# Sci-Fi becomes SyFy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628 "2009-03-16T15:46:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/1 "2009-03-16T15:46:11Z")
As some of you may have already heard, [the Sci-Fi channel is changing its name to “SyFy”](http://www.tvweek.com/news/2009/03/sci_fi_channel_aims_to_shed_ge.php). OK, beyond being a really silly name, it seems that the folks running the Sci-Fi (oops, SyFy) channel have no idea as to who their audience is. An actual quote from the article: > [@TV historian Tim Brooks](#): > > The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular Excuse me? Is this why SyFy really thinks of their audience? Maybe that explains their programming of late. I think they should change their name to OOPS (for “Our Original Programming Sucks”). Oh well, after the final BSG airs Friday there is no reason to watch the channel anymore anyway. Guess they’ll have to make do with their wrestling and ghost hunter fans. ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/2 "2009-03-16T15:48:23Z")
First thing that jumped in my mind when I saw SyFy? Syphilis. Good luck marketing that. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/3 "2009-03-16T15:53:58Z")
What the hell? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard of in a long history of stupid things. I guess they realized that wrestling isn’t really sci-fi, so they need to divorce themselves from being the sci-fi channel. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/4 "2009-03-16T15:58:55Z")
I can only assume they’re looking to expand in the “White trash who spell their kids’ names with too many 'y’s” market. At least their attempt to distance themselves from science fiction might mean the inevitable implosion resulting from super-dense concentrations of stupidity will harm noone but themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Prox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@Prox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prox)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/5 "2009-03-16T15:59:15Z")
SyFy? So in their attempt to lose an association with geeks they Magyck up the name? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/6 "2009-03-16T16:03:24Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > I can only assume they’re looking to expand in the “White trash who spell their kids’ names with too many 'y’s” market. Don’t know what you’re talking about. Regards, Byffy ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/7 "2009-03-16T16:04:10Z")
Wow, that is pretty much a textbook example of failed marketing. In addition to alienating your core customers (ie science fiction and fantasy fans) you are creating an incomprehensible brand for yourself that no one will understand or associate with anything. The SciFi Channel has always been terrible though. Other than Battlestar Galactica and maybe Eureka do they ever have anything worth watching? Every time I turn past it, it’s made for TV movies like Megashark 4 or Alien Supergator 3. Who cares if it doesn’t appeal to the female audience? They have We or Oxygen or Lifetime. The problem with cable tv is that it is loosing it’s specialized programming and rapidly turning into a hundred variations of USA Network. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/8 "2009-03-16T16:14:51Z")
My immense respect for their 11th-Hour rescue of MST3K was tarnished by their interference with that show. Over the years, tarnish has turned to sludge. They’re dead to me now. How stupid is it to take your only core fanbase and basically say “We don’t want them anymore. We’re going to call them names and then change our entire identity into a generic mud puddle.” ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/9 "2009-03-16T16:25:47Z")
It’s the network trying to make its audience watch stuff that the network thinks they should watch. “Oh that sciencey stuff is too geeky. Here, we’ll put on stuff that’s good for you.” Can you imagine if CMT called it’s viewers unsophisticated hicks? However one feels about one’s viewers, one should remember that you can’t make them watch what YOU like. One must play what the VIEWERS like. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/10 "2009-03-16T16:30:49Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > The SciFi Channel has always been terrible though. Other than Battlestar Galactica and maybe Eureka do they ever have anything worth watching? Every time I turn past it, it’s made for TV movies like Megashark 4 or Alien Supergator 3. To me, it’s always been a bit hit-or-miss. Their original series, which have usually been on Friday nights (BSG, the two Stargates, Farscape) have been pretty good, and some of their original miniseries haven’t been bad. But, their Saturday night movies are almost always atrocious. As has been discussed in other threads, they’ve got wrestling because NBC Universal had to honor a contract with the wrestling folks, and they decided it no longer fit with the audience on USA. They agreed that it wasn’t “sci-fi”, but they had to put it _somewhere_. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/11 "2009-03-16T16:33:03Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > It’s the network trying to make its audience watch stuff that the network thinks they should watch. “Oh that sciencey stuff is too geeky. Here, we’ll put on stuff that’s good for you.” > > Can you imagine if CMT called it’s viewers unsophisticated hicks? > > However one feels about one’s viewers, one should remember that you can’t make them watch what YOU like. One must play what the VIEWERS like. I’m not sure I agree with this. It’s a valid (if extreme) strategy to dump the programming that appeals to your core viewers and rebrand yourself to go after another market. The weird thing here is that aside from being vaguely recognizable as a variant spelling of their old brand, the new brand name says nothing about what new kind of people they’re trying to attract or what kind of new programming they have to offer. (Sci-fi fangeek and proud of it, for the record.) ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/12 "2009-03-16T16:34:02Z")
Wow. That’s idiotic. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/13 "2009-03-16T16:35:39Z")
People, it’s just like Froot Loops: If they spelled it “fruit,” they’d have to put fruit in it. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/14 "2009-03-16T16:36:56Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Who cares if it doesn’t appeal to the female audience? They have We or Oxygen or Lifetime. The problem with cable tv is that it is loosing it’s specialized programming and rapidly turning into a hundred variations of USA Network. Oddly enough, I actually like USA. There’s a definite theme to both their original series and their syndicated offerings. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/15 "2009-03-16T16:37:28Z")
FTFA: The network worked with the branding consultancy Landor Associates and went through about 300 possibilities before selecting Syfy. “When we tested this new name, the thing that we got back from our 18-to-34 techno-savvy crowd, which is quite a lot of our audience, is actually this is how you’d text it,” Mr. Howe said. “It made us feel much cooler, much more cutting-edge, much more hip, which was kind of bang-on what we wanted to achieve communication-wise.” 300 names and this is the one they chose? ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/16 "2009-03-16T16:38:55Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > I’m not sure I agree with this. It’s a valid (if extreme) strategy to dump the programming that appeals to your core viewers and rebrand yourself to go after another market. But a tricky one. But this is sort of academic. We here like good scifi. So it’s not like we watch that channel much anyway. I mean, will I really get upset that they may stop playing movies like “Mansquito?” ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/17 "2009-03-16T16:44:35Z")
When cable networks change their names like this, it almost always means they are abandoning their original mission and going for whatever programming they can sell. Look for a marked decrease of SF on the channel, perhaps even its total absence. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/18 "2009-03-16T16:47:48Z")
You know what this means don’t you? Now there’s an opening for a REAL Sci-Fi Channel. No more wrestling. No more crap. Well some crap. Crap can be fun. Why hasn’t one of the ubergeek Internet gazillionaires tapped into this now untapped market? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/19 "2009-03-16T16:54:14Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Look for a marked decrease of SF on the channel, perhaps even its total absence. Been like that for a while already, ain’t it? ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628/20 "2009-03-16T16:56:19Z")
In very probably related news, [Sy Fy Portal](http://www.syfyportal.com) has recently renamed itself “Airlock Alpha”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-becomes-syfy/489628.md?page=2)