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Comcast Signs Deal To Acquire TechTV
FPCat writes "Comcast has purchased TechTV. They plan to merge the station with G4. Maybe they'll stop showing Robot Wars and put some decent shows on instead. In either case, with Leo Laporte no longer hosting The Screen Savers, I expect big changes on the station..." (Of course, at this point they've only agreed to buy.)
1) I will finally have techtv again on comcast 2) Techtv will have more funding which will provide for better programming. I guess when you can't buy disney the only thing left to do is buy techtv. It's a sad world we live in when megaconglomerates can't get everything theey want
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You mean just like msnbc which covers all the anti microsoft stories just like the rest of the media?
Maybe they'll stop showing Robot Wars and put some decent shows on instead
I dunno what Robot Wars your watching, but the UK one is a really good show. The only thing spoiling it now are the adverts! (It changed channels here, never used to have adverts before.)
Does this mean I might lose tech tv on my Directv satellite? This just allows Comcast to come out, and charge enough for the programming that other providers(small cable companies,directv,dish network) cannot afford the programming. As these large companies such as Time Warner, Comcast etc., start buying up more interesting programming such as tech tv, I think we will start to see a homogenizing affect. Worst case, they may find that these channels don't generate enough ratings, to make big ad dollars, so they drop them, after they have been assimilated.
I'd love this too, problem is that only maybe 10 people would watch it. :/
The rest wouldn't even change to THAT channel..it would just hurt their brains too much.
The lowest common denominator is just too damn low.
"I'm not a procrastinator, I'm temporally challenged"
By time I got to watch a decent stretch of TechTV again, it was December of 2001 and the channel was shot. TSS was repeating upwards of four times a day, that Lockergnome freak was destroying Call for Help and the news department seemed to ship everyone off to CNN.
Fast forward a little bit to 2002/2003 and Comcast now has G4 and Anime Network. TechTV is trying to get into anime (never figured that one out) to reach a "hipper audience." G4, even in its initial prime, was akin to watching a post-2001 TechTV (how many of you have watched our very own Wil Wheaton hosting the same handful of "Arena" episodes for close to a year?!?).
Now, I'm no fan of Comcast, but this does one thing: solidifies geekdom in one channel.
Comcast should:
1) Bring Wil back; 2) Give Leo a big, fat payraise; 3) Create a proper news department; 4) Send all of the anime over to Anime Network;
And, most importanly:
5) Get G4/TechTV (GeekTV?) and Anime Network on DirecTV so I CAN WATCH/TiVO THEM, DAMMIT! :D
In all, this is probably a good thing...
It would be nice if it were more like a discovery channel for tech stuff.
Er... TechTV is.
What, you think Discovery Channel (and its progeny) are hardcore science/history/etc.? Please. I enjoy a lot of programs on those channels, but I also know they're about as well respected by "serious" historians and in-field scientists as The Screen Savers is respected by real techies.
Not kissing up here, but TechTV is boring and dumbed down (often infuriatingly so).
Yes, but TechTV's outgoing owner is Vulcan Ventures, which is a VC firm that's mainly owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. So, one link to MS out, another in. I don't think this is much of a net change at all from that perspective.
It can also be used as a quick reminder of the current HOT tech topics, personally, I forget alot of stuff that I am interested in because there is so much.
Adam Sessler is good at what he does. The way Morgan talks it seems like she's not a gamer at heart. Morgan is cute but NOT hot. How she won the PLayboy contest is beyond me.
Adam is eccentric which fits the part of game reviewer nicely. I prefer watching this much more than watching someone like Kevin Rose acting like he's 1337.
Right. With their 7.4% of the company, they control the entire direction of the company.
Maybe Comcast simply wanted to branch out into more fields, like movie-making and distribution? Getting a piece of the action that the stations themselves pay for the rights to air a given movie or show would be rather nice for the bottom line.
Or maybe... just maybe... the head of Comcast (whose name eludes me right now and who reportedly runs things pretty much on his own) wants to turn Disney back to what it was. Some people -- even CEOs -- do have fond memories of what Disney was at one time.
Oh, wait... This is Slashdot. Let me adjust my words for the benefit of the community.
COMCAST IS IN IT TO RULE THE WORLD! THE HEAD OF COMCAST HAS A COLD LUMP OF LEAD FOR A HEART AND IS INTERESTED ONLY IN THE BOTTOM LINE! HE IS EVIL AND MUST BE STOPPED!!!
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
The better somebody is at being a geek, the worse said person is at appearing on TV. Leo's interruptions are mostly of the nature of keeping the guest on topic and on pace, which is the responsiblity of any TV host. Sometimes, you've just got to cut the guest off because letting them ramble is even worse TV.
...I can't stand TechTV. It's the biggest example of "armchair techie" pandering around. You can't watch TechTV and expect to learn anything from it that's of any use unless you're a typical home user or hobbyist. When I first got DirecTV, I was hoping that TechTV would be less consumer oriented and more technology oriented. But most of what they feature on their programming is very boring and old news. Then their non-technology programming blows pretty hard too. I mean, Thunderbirds? Come on! Why not feature good SciFi that is truly "geek worthy". Doctor Who comes to mind. Anyway.. I imagine TechTV will go from worse to hellish. Fortunately I don't watch much TV these days and I NEVER watch TechTV.
Un-news
Seems to have left out mention of the viewers. Guess it's not a win for us. Will it be like MSNBC and "The Site" all over again? Screw the intelligent programming, let's pander to product placement and marketing!
Ok, Adam, yes. He acts like he's stoned, drunk, and/or dizzy all the time. But Martin? Come on, you can't get rid of him. What would a channel about the internet be without a show that mostly just talks about porno?
TechTV has recently covered several issues the night before they are posted to slashdot. (Including the "tech news" part of TSS.)
If TechTV needs to go, then Slashdot should go too...
(Besides, we all know that people who follow the advice peddled on Slashdot are equally heading for trouble.)
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
Notice what the G4's CEO said "... This merger is a win for G4; a win for TechTV; and a win for our advertising and affiliate partners," I didn't see anything about viewers. In other words I suspect that your worries will turn out to be founded.
I used to love this show and then it disappeared from the TechTV lineup a few years ago. John would moderate discussion between industry experts on a particular topic. And then he would grill them with his own questions. It was always interesting.
Id rather see more programming like this on the channel but I think those days are long gone.
I think TechTV needs more veterens like Dvorak. We know Leo isnt necessarily leaving the lineup, but who knows what in store for us.
Maybe they will bring some talent on board and make some interesting shows.
As much bashing as TechTV has received here, and I agree that some of their programming, like robot wars, was lame, it still was IMO, the best network of its kind. If Comcast takes it over, it will go downhill fast.
One thing I really respected was their desire to not edit out their own computer problems. Someone would call in with a Windows question, and their computer would crash on-air -- and they felt it important to let others see that they too, had problems with blue screens of death and things not working properly. You can bet that Paul Allen's crew will edit out these segments so that everyone who watches will see a flawless computer presentation and therefore think the problems they're having are their fault, and not the result of crappy software.
The TechTV crew are very honest folks that don't bow to the current corporate flavor. I saw them test three brands of wireless push-to-talk devices and they had no reservations about saying which ones sucked and which ones worked. That's refreshing. I guess now we'll see a big string of washed up celebrities going on the show to hawk their latest flop, peppered with more over-hyped software and hardward so that it will be a Tech-ized version of Entertainment Tonite. Oh well. Buh bye TechTV.
YES!!!! Seriously, the guy NEVER let the person he was interviewing finish a thought. Leo always interrupts and gives, usually wrong, commentary on the subject.
Like this:
Leo: So John... how did you come up with the idea?
John: Well, I was going to school at
Leo: You went to University of hogwash right? What was that like in those days?
John: I started at UoH for a semester, but graduated from Noplace Technical. Shortly after that I was working for a startup
Leo: a startup, wow.... you must have been making the big bucks then, what were they doing?
And it would just go on and on like that.
It's SOOOOO nice when Patrick gets to do the interviews when Leo is away, the guest actually gets to speak.
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