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SciFi Changing Name to Syfy

SciFi Changing Name to Syfy

March 16, 2009 By Mike Hickerson 31 Comments

The SciFi Channel is changing its name. Starting later this year, the cable network will change its name to Syfy according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The new name is part of a rebranding campaign that has been in development for the past year. The rebranding will include a new logo and tag-line for the network, “Imagine Greater.”

The changes attempt to address some longtime marketing goals at the network, as well as some practical challenges that having stemmed from trying to use a generic term as a brand name.

“We love being sci fi and we’re still embracing that,” said network president Dave Howe on Friday. “But we’re more than just space and aliens and the future – the three things most people think of when they think of ‘sci fi.'”

Though at first blush more fantastical-looking than the current name, SyFy aims to telegraph that the channel is unique destination without being so different from the current title as to lose the network’s core familiarity.

“What this does is hopefully give us the best of both worlds,” Howe said. “You keep the heritage, but also open up to a broader range of content.”

Sci Fi’s logo is also getting a makeover. The current purple Saturn image will be retired. In its place is the name SyFy raised against a light-taupe wall. While the tagline “Imagine Greater” prods the reader to reconsider the boundaries of the channel and pushes inspirational liftoff.

No word yet on if the new catchphrase “Imagine Greater” will lead to better quality SciFi Saturday films….

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Comments

  1. Kyle Nin says

    March 16, 2009 at 7:30 pm

    I’ll miss the Saturn logo the most.

    Reply
  2. Lejon from Chandler says

    March 16, 2009 at 7:34 pm

    “We love sci fi…” (Mansquito) “and we’re embracing it…” (Chupacabra) “but we’re more than just space…” (Mansquito II) “aliens…” (Anaconda III) “and the future.” (ECW)

    Who do they think they’re kidding, anyway?

    Reply
  3. Summer Brooks says

    March 16, 2009 at 8:03 pm

    Wow, I wonder if my original newsletter and press materials from that first year or so when they started up would be worth anything on eBay now.

    Now, where did I put those…

    Reply
  4. Jeremy from Seattle says

    March 16, 2009 at 8:12 pm

    This is causing quite a stir over on scifi wire. I recommend going over there and putting in your two cents worth.

    Reply
  5. Jarik says

    March 16, 2009 at 9:35 pm

    The rebranding is just an excuse to continue running wrestling and other programming that has nothing to do with fatasy and science fiction. I can
    see better programming on BBC America where I can see quality shows
    instead of cheesy B movies. Sci-Fi is dead to me.

    Reply
  6. Brent Scoles says

    March 16, 2009 at 9:38 pm

    The next step in the desire to homogenize yet another cable channel. This newspeak will not abide well with oldthinkers.

    Reply
  7. Anachronite says

    March 16, 2009 at 10:32 pm

    guess this means SyFy’s premiere week will have a marathon of “Idiocracy”.

    Frakkin idiots.

    Once BSG is gone you won’t even have Sci-Fi programming. If your not going to show science fiction, why even bother trying to sound like Sci-Fi. Just call your channel “Brain Dead TV”, because Ghost Hunters and WWE are two of the worst shows on television.

    Reply
  8. Jeremy from Seattle says

    March 16, 2009 at 11:10 pm

    Oh, crap! Does that mean this will have to become “Slyce of SyFy?”

    NOOOO!!

    Reply
  9. Summer Brooks says

    March 16, 2009 at 11:22 pm

    Since we are not affiliated with SciFi Channel, except for alternately pimping and ripping on their shows, no.

    Actually, maybe this will get people to stop sending us those requests to air certain SFC movies, and asking how to apply to become a contestant on Cha$e or Estate of Panic…

    Reply
  10. Gary from Jacksonville says

    March 17, 2009 at 2:14 am

    I thought this was early april fools joke. Jeez. What is it with spelling things properly anymore?

    Well since BSG is finishing, and I don’t like wrestling, or Mansquito II, I’m not really there target audience anyway.

    Reply
  11. Summer Brooks says

    March 17, 2009 at 3:36 am

    My question is this move makes no sense. NBC/Universal also has a Chiller Channel and a Sleuth Channel, started up in recent years. Why go out of their way to bastardize, emasculate and otherwise eviscerate their SciFi Channel?

    The confusion… it burns!

    Reply
  12. Tammy Smith says

    March 17, 2009 at 3:41 am

    Oh, well. I’ll just stick with BBC America, which is ten times better than Sci-Fi, SyFy…whatever. Nothing new here except the name.

    Reply
  13. D. C. says

    March 17, 2009 at 6:09 am

    All right cut the suits at Skiffy a break on the new name. After all, it’s hard to come up with a short name that encapsulates what they want the channel to be: wrasslin’, reality TV, and crappy monster movies.

    Reply
  14. lindy rae says

    March 17, 2009 at 7:00 am

    If you look carefully, SyFy really spells WWE inside out. 🙂

    Reply
  15. Kurt says

    March 17, 2009 at 7:43 am

    @ DC said “All right cut the suits at Skiffy a break on the new name. After all, it’s hard to come up with a short name that encapsulates what they want the channel to be: wrasslin’, reality TV, and crappy monster movies.”

    SPIKE?

    Reply
  16. Pixcutter says

    March 17, 2009 at 10:33 am

    Yawn! Who cares what they call themselves? Bad spelling, bad programming. I’d rather watch Ghost Whisperer than ANY of SyFy’s movies.

    Reply
  17. David says

    March 17, 2009 at 11:08 am

    What happens to the International versions of SCIFI Channel then? Do they also get a name change?

    Reply
  18. tensaibaka says

    March 17, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    @David: No mention of anything on the Japan Sci-Fi channel….yet.

    Reply
  19. Robin says

    March 17, 2009 at 4:02 pm

    The way I understand it, they’re spelling it wrong because they can trademark the wrongness, which they can’t do with the generic term “sci-fi”. All this bull about expanding their scope is just a red herring, since they’ve been moving away from being strictly science fiction for years. And if they really wanted to avoid the stigma of the term, they wouldn’t have picked something that sounds exactly the same.

    Ahem. [/rant]

    Reply
  20. Michael says

    March 17, 2009 at 4:06 pm

    @David: I guess the real question is how you say SyFy around the world. I know that it’s Le Crappe’ in French, and El Crappo in Spanish. The Emerald Isle will probably just stick with ShiteFy. 😉

    BSG marks the end of my relationship with Skiffy/Siffy. I’ll watch Caprica on hulu, thank you very much, assuming that show doesn’t get the same Double DDT Skullcrusher Piledriver that Skiffy just gave fans of sci-fi over the last few years.

    [Dangerfield] We don’t get no respect… [/Dangerfield]

    Reply
  21. Jason says

    March 18, 2009 at 2:26 am

    Its beyond me how the “sci-fi channel” can have so little science fiction on. You would think that with at least a century’s worth of sci-fi and all the new sci-fi currently out there that they couldn’t find a way to make this channel interesting. Hell, there’s enough material for two pure sci-fi channles and a third one just dealing with fantasy but oh well.

    Reply
  22. Andrew McDonald says

    March 18, 2009 at 8:28 pm

    “Imagine Greater” Really. REALLY?

    I am by no means an expert on the english language (which is sad since I have been speaking it for over 40 years) but does a phrase with a verb and an adjective make any sense?

    Wouldn’t “Imagine More” have been a better tagline?

    And SyFy? That’s just frackin’ stupid. I thought I had read they were going to change it to “Beyond”. It was probably here. That name ROCKS compared to “SyFy”.

    Reply
  23. Alan Jope says

    March 18, 2009 at 9:51 pm

    They should have changed it to Beyond SciFi, then it could be shortened to “B.S.”

    Reply
  24. GazerBeam says

    March 18, 2009 at 10:30 pm

    I’m totally ripping this off another poster I saw, but “Yt stynks”.

    Reply
  25. Melissa says

    March 25, 2009 at 1:19 am

    WTF?

    Reply
  26. ejdalise says

    March 25, 2009 at 3:42 am

    Don’t you mean . . . WyTyFy?

    Reply
  27. the lows says

    March 25, 2009 at 8:20 am

    Next year look for the spin off channel, free clinic of sci fi.

    Tim

    Reply
  28. K says

    April 4, 2009 at 3:34 am

    Since you don’t program SCI(ence)-FI(ction)………..why should your name elude that you do…..my hubby has been complaining ever since you began showing wrestling and other nonsense programming. Just make up another nonsense caption….wait. N(onsense)B C is already taken….try B(ullshit)B C… oh BBC is taken too……C(rap)BC okay try CBC instead of leading us on with syfy….you show NO SCIENCE FICTION to a true sci-fi fan……….change your programming instead of your name!! duh

    Reply
  29. Insight says

    July 8, 2009 at 10:58 am

    The main reason for the change was to trademark the name. “SciFi” being a genre was to vague, with “Syfy” it’s somewhat original.

    Reply
  30. diana says

    July 12, 2009 at 2:51 am

    Hi I am not your typical sci fi watcher, i am a 59 year old grandmother, I grew up on godzilla movies, so I like most of the new sci fi movies! I give them credit forat least trying to come up with something. Do hate wresling, ghost hunters (oh my God when people tell me they really believe them, i do have to question mankind’s future!
    I will watch Star Trek over and over ( all of them) Love Eureka, Sanctuary, the new one Is it Area 51? Going to watch Sand Serpent now.
    I am sure the name change is somehow about money, I know they have to pay the bills. Just watch the sponsers from your favorite shows and if you can, use their products and let them know it! Going to the sponsers is the best way of letting our voices be heard.
    just my 2 cents, I got to get my popcorn for “Sand Serpent It will be better than anything else that’s on tonite!
    ps don’t like that reality sci fi show and ghost whisperer is so poorly done, i’m embarassed for them when i watched it.

    Reply
  31. EvinK says

    July 12, 2009 at 8:54 pm

    The word scifi – is a shortening of science and fiction, which the channel seems to be deviating from. What exactly does “SyFy” mean? I don’t particularly care for WWE or the cheesy monster movies that have been produced lately. I think that since “Farscape” and “Serenity” ended, I need to go elsewhere for my fantasy fix. The channel “Chiller” is going to give them a run for their money.

    Reply

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