Hollywood Reporter:
NEW YORK -- The Sci Fi Channel is now Syfy.
The rebranding -- same pronunciation, new spelling -- marks the NBC Universal network's effort to broaden its programming beyond the science fiction genre, and the network officially kicked off the new phase of its life here Tuesday.
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They supposedly did market research on this. They tested Syfy and two other names, neither of which were actually available. From the sites I frequent, including what was Sci Fi, all I've seen is an overwhelmingly negative response. I think someone's six-year-old thought it was funny, so low and behold, we get treated to Syfy.
"Syfy", by the way, is a pretty nasty word in Polish.
They should have use the two Greek letters (Psi and Phi) and kept Saturn, but these guys haven't done anything right since they canceled Farscape.
Thank you, exactly my thoughts.
The rebranding seems kind of pointless. The network has the same name, but now it seems like it is misspelled.
not only misspelled, but "dumbed down" as well... (sigh) all part of the Rollerball Nation
as long as we're on our way to being a Running Man nation im ok with it.
How much money did they spend to come up with this tripe? I'll play consultant for them for free -- it's a dumb idea. Change the name completely and push the new image or don't - but don't expect a simple change of spelling with an uglier logo to do the job of changing the brand.
And "imagine greater"? WTH is that supposed to mean? Imagine greater pizza? Imagine greater weather forecasts? Imagine greater suntan booths? Imagine greater liquid soap? Imagine a greater logo (seriously)? Imagine greater what?
Here you go: SciFi Plus-Imagination Unlimited (or Unbound). Hell just name the channel IU (Imagination Unlimited) and go from there.
Free of charge. It may not be any better than what they came up with but it sure isn't any worse for five seconds worth of thought. And I'm most definitely imagining a greater logo.
Reminds me of the Jim Gaffigan bit about how they came up with the name 'Hot Pocket' .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9c9lAfXQHs
"Think different."
This is a dumb move.
I could see "Cy Fi". Cy for Cylon.
This is great. Now, not only will I not be able to find it on my cable network, I won't even be able to spell it. It's eerie, it's weird, it's so....sci-fi...er, sif fi, uh...seye fie...forget it.
What the channel needed was a change in their VP of programming, not their name/logo. I can think of more great SciFi Network shows that were canceled than ran for more than two seasons, and the exceptions to this rule are few and far between. They're a network that dreams big and executes mightily small.
There's a mountain of science fiction material available that could be used for original movies or series, but they're putting out X-Files retreads like Warehouse 13? PfffffffffffT!
The other problem being that when they do pick interesting material (cases in point, their versions of The Shining, Dune and Earthsea), they consistently manage to screw them up.
I think "SyFy" suffers from the DC Comics syndrome, it's a relatively small company owned by a much larger one that has no clue how to market the material effectively or broaden the demographic.
Gotta be honest, I enjoyed the Dune miniseries. The first one, at least. Way better than that David Lynch mess. Kyle MacLachlan? *scoff*
But yes, they did ruin the second one.
hate it
This is the stupidest thing of all time.
And if the RepubilKan Party rebranded to "The Great and Powerful Oz" they would still be ratpigs and politically irrelevant.
SciFi, SyFy, it doesn't matter. It's a lousy science fiction channel.
I don't care how they brand it, if they were actually providing something of quality. Ghost Hunters is such a snooze as to only be good for insomniacs, and many of their homegrown sci fi movies are comparable in quality to Plan 9 from Outer Space.
If you read your web site, this is a corporate move to be able to have a registered name they can sell.
Absolutely. Their "Sci-Fi" er, "SyFy" Original movies are some of the worst on air. I wonder what advantage they can gain by having a trademark-able name. What Sci-Fi fan would wear a t-shirt that said "SyFy" on it?
Is that pronounced "Siffy"?
As long as I still get to watch Eureka, I don't care what they call themselves.
Yeah, this'll work. We want to broaden the channel beyond science fiction fan, but we'll still pronounce it exactly like "SciFi"; our programming will basically be the same and still be almost exclusively science fiction/fantasy stuff.
But the viewers won't notice. We've got a nifty new spelling and a new logo! A new logo!
One wonders who the genius was behind this marketing strategy?
No kidding! It's a move worthy of the GOP's recent efforts at re-branding.
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First Posted: 07- 7-09 03:06 PM | Updated: 08- 7-09 05:12 AM