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SCI FI vs. Syfy and Other Cable Channels That Changed Names

Maj Canton - July 6, 2009

Scifi_syfy_400x400

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.