Sci Fi Channel President Dave Howe announced that the channel is changing its name (but not the pronunciation) of the channel to Syfy, effective 7 July 2009. Along with the new spelling comes a new tag-line: “Imagine Greater”. The change, according to a press release, “broadens perceptions and embraces a wider range of current and future imagination-based entertainment beyond just the traditional sci-fi genre, including fantasy, supernatural, paranormal, reality, mystery, action and adventure. It also positions the brand for future growth by creating an ownable trademark that can travel easily with consumers across new media and nonlinear digital platforms, new international channels and extend into new business ventures.”
The New York Times says NBC Universal executives (the corporate parent company) are introducing the new name today, during upfront presentations (when networks pitch their new seasons to advertisers, seeking commitments of advertising dollars).
The Times quotes former Sci Fi President Bonnie Hammer—who is now President of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment and Universal Cable Productions—as saying “We couldn’t own Sci Fi; it’s a genre. But we can own Syfy.” She also said that another benefit of the new name is that it is not “throwing the baby away with the bath water,” because it is similar enough to the Sci Fi brand to convey continuity to “the fan-boys and -girls who love the genre.”
In a statement, Howe said “Without abandoning our legacy or our core audience, we needed to cultivate a distinct point of view with a name that we could own that invites more people in and recognizes our broader range of programming with literally something for everyone. Syfy allows us to build on our 16-year heritage of success with a new brand built on the power that fuels our genre: the imagination. Syfy ushers in a new era of unlimited imagination, exceptional experiences and greater entertainment that paves the way for us to truly become a global lifestyle brand.”
With all their psychic ghost hunter stuff, why didn’t they just go all the way and call it PsyFi?
Just to give you a slight update on the SciFi Channel>Syfy story you posted:
It seems that NBCU has purchased the Syfy moniker from me. We sold our Syfy brand that we used as SyFy Portal for more than a decade a few weeks ago through a broker and rebranded ourselves as Airlock Alpha.
Wanted to share that with you.
I posted this at the SYFY (!!!) site:
By Gill Avila at 3:34 AM ON 03/17/09
I lost count of all the negative comments about this totally arbitrary, mindless decision. You didn’t even poll your “core audience” regarding any proposed changes–no input from the very ones you depend on for an audience. Do you even have any conception of who we are? Perhaps I should say, who we WERE. Now the question is, will you pay any attention at all to this tsunami of outrage, or will you continue thinking that you know what we want, if what we want has EVER factored into any of your programming? It’s really too bad that ratings can’t sink a network like they do shows. You’d be gone faster than The Tammy Grimes Show.
This is the dumbest thing SciFi has done. They are only doing this as an excuse to continue making crappy “SciFi Original Movies” and including game shows that can’t possibly be traced to the genre of science fiction. If it weren’t for Sanctuary and Eureka (which, by the way, are too short of seasons to really make up for the crap) I’d stop watching. BSG is out, Stargate is out, Universe and Caprica are coming but that’s just to keep the channel from self destruction. Someone (maybe me) better darn well start a petition against this. Get rid of the crap and EVERYONE will come back to you, bozo. Keep the name “SciFi” and remake your lineup, and it will be a much better move.