SCI FI vs. Syfy and Other Cable Channels That Changed Names
Maj Canton - July 6, 2009
Tomorrow it's official. The SCI FI channel is dead. Long live Syfy. It's not the only cable network to rename itself, but it definitely is one of the more controversial name changes.
Discovery makes a living out of renaming its channels without creating much debate. Discovery Wings was promoted to the Military Channel. Discovery Science evolved into the Science Channel. Discovery Home received a makeover as Planet Green. In 2010, Discovery Health will become OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. No real controversies here.
When two networks combine forces, there's not much choice but to rebrand. UPN and The WB became The CW. M2 and The Box made music as MTV2. HA! and the Comedy Channel stood up as Comedy Central. TechTV and G4 rebooted as G4techTV. Again, no viewer outrage when these networks were renamed.
And then there are a bunch of networks that slowly changed names and programming over time. Each name change wasn't a big deal, but the channel is completely different than when it started. Can you imagine the number of tweets when The Nashville Network changed to Spike? How 'bout when the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) switched to ABC Family? Yet, that's exactly what happened.
Let's take a look at these two cable networks and see how they changed through the ages.
SPIKE
| NAME | Spike | Spike TV | The National Network | TNN | The Nashville Network |
| DATE RENAMED |
May 2006 |
August 2003 | September 2000 | 1998 | March 1983 |
| LOGO |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| TYPES OF PROGRAMS | Bad Boys | For Boys | WWF Boys | Good Ol' Boys | Country Boys |
| PEOPLE ON TV |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
ABC Family
| NAME | ABC Family | Fox Family | The Family Channel | The CBN Family Channel | CBN Cable Network | CBN Satellite Service |
| DATE RENAMED |
November 2001 |
August 1998 | 1990 | August 1988 | September 1981 | April 1977 |
| LOGO |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| TYPES OF PROGRAMS | Some Young People Playing Around | Some Young People Playing Games & Singing | Some Old People Playing Games & Singing | Some Old People's Shows | Some Old Shows | Some Old Christian Man |
| PEOPLE ON TV |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Other Cable Networks with Multiple Name Changes
- Hallmark (Aug 2001): Started as VISN/ACTS (1991) after American Christian Television System (ACTS) & Vision Interfaith Satellite Network (VISN) merged. Later renamed as: Faith and Values (1993); Odyssey (1996).
- HLN (Dec 2008): Started as CNN2 (Jan 1982) and then renamed as: CNN Headline News (1983); Headline News.
- Investigation Discovery, ID (Jan 2008): Started as CBS Eye on People (1996) and then renamed as: Discovery People (1998); Discovery Civilization (1999); Discovery Times (2002).
- AmericanLife TV Network (Mar 2005): Started as the Nostalgia Channel (1986). Later renamed as: Nostalgia Television; Nostalgia-Good TV (1998); GoodLife TV Network (1998).
- TV Guide Network (Jun 2007): Started as Prevue Guide (1988). Later renamed: Prevue Channel(1993); TV Guide Channel (2007).
- We tv (2006): Started as Romance Classics (1997), then renamed as WE: Women's Entertainment (2001).
- Versus (Sep 2006): Started as Outdoor Life Network (Jul 1995) and then renamed OLN.
- ION (Jan 2007): Started as PAX (Aug 1998) and then renamed as i (Jul 2005).
- BET J (Mar 2006): Started as BET Jazz, then renamed as BET on Jazz.
* We didn't include cable networks that only changed their names once because it's a pretty long list. If we forgot a cable net that changed its names multiple times, let us know in the comments and we'll add it to the list.
Comments
Post a Comment- From: Breon
- Date: July 7, 2009
You forgot ZDTV which changed to TechTV then combined with G4TV which was shortly named G4techTV and is now just called G4
- From: Celeborn
- Date: July 7, 2009
"TechTV and G4 rebooted as G4techTV. Again, no viewer outrage when these networks were renamed."
Wrong. TechTV was skinned, gutted and consumed by G4. The resulting network had near-zero TechTV programming or personality equity retained. It became useless. I dumped it from my channels and never looked back. Anybody who remembers TechTV knows what I speak of.
Here's hoping "SyFy" doesn't reboot "SciFi" and brick.
- From: Eric Schatz
- Date: July 7, 2009
not exactly a rename per se but might fit your criteria: Alpha Repertory Programming Network > The Eintertainemnt Channel > Arts & Entertainment Channel > Nick at Nite
- From: Mike
- Date: July 8, 2009
@Celeborn: I think that G4techTV dumped all of the TechTV talent -- the real talent -- about eight months after the channel was renamed. There wasn't too much outrage at the time of the rebrand, but you're right, there was extreme outrage later.
- From: JayEff
- Date: July 8, 2009
Let us not forget that American Movie Classics is now simply AMC, and it seldom shows any 'classic' movies.
- From: Breon
- Date: July 8, 2009
@Mike - They still have Morgan Webb (mmmmmmm) and Adam Sessler...but your'e right. That's it. I miss Screensavers and the other TechTV shows.
- From: DASP
- Date: July 8, 2009
Breon, et.al.: You guys are so right. Despite being a 45 year old female gamer at the time, I used to watch quite a bit of G4 six plus years ago. I liked the format. (I was crazy about Portal - it was hilarious!) Now, it just shows crappy shows lite Cheaters, etc. Horrible what they did to that channel, despite the fact that they have branched out and grown tremendously. Do they still have the televised annual G4 Awards?
- From: vids
- Date: July 8, 2009
I think that MTV should be forced to change their name since the network it seld has changed so much that they no longer even feature MUSIC, which is what the M used to stand for.
- From: jc
- Date: July 13, 2009
Feel free to join my yahoo group here to discuss this very topic (of course you can still discuss here) just giving you an option
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/defunctcablenetworks/