G4, also known as G4
TV, is an American
cable- and satellite-television channel originally geared
toward male viewers aged 12–28, devoted to the world of video games. More recently, the channel
has diverted its focus to general-interest programming that targets
male viewers aged 17–36, although video games are still represented
by the channel.
G4,
launched on April 24, 2002, is headquartered in Los
Angeles
, California
, United
States, and owned by G4 Media, a
majority-owned subsidiary of Comcast.
History
Early days
G4 was initially created by Comcast and
Insight Communications. The initial
concept was to create a service similar to
TechTV but "geared more toward
MTV's
demographics". The
network was launched with thirteen
original series, however, during the
first week of airing, on Comcast's
digital service, the video game
Pong was shown. It featured the screen
of a
Pong board, with a game being played out. This was
repeated until the channel's first shows premiered.
The launch shows consisted of:
G4 was originally led by Charles Hirschhorn, a former president of
Walt Disney Television and
Television
Animation. He expected video game creators themselves to
eventually produce programming for the network. He envisioned that
G4 could follow in the footsteps of MTV which in his opinion
provided music video producers with a venue for non-traditional
television programming. Hirschhorn intended G4 to become a vehicle
for unconventional advertising. In 2002, G4 offered advertisers
wide latitude to place their products on G4's programs, and even
allowing their commercials to appear as if they're a part of the
program. G4 also offered what was called a "2 minute unit" which
was an advertising package played as if it were part of a G4
program that was long enough to run an entire movie trailer. G4
also offered to sell the right to have a game showcased on the show
"Pulse".
TechTV acquisition
On March 25, 2004,
Vulcan Inc. sold
TechTV to G4 Media which merged both channels
to become
G4techTV.
The original TechTV
production facilities located in San Francisco
, California, were closed and the merged network
headquarters consolidated in Los Angeles. Hirschhorn headed
the combined entity.
On February 15, 2005, less than a year after the merger, the
letters, "TechTV", were officially dropped from the channel's name
in the U.S. and the channel became known again as
G4.
However,
on the network's affiliate in Canada
, the
"TechTV" letters remained a part of the name until mid-2009, when
the channel was renamed G4
Canada.
Change in format
In September 2005,
Neal Tiles replaced
Hirschhorn as the channel's president. Tiles had previously been a
senior marketing executive at
DirecTV,
Fox Sports and
ESPN.
On May 6, 2006,
Variety,
the entertainment-
trade magazine,
reported,
"Now, under the aegis of Comcast and new president Neal
Tiles, G4 is evolving into a lifestyle channel, peppered with
videogame culture, as opposed to wall-to-wall games."
'We're going through a change.
Guys like to play games, but not necessarily watch a
bunch of shows with games on the screen,' Tiles says.
'So what we're doing now is expanding G4 from a network
solely defined by videogames to one inspired by
them.'"
In 2007, G4, in association with
Earth911[62088], launched an
electronic- waste-recycling campaign called
Gcycle.
In June 2008, G4 launched
G4
Rewind. This block showed older episodes of
X-Play,
Judgment Day,
Cheat,
G4tv.com,
Arena,
Portal,
G4's
Training Camp and
GameMakers.
G4 Rewind was
eventually dropped due to the inability of the dated gaming content
to attract significant ratings, however
G4 Rewind appears
in Daytime reruns for older episodes of
X-Play. In May
2009 G4's website was completely redesigned with a more prominent
role of gaming as the intended purpose. The website is currently in
phase 1 of its "beta" form with 2 other phases coming. Since the
redesign of the website, G4's blog, TheFeed, has been overhauled as
well. On July 31 a new web video game discussion series,
TheFeed: Nightcap debuted. On August 28, 2009
TheFeed
Nightcap debuted as
Feedback.
Consolidation
Comcast, the parent company of both G4 and
E!
television channels, announced on October 12, 2006, that it would
consolidate its west coast entertainment operations, including G4,
E! and Style into a new group headed by
Ted
Harbert, who had formerly run the E! channel. It was announced
that the upper management of the G4 channel would relocate to the
E! channel's Los Angeles office.
On March 4, 2007, it was announced that
the G4 Studios in Santa Monica
, California, would close on April 15.
Production of G4 programs was relocated to the studios of the E!
channel elsewhere in the Los Angeles area. As a consequence, there
many G4 employees involved in production were termimated. The sets
of G4's original programs were also redesigned to fit within the
new smaller spaces allocated to them.
Harbert gave his opinion at the time that the focus of the channel
on "gaming has been demonstrated as being too narrow." He also gave
assurances that while G4 might change, it would not become extinct.
Design Studios Onesize and yU+Co teamed up to rebrand the G4
network as part of the transition.
Layoffs and cut-backs
On February 17, 2009, it was reported that G4 intended to cut back
its original content programming.
X-Play
would be reduced to three nights a week while
Attack of the Show! would be cut to four
nights a week. Consequently, a number of the staff and production
crew involved in the shows would be laid off. Neal Tiles announced
that
Layla Kayleigh's contract will
not be renewed and in April, she left G4.
Criticism
The numerous changes to the network's programming brought on a
storm of criticism from longtime TechTV/G4 fans across the
internet, many claiming that the channel has strayed too far from
its gaming and technology roots, and accuse the channel of solely
relying on shows like
X-Play and
Attack of the Show!.
With most of the remaining G4 original shows having been severely
altered, many saw this as G4's ongoing attempt to be a competitor
to other male-oriented networks such as
Spike, thus losing any unique identity.
The merger and the attempt at male-oriented appeal caused negative
reaction on the
fanbase's end.
G4 HD
G4 HD is a
1080i high definition simulcast of G4 that launched on
December 8, 2008. Currently, no original shows are shot in full
16:9 HD, they are instead
upconverted and presented in
4:3 aspect ratio. However, G4 President Neal Tiles
recently said on his official site
Open Source that some
shows will be shot in native HD by the end of 2009. The
AT&T U-verse system carries the channel
in HD.
Cablevision began carrying the
channel on June 29, 2009.
G4 hosts
See also
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