolerated!
It was bad enough when they took Dresden off the air… that was something to look forward to on Sunday nights. And Firefly, Farscape and so many others… great shows!
Now, when is Eureka due back if ever? They quit mid season!!! With no word about returning?
Do they really think sci fi fans will watch the wrestling shows or those outrageous ghost plumbers? And then the plumbers go international?! YUK!
The insults keep mounting and soon… very soon, they will lose ALL their viewers.
Way to go folks!
Tim says
I finally got fed up with the trail of trash that comes on during the holidays and came to the computer to bitch. Lo and behold I was not alone.It really is too bad.I am saddened at the demise.We can all be confident that one day something good will happen on the sci fi front.Yet I fear it will not be today.
ckevn says
I would like to know why there are so many moronic movies on here. Who is sucking who, in order to put crap on this channel? I realize that T.V. in general is geared to a sixth grade mentality, but does anyone here realize that sixth graders have become smarter and more sophisticated?
Terrible plots, scripts and acting are rampant on this joke of a channel supposedly devoted to imagination; I think you people do too many drugs while masturbating…go play in traffic!!!
Amanda says
Oh and get this they have changed the name to SYFY. They even admitted of trying to get out of the scifi image. They want a name they can trademark. Notice that the SYFY portal name is changed and then a couple of weeks later SCI-FI is chaning their name to SYFY.
Scott says
It’s not about programming nor the fans but the marketing and profit. Wrestling generates money and advertising revenue. It’s not about the fans and it hasn’t been about the fans since MST3K was canceled.
Scott says
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/business/media/16adcol.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
“According to SNL Kagan, a media research company, Sci Fi had 95.2 million subscriber households last year, compared with 93 million in 2007 and 88.2 million in 2006. SNL Kagan estimated ad revenue for Sci Fi at $423.9 million last year, compared with $392.7 million in 2007 and $394.6 million in 2006.”
And this is KILLER:”“The testing we’ve done has been incredibly positive,” Mr. Howe said of the Syfy name, reading what he described as a comment from one participant: “If I were texting, this is how I would spell it.”
So the name change has been decided on because it’s easier to spell when texting. What they don’t tell you is the ‘test audience’ was a group of 12 year olds.
Mike Martinez says
Being nerds you fail to see the big picture…M O N E Y. As you may have noticed sci fi shown on the SciFi channel has become less and less in the past 5 years. What you may ask caused this…M O N E Y!!! Other venues such as HULU, Netflix, and studio web sites have taken the air rights to the Sci Fi we used to watch by being able to pay more to show them. The SCI FI, excuse me SY FY, not being able/willing to compete and pay with these new ways to view programing started putting in fillers like wrestling, staged ghost shows and all of the other non science fiction that airs over 50% of their air day. So the ball buster exec is correct to change the name of the channel. However maybe it should have been named “Just another channel to rip off viewers so I get rich” channel.