DirecTV Drops G4

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
I guess this is what happens when your ratings suck. Anyone else still miss the days of TechTV?

"Since G4 is among the lowest rated networks based on the latest Nielsen data, we decided that it made sense to focus on preserving programming that is more relevant to our larger customer base." Ouch!
Click to expand...
 
Could've seen this coming. G4 never was much good for anything, but they've managed to go from "okay, will watch for Ninja Warrior" to "why do they even have this channel?" in pretty short order.
 
Steve said:
I guess this is what happens when your ratings suck. Anyone else still miss the days of TechTV?
Click to expand...

I still miss ZDTV... still have my Silicon Spin coffee mug lol

I dropped DirecTV when it became G4... there was just no reason to watch anymore...
 
i dropped G4 when G4 changed from techtv, other than oliva munn, g4 had nothing worth watching.
 
Steve said:
Anyone else still miss the days of TechTV?
Click to expand...

A big emphatic YES! I especially miss watching The Screensavers live. They had stuff for newbies as well as tech heads on that show, so it was something I could watch even with friends that didn't know much.
 
G4 actually had good content and I used to love watching machinima.., but the latter G4 has been heavily absorbed by shows like cheaters, cops and movies that SUCK...If I want to watch cops and cheaters I would have canceled my Directv subscription and just watch it on FOX.
 
Now if only TWiT.tv would buy G4, fire all the hosts, and change the names of the shows, the cycle could be complete.
 
Only reason I watch G4 is the many reruns of cops. And occasionally "Movies that dont suck" are decent ones. But the commercials make me mad all the time :( And the stupid little "news updates" they do about "tech and gaming" during commercials... :(
 
Wow, I would have thought they would have tossed this into their basic package with the number of other channels hardly anyone watches/wants like BET.
 
I bet I'll end up with at least one service call now for "G4 is not available". Happened when we lost Versus this past year. I get on average 2 a week because the TV is on the wrong input/channel believe it or not...
 
sfsuphysics said:
Wow, I would have thought they would have tossed this into their basic package with the number of other channels hardly anyone watches/wants like BET.
Click to expand...
Yeah, imagine the shitstorm that would ensue if they were to drop BET :)
 
Not a huge surprise. G4 has sucked since it took over tech tv.


They should bring back the screensavers and crap. If I wanted to watch reruns of Cops, I'd just tune into one of the other 50 channels that show it 24 hours a day.
 
Believe it or not, BET is consistently in the top-20 of watched cable networks and usually equal or slightly better than MTV in terms of average total day viewers.

While G4 is usually #50 in viewers for their targeted group (18-34 males) older viewers it usually does not chart. To put this in perspective BET may average 250k-300k viewers in a day, G4's total day is usually 26k-34k. They pull in good numbers when they show E3 and Comic Con and that's about it. And don't forget that the main reason Comcast acquired TechTV was because DirectTV wouldn't sign them they they were starting out, so this is basically DTV telling Comcast to pound sand again.
 
Well, to be honest…ALL the people on G4 were annoying as shit. Like fingernails-on-a-chalkboard-I-want-to-punch-you-in-the-face annoying. even the chick on the show annoyed the hell out of me when she talked. Ack!

People want to watch shows with hosts that you feel like hanging out with. Patrick Norton. Leo Laporte, Morgan Webb were all the kind of “laid back cool” kinda people you wanted to watch.
 
olivia-munn-jiggle-02.gif
 
yes G4 can disappear for all I care. They buy out tech tv and destroyed everything that made it decent. I admit I sometimes watch Cheaters and Ninja but I definitely wont lose sleep over them and they come on other channels anyway.
 
Blazemore said:
Morgan Webb....oh baby
Click to expand...

Oh baby indeed. I remember when she did that Maxim shoot. The only reason I've ever bought that magazine.

The think I liked about x-play is that the hosts actually (for the most part) played the games. I liked Tech TV because it showed reruns of their own shows (screen savers, that weird night time talk show and X-Play) instead of cops and cheaters (which I don't care about).

Basically G4 became Gamestop television, targeting the Madden players of the world, which I'm totally cool with but why did it have to kill Tech TV in the process?
 
G4 was a steaming pile of crap ever since they took over Techtv and fooked that all up.

The only thing good they had was that Olivia Munn chick. Everyone else that had a show on that channel was a douche especially that Kevin Peirera reject.
 
G4 was also bought by Comcast. It happened when everything went from TechTV to G4, so that explains why the channel went to shit too.
 
Part of the downfall was after they became G4 they started doing alot more Adult programming.. Which isn't bad but every show the hosts would have to make(and it mostly sounded forced) vulgar jokes.. Now I'm not a prude but I liked TECH TV because it was more family friendly oriented and Steve was on ScreenSavers regularly showing off the [H] knowledge.. :) The last time I watched G4 I was watching the movie TIME COP with VanDamme... I loved X-play and will miss it..
 
TechTV was alright. G4 was shit.

The problem with the original idea of a technology or gaming oriented channel is that when it was conceived no one had the forethought to understand that web video would be taking off like it did. Combine that with the rise of high quality journalism being produced from knowledgeable enthusiasts on websites and blogs all for free for the last 10+ years which caused most of their target demographic to end up getting their information in a much more digestible, and engaging manner than what a TV channel is capable of providing.
 
Old G4 and old TechTV were fantastic. I regularly watched both channels because they had amazing programs. I would watch Icons back-to-back all day long and switch to TechTV for The Screen Savers.

After the merger everything went downhill. Attack of the Show is a piss poor substitute for Screen Savers.

I miss Martin Sargent.
 
My guess is that crap shows like COPS and Cheaters are super cheap for networks to use as filler. I think good filler would be old TechTV content.

Ryokurin said:
Believe it or not, BET is consistently in the top-20 of watched cable networks and usually equal or slightly better than MTV in terms of average total day viewers.

While G4 is usually #50 in viewers for their targeted group (18-34 males) older viewers it usually does not chart. To put this in perspective BET may average 250k-300k viewers in a day, G4's total day is usually 26k-34k. They pull in good numbers when they show E3 and Comic Con and that's about it. And don't forget that the main reason Comcast acquired TechTV was because DirectTV wouldn't sign them they they were starting out, so this is basically DTV telling Comcast to pound sand again.
Click to expand...
Aside from G4's lack of good programming, think about their demographic: people that know where to go to get the "television" they want and then think about BET's demographic: people that probably still depend greatly on television to inform or entertain them.
 
kaname said:
G4 was also bought by Comcast. It happened when everything went from TechTV to G4, so that explains why the channel went to shit too.
Click to expand...

G4 has always been Comcast.

Along with E!, Style Network, Golf Channel and Versus. They also used to own a lot of QVC before they sold it off
 
The Screen Savers was awesome, I remember how pissed I was when I found that last cast member had left and the only one left was that newbie at the time Kevin Pereira. I thought," he want last". I am sorry that I was wrong.
 
Yeah loved ZDTV and TechTV. G4 is horrible.... I liked "Code Monkeys" that was about it.... and of course G4 canceled that show. Thankfully most of the TechTV crew are on Revision3.com. I feel Revision3 is a lot like TechTV was, or close enough. :)

Tekzilla is my current favorite on theor site. HD Nation is otay too.

http://revision3.com/tekzilla/packets
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top