Slashdot Mirror
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.)
Yes, because as we all know, Comcast means Quality.
- oZ
// i am here.
There. I've said my piece.
___ Shout Central - Crushes your nuts!
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
NJ Local Music Scene
When they stop people from hosting, they let them finish everything they have planned first -- they just don't yank them off air. His time will probably be up in a few days to a week.
"Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher
...since Microsoft owns quite a chunk of Comcast, once this deal goes through you will have heard the last of any criticism of Microsoft or their products on TechTV.
Perhaps well soon see Super-X-killerBOT agaist Mickey Mouse Show.
Anybody else have a weird feeling that Comcast is trying to buy out the entire world....
Why yes... we are....
Anyways... how much for your house and family??
I have some lineup show ideas.... 1) On Macs 2) Chicks of teck world 3) On open source 4) Hot chicks of the tech world in bathing suits 5) Cool new toys 6) Hot chicks of the tech world in bathing suits showing off cool new tech toys 7) A show of extreme dating meets tech folks (with hot chicks only) .....
Evolution or ID?
It is to bad that both of these stations just seem to stay very light on the true tech stuff. It would be nice if it were more like a discovery channel for tech stuff. Heck I would love a station that shows different algorithms, or different ways to do things in different languages. But Tech TV and G4 (Especially G4) just seemed like the Commercial Channel that advertises all that is l33t. Tech TV has a couple of good show but they were still laking. I guess that is why I watch Nasa TV.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Even though I only have basic cable, I have seen countless hours of TechTV and G4 when I had the chance. TechTV showed in 1 hour what G4 bloated into 8.
G4 never had potential. Games are an interactive media. Why in God's name would you want to read news and view clips of other people playing games when you could be playing them yourself? Why wait 25 minutes see a review on a game you're curious about when you can go online and find it in 25 seconds?
Hopefully this merger will in effect kill G4 completely and simply give TechTV a little more programming devoted to video games instead.
But then again, you'll probably have to pay a premium channel fee to get this new 2-in-1 channel anyway.
Let Adam Sessler be next to go!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
You mean just like msnbc which covers all the anti microsoft stories just like the rest of the media?
Some explanation to the Disney bid! I couldn't figure out why Comcast wanted a somewhat-struggling content provider in their portfolio, but now I see that They (as in MS) were looking for that key 3-12 year-old demographic.
"Daddy, Mickey said that all Linux users are terrorists, and that I should kick you in the shins until you buy Windows 2600"
The previous sig has been removed due to
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.)
G4 has posted a FAQ on the merger.
is that Comcast HATES HATES HATES DirecTV. G4 has never been on DirecTV because of that. Philadelphia Phillies games are never shown on DirecTV (at least not ones with Phillies coverage) because of their hatred of satellite.
I really hope that it doesn't cause TechTV to disappear off DirecTV. I have about 6 shows with Season passes on my TiVo from TechTV. I'll be seriously pissed.
In fact, I'm already pissed. I like TechTV just the way it is.
Joe Siegler
Webmaster - 3D Realms & Black Sabbath Online
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.
Did you read the link in the blurb? Oh yeah this is /. The link says that Leo wanted to leave, not that he was getting dumped.
However his blog doesn't say anything about this as far as I saw in my short viewing so I don't even know if the link in the blurb has it right.
*crickets chirping*
-my other sig is your mom
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 will really be a shame when he's no longer hosting TSS. I remember when he and Kate were the hosts, and seriously, it was absolutly the best show on the air. It's sad, but a lot of on-air geeks really lack any real personality whatsoever. Not Leo. He is funny, interesting, insightful (you know, all the +1 words). He's the reason I began watching the show almost 6 years ago, and his leaving is the reason I'll watch it no longer. Besides, everyone else on that show is annoying as hell!
He is, in reality, why I'm an IT manager today
We love ya Leo!!!
>(Of course, at this point they've only
>agreed to buy.)
At this point, I've onlya agreed to watch.
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
My Bill went from basic programming for about 30something dollars to 70something dollars. Who's my cable company? You guessed it. Comcast.
I still pay out the cash, though the thing that really irks me is that I don't get the stations I had come to take for granted. TechTV, CNBC world (OK, I'm a dork), and a bunch of other, slightly less important channels.
I guess I'm glad, as I'll apparently now likely get TechTV back, but I seriously hope this doesn't mean another rate hike (above the 8% from last fall, out of which we got zero new channels, and a new arrangement of channels so that I had to relearn every channel again.
My Rant is done...I'm going to go watch Dawson's Creek.
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.
I'm with ya, bud. Leo 'n' Kate, then Kate's emigre to that game show (jeez - I can't even remember what it was called before X-play). The current host set is odd, at best. I haven't watched it in over a year because they're just not the same. It was funny as hell when Woz and Mitnick hosted - stuttering, stammering, hamfisting their way through 90 minutes of fun TV time. The most annoying to me is that Kevin Rose dude. While I admire his enthusiasm for, and advocacy of, Linux and open source, he seems to be trying a little hard to be geeky (man, I wish that was true in high school ;) I think he thinks he's 1337 h@x0r or something. One of his "Dark Tips": Kazaa Lite. WTF? I wish I could stick it to the man like that.
I also reply below your current threshold.
I don't even have cable, and I've seen TechTV a lot (by watching other people's DirectTV).
It's pretty good. The Screen Savers is a general technology talk show, and Yoshi makes a bunch of sweet cases (especially Mini-ITX). Call for Help is a good guide if you use something other than Windows and you get bombarded by requests to fix computers because "you're smart with computers". X-Play is a decent game review show. Robot Wars can be very fun (robot carnage is awesome - just watch an episode or two). Future Fighting Machines is good if you're a military nut. They've got all sorts of shows on the making of or the meaning of movies and shows - they recently had a big one on LOTR to coincide with the release of ROTK. They also have some other good shows, but most (including Robot Wars and FFM) are simply rebroadcasts of BBC shows.
The fact is, computer-based news/facts are so much more easily obtained on the web (with a computer, of all devices). What you're suggesting is like making a radio station dedicated to innovations-in and methods-of television broadcasting.
I can understand what you're looking for, but television is the wrong medium. Stations like G4/TechTV will always be targeted towards those who plan to make the jump into computers, or who have only been recently indoctrinated into the WWW.
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.
I remember watching this show in college. Back then they previewed new video cards, talked about software, and played will all sorts of gadgets. They also let people know about new products comming out. So I am suprised the show never took off. I never once was offered Tech TV with my cable deal after leaving the dorms (it has been many years, and I now get 60 channels, twice as many as in college). I know when I was in college, if Tech TV gave a good review for some cool product, someone in the dorm would purhcase it. So they had a great audiance for selling products. I wonder why they failed?
Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."
My $0.02. TechTV is pretty decent, with "screensavers" possibly being the closest Slashdot will ever get to being on television. You can grab most of the highlights and show abstracts of the website and save yourself some cash. G4 ("the gamer's network" i guess) on the other hand is tolerable in doses, and are obviously still in the progress of building the brand up. They only run during the core hours of the day (infomercials latenights and early mornings), and re-run content in short intervals (less than a week in some cases) with no remorse. To their credit, they're pioneering a tv genre, so I have hopes that it'll get better in a few years. Merging the two seems unlikely, but combined they may wind up with enough quality programming to fill a whole day of scheduling.
While I hate to see Leo no longer hosting TSS, so long as Patrick Norton is still there we're ok. I think he's one of the only true geeks on TV right now. Rock on Patrick.
Keep Austin Weird!
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.
While Leo might be interesting for the color he adds to the show, I have to admit that I cringe when he tries to offer help on any really technical problem. Usually he bumbles around a little bit while Patrick looks something up on the web, then Patrick can give the caller some ideas.
Contrast that with Patrick/Kevin. In this case, Kevin starts out by immediately giving some useful advice, then Patrick chimes in with advice of his own and the websites he just found. All in all, it's better advice to the callers.
My wife has stopped watching TSS due to Leo. With luck she'll start again. I just hope that they don't bump the 11:00 CST rerun of the show; that is the time slot I always catch.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
Two nights ago, I came home from work to find that my TechTV was no longer included in my programming. I called Comcast to see what was going on and they informed me that the 'Buisness Network' channels were now $5 more a month. This included TechTV, Bloomberg, and a few others. Of course, I told them to go ahead and charge me the $5. I was curious about the sudden billing change, but now I understand. A lot of money was probably spent on this, and I'm sure they wanted to see how many users jumped at the chance to have TechTV back before they annouced the buy.
In general I like Leo (especially as compared to many other TechTV-ers), but you are sooo right about his interrupting. It's like he's so enthusiastic to show off how much he knows that he
Leo jumps in
"finishes their sentences for them and follows up with another couple of points that leave the guest just to sit there and give an awkward, 'uh, yeah' while Leo continues on? Yeah, I hate that, too..."
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
I've been watching TechTV for about 3 years now, and I can tell you that Leo didn't always interrupt his co-hosts or guests. Only within the last 9-12 months has this started to happen. He used to work VERY well with Patrick Norton.
There is a local public access technology show in my area, and the host on that show NEVER lets his guests finish their sentences. It must just be something about the business.
Shatner, your agent called, something about a margarine commercial.
Save Maine's economy: write stuff down. All comments are exclusively my own, not my employer.
Yes, yes, and yes! It will be called: Whipped Cream Panties, Linux, and You.
I also reply below your current threshold.
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.
Wrong. It was started by Ziff Davis. I actually had DirecTV and watched the launch. It was called ZDTV at the time. It was sold to Paul Allen and renamed TechTV
Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
I't "FAB" with me
Faith: n. -- That human impulse that drives them to steal appliances when the power goes out
Or will Comcast pull it from DirecTV in another lame ploy to get us all to subscribe to lame ass "digital cable?"
We all know how wonderful Comcast's "customer service" has been...
The shows I catch are:
The Screen Savers - some call in help, but mostly coverage of new computer technologies, product reviews, tips and advice on photoshop, cool tricks (liquid nitrogen ice cream). I have bits of a few of these recorded on the DVR, like the advice on which color printers produce works that don't fade after two years, or the bits on the fastest gaming laptops on the market.
X Play - Game reviews, done in a pretty good way. If you can catch it, watch the episode (on earlier this week) where they review some of the worst games they've played. (The episode called: "'LifeLine,' Shaquille O'Neal, and Games You Should Never Buy", which will reair this weekend.) I had to watch it twice, because their review of Big Rigs was SOOO funny. I hope they don't touch this show when they merge with the other gaming network.
Unscrewed - This one is a little stranger. They talk about the dark side of internet culture - discussion of porn sites, hacking tips, guys who speak Klingon, etc. Plus they show random video clips they find on the web. (This is where I first saw the badgerbadgerbadger clip before it was overused.) This content is NOT child safe.
Anime Unleashed - After midnight central, for an hour, they show dubbed japanese anime. Boogie Pop Phantom, the series they've shown for the last two weeks, is absolutely horrible. The one they showed before that was pretty good, though. It's been a good way to sample anime when I can't get to sleep.
Unfortunately, X Play is on at the same time as The Daily Show. Usually when John Stewart finishes his monologue and moves to the interview, I switch to TechTV and watch it until 1:00 when I go to bed.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
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!
jeez - I can't even remember what it was called before X-play
Extended Play. I really enjoyed the promo that had Adam Sessler punching and dodging in a side-scroller, the camera pulling back to reveal Kate at the joystick of a cabinet.
It's available free in the U.S. on Dish Network (channel 9400), many cable networks or direct from Ku-band satellite on Galaxy 10R (11.805GHz, Horizontal, 4580ksym/sec).
Straight from the lab to your living room.
You know I don't get it. Here is a company that cann afford to pay cash for Disney, but they cannot get my billing account and my ISP login synchonized so that I do not have to use two different login names and passwords.
Insert Generic Sig Here:
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.
Wow, I guess I forgot to try googling with quotation marks.. archive.org has every episode, in case any other fans of the show are reading this. I have splooged myself.
Leo is still hosting, he hosted today
This is his farewell tour as host of TSS. He'll host tonight, and four episodes next week. (Friday has been a scheduded rerun day for a while now.)
This actually is of Leo's own doing. He actually doesn't want to host TSS anymore, he'd rather be hosting Call For Help. His new work schedule, which starts the week after next, calls for him to only be at the studio two days a week, during which he'll record five episodes of Call For Help and contribute some segments to TSS. On the remaining three weekdays, he'll work from home preparing research for both his TechTV duties and also for his KFI radio show which he does live based out of a barn-turned-radio-studio on his own property.
So, this really is the end of a overbooked 7-day-workweek schedule he's been on for about the last six months. He's basically going into a semi-retirement, while also assuring that he'll still be employed even if he's no longer with TechTV.
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.
Leo most certainly wanted a reduced broadcast schedule from TechTV. Presently, the man is hosting 10 hours a week of live TV, and then doing 6 hours a week of live radio on his weekends, in addition to his book-writing projects. He needed a break...
Thunder, thunder, thunder THUNDERCA -- oh, sorry.
I think ALL of slashdot is the 'short bus' version.
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.
I haven't watched TechTV for the last two years and was shocked when I saw their new "lineup"!
Every single show had girls with big breasts that were prominently displayed. Girls with smaller breasts looked like they were stuffing and wearing push-up bras.
I guess they misunderstood new management's directive to "keep abreast of science and technology"
Leo started Call for Help years ago, and was the original host, and Chris Pirillo was Leo's hand-picked choice for the show. But Pirillo, the freak of Lockergnomishness I speak of, was utterly annoying on the show. I have only turned off the TV faster for Dubya when Pirillo would come on.
I'm not asking for a pretty boy, but I am asking for someone who stays within the bounds of the conversation and off of tangents, which Pirillo had problems with.
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.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
Frankly I find all the "hosts" annoying to some degree
Leo is by far the worst, ignorant, loud and he continually interrupts people smarter than he is.
Patrick needs to stop saying "well, ya know what...." before or in the middle of every sentence
Kevin needs to either learn more than on hand gesture, or stop doing it every 15 seconds
Sarah needs to go away, or at least not be on screen. She's not very knowledgable and she's not very good eye candy, unlike Morgan, Jessica and Erica (or formerly Sumi and Sumi) who are both and then some.
Yoshi should have his own segment at least a few times a week. The guy has some really neat ideas, but hearing them has always been impossible because he's always on screen with Leo the interruptor. But somebody does need to explain to Yoshi the difference between "mod" and "built from scratch".
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
G4 FAQ: Programming http://g4tv.com/techtvmerger/
I didn't see anything about viewers. In other words I suspect that your worries will turn out to be founded
When I was at G4, The Viewers were the last thing on management's mind. There were some executives who actually had a great deal of contempt for "those stupid gamers."
It's like that in most of television, though. The Viewer is just a potential sale for the advertiser. What The Viewer thinks just isn't important to The Company.
In this age of mega-mergers and vertically integrated companies who control distribution and content, they don't have to give a flying fuck about The Viewer, so they don't.