As previously reported, today’s the day that the Sci Fi Channel changes its name to Syfy. And science fiction fans feel like their girlfriend is dumping them because she got a makeover and wants to hang out with cooler kids now. Ha ha, just kidding — science fiction fans don’t have girlfriends. But they ARE pissed about the name change, so Syfy digital exec (or “head Syfylist”) Craig Engler has taken to answering questions on Syfy’s Twitter feed. Via The Live Feed:
Q) Does SyFy’s new branding mean less science fiction/fantasy programming?
A) No, we are not changing our programming mixQ) How do you pronounce SyFy? When I see it I want to pronounce it so it rhymes with ‘jiffy’
A) Just like “sci-fi”Q) Help me understand. Name one new project you can do as Syfy that wouldn’t have felt right as Sci Fi.
A) Syfy is about catching up to where our programming mix is, not about changing it.Q) Your programming mix has poor spelling and grammar? That isn’t catching up Craig, that’s dumbing down.
A) Syfy is a made-up name, not a word, so it’s spelled correctly as is. Like Wii. Or Twitter ;)
Nice point, Craig. Except “twitter” is an ACTUAL WORD. And the Wii has always been the Wii — it didn’t start as “We” and then change the spelling when it wanted to get away from the lonely fat lady demographic. But I digress. I’m actually fine with the name change; it’s four characters instead of six, which cuts my time typing the channel’s name by 33%. Why, over the course of a week, that might save me a full two or three seconds of work. I can pick my nose with that free time!
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Added interest in the network should raise its budget all the way up to $62/show.
“Q: How do you pronounce SyFy? When I see it I want to pronounce it so it rhymes with ‘jiffy’”
I never thought nerds were retarded. Poor guys, don’t they have enough problems already?
If the Marines start saying “SemPr Fy” THEN I’ll be pissed.
NERD ALERT! The Wii was codenamed Revolution and was called as such until it’s “official” introduction in 2006.
Anyway, does anyone really care? Sci-Fi’s programming is terrible. It has always been terrible. It will continue to be terrible. Even their decent stuff turns to shit eventually (SG-SG1 went down after S6, BG went down after S2, SFA went down after …um, S2?)
It is barely Sci-Fi. They had a mini-series about the Wizard of Oz and another about Magic and they showed off Pirates 1 yesterday.
They don’t even have a consistent schedule. They have the rights to air The Twilight Zone, several Star Trek’s, their own original programming, and plenty of other good stuff, and they won’t bother to put it in a consistent schedule.
Point is, I’ll continue to not watch their channel under their new name as I have under their old name (if it’s pronounced the same what’s the point anyway?).
Wyrmyng Glo
The SCI FI channel is dead. Long live Syfy. It’s not the only cable network to rename itself, but it definitely is one of the more controversial name changes. This is not the first network to change/rebrand their name. Interesting post at TVTango that has a historical list of networks that changed their name and logo.
SCI FI vs. Syfy and Other Cable Channels That Changed Names
[www.tvtango.com]
I’m not sure if Jane is a marketing whore or not, but just in case: (slips Jane a 100$).
It’s when they abandon their programming for televangelists and Tyra Banks that will really piss everyone off.
@Marketing_Secret_Sauce: Jack Van Impe is more Sci-Fi than most of SyFy’s programming.
I prefer to pronounce it like Siff-ee, sounds more like the VD that it has infected the channel.
the only commentsi have heard in the last 2 months have been negitive. did SciFi actaully ask anyone if this was a good idea? Was there any one who liked this stupidity?
Wow, now you are talking dude!
RT
http://www.be-anonymous.tk
Funny that, “Syfy” in Polish means Spots, as in teenage spots.. it also could mean a Sexualy Transmitted Diseases, something nasty, smelly and generally very very disgusting… Superb name picked up! The whole Poland will burst out laughing… I am right now…
@FistfulOAwesome: *Jane* sure sounds like one. Or maybe an intern who aspires to be a real marketing whore one day.
AFK The naming of the wii was mean’t to be ‘we’ as in ‘we play together’. So I would say that’s 1 point to Craig -100 to Matt for being a contrived ahole about this whole thing.
Thanks for the mention. I’m not on Twitter to talk only about the rebrand, I’m talking about the network in general. Started with “craigatscifi” and migrated over to “syfy”. And yes, I corrected the note about Twitter about 5 seconds after I posted it ;)
Best,
Craig
I figure that the name change is fitting since they are showing less and less television that can actually be called Science Fiction anyway (wrestling? Come on guys!) No sci-fi programming = no sci-fi name.
Iy thynk that chyngyng the spellyng of dyferent wyrds makes them hyp and cyntempory. Iy wyll spell lyke thiys mor oftyn yn the fytyre.
Is anyone actually happy about this change? I mean I know a lot of people don’t/won’t care/notice… but does anyone who does care/notice like this idea? Plus it’s pronounced the same, so as spoken, no one will even know the difference. As changes go, this is minimal, except that it really irritates the people who care…
Nicely done. It’s rare to see such surgical precision when pissing off your hardcore fans…
lol syfy in polish means a mess you literally say what a syf not even pronounced with the sci more lik sssyf sounds really stupid now evertime i see the name i will think of that
The reason they are changing it has to do with copyrighting real words versus made-up ones. It would be hard to stop someone using the name “Sci-Fi” as it is commonly used in every-day life, if someone infringes “SyFy” they can be sued. That is all this is for and it is pretty common (e.g. Avaya, Qwest).
“Syfy is about catching up to where our programming mix is, not about changing it.”
Translation: “We are changing our name to better fit the dwindling amount of actual science fiction that we show.”
Simply a belated acknowledgment that Americans have abandoned science in favor of mysticism and pop-nonsense. Even thier remaining “Science” Fiction was tainted of late. The new BSG injected more than enough quasi-religious nonsense into the SciFi mix, so good riddance to the channel
Now they can transition to non-stop cheap ghost and supernatural programming.
R.I.P.
Fixed this for them, with additional clarification:
Q) Does SyFy’s new branding mean less science fiction/fantasy programming?
A) No, we are not changing our programming mix. That is to say, we’re still completely dedicated to killing off everything original we can (Lost Room, 4400) in favor of endless reruns.
Q) Help me understand. Name one new project you can do as Syfy that wouldn’t have felt right as Sci Fi.
A) Syfy is about catching up to where our programming mix is, not about changing it. For gosh’s sake people, we show WRESTLING. How could we honestly still refer to ourselves as “SciFi?”
Do people really watch this station anymore? I’ve been watching BBC america for their original sci-fi programming lately. I still watch Torchwood even though my girlfriend pointed out the lead character’s a gay.
@FistfulOAwesome
Revolution was the Wii’s its development name, not its name given to the public for 17 years, then changed for pointless reasons.
what ever effect they hope this change has, it’s not going to happen.
what i would have done if i were SciFi: stop making movies, the next time someone says a pitch with these words “its like______ but with _______” and the missing words are already existing movies and monsters out of a D&D monster manual… have them shot.
with that weekly movie budget saved, bring back good shows… how about a Lost Room sequel/ prequel?
here is an idea, a fantasy movie, based off of D&D called Eye of the Beholder, its like lord of the rings, but with a beholder in it. it will **POW**
also, sci fi killed mst3k which i will never forgive them for.
Anyone else notice how “SyFy” looks like an abbreviation for syphilis? Bad planning SciFi…
can’t help but think “Syphi”
The Science Fiction channel has never been known to show much science fiction. If anything they were a horror movie channel. Of course of late they’ve been a horrible channel and so I guess the name change. Perhaps if the name is new they will be seen as new. Or don’t they know that we knew that they didn’t like science fiction. Perhaps now that we know that they know what we knew they can get on with it. What ever it is. Oh yes it’s SighPhy.
could it be that SyFy are the call letters of the station? i know most stations have either 3 or 4 letters, only exception being E! with just E or E!
@counter nerding
I know. That’s why I put up that “NERD ALERT!” bit. It’s something only nerds such as us would know.
@WyTyFy
Damn Straight! Screw those guys who canceled it!
This whole post was super funny. This site is getting better and better.
I wonder if the folks over at EnBiSi or SiBiEs or PhAhQz have plans to change their names.
Artistic misspellings are still hip, right? Isn’t that what the kids are doing on their internets?
It doesn’t really matter, because they haven’t showed SciFi for a long time. Professional Wresting is indeed fiction, but hardly science.
Anyway, the correct pronunciation of SyFy is “SIFFY”. The Siffy channel. You know, the one that used to have good programming on it back in the day?
Perhaps this name change will prompt some smart executive somewhere to start a _real_ “sci fi” network. We can hope.
wow, i was just picking my nose as i was reading this
It doesn’t matter, SCI FI or SyFy- they have wrestling for god sake! They have very little science fiction, the old monster channel has the science fiction UNCUT, UN Edited, and NO Commercials; the Old Sci Fi of many years ago never censored, this SyFy CRAP CUTS and BLURRS, why not just not show the crappy edited movies and call your channel CRAP FY
The name change suck-adding wrestling sucked big- but who knows it might actually be decent. The preimier of wh 13 didn’t seem to bad,maybe an updated version of the old series about the shop that picked up all these weird trinkets and stuff when sci-fi first came out and was a great channel. The new stargate preview seemed intresting, although they didn’t have to kill all the other sg’s to produce a new one.the caprica, or whatever they named it, preview seemed intresting to. I still will watch to see how things go but the mane is just plain retarted, and its sad to see another once great channel fade into oblivion.its a shame they have to ” fit in” with everyone else, that’s the main thing that I liked about sci-fi was that they didn’t “fit in” and were proud of it…… good ride while it lasted….R.I.P sci-fi
Why doesn’t anyone at the network have the intelligence to explain that the science fiction label has been slipping for 50 years? BS Galactica is sci-fi. Eureka is sci-fi. Dragons controlled with magic amulets is not “science” fiction. However, if the “suits” are lying, well…nerds and geeks are NOT understanding nor forgiving.
The reason why SciFi changed its name is simple: These days, there’s barely any (worthwhile) current science fiction on the station, period. They’ve got wrestling, retarded reality shows like Ghost Hunters, awful garbage like Flash Gordon, terrible proprietary monster movies (which aren’t actually science fiction), and lots of reruns of old sci-fi shows that actually didn’t suck.
If not for Battlestar Galactica and the last of Stargate Atlantis in 2008, they’d have nothing worthwhile in the science fiction department at all, except for reruns.
I remember, years ago, SciFi had Farscape, Lexx, Babylon 5, current Star Treks, and other awesome content. Not now.
Science fiction is a dying genre, it seems, replaced by reality shows, CSI clones and “America chooses the next retarded pop culture idol” series.
Your link to the twitter definition directs to a page that say’s there is no definition for the word twitter. It’s better that way, it’s not supposed to be a werd.
Hmmm…when you did the *market research* and questioned 18 to 35 year old males…did you happen to ask for proof of a High School diploma? GED maybe? ANYTHING that might give you the impression that they represented the majority of SciFi viewers. SyFy is so illiterate…that and the fact that the font is too similar to the Wii. You just lost 7 viewers that I know of. It’s embarrassing to watch the “Hey I’m stupid and spell like a moron” channel. Couldn’t you have put on a telephone poll on channel? VOTE online? That would at least eliminate the losers who don’t own a computer, T.V., or get cable. Where exactly did you FIND these 18 to 35 year olds anyway?
Ever since they canceled MST3K, all their programming seems like fodder for the same. “Mansquito”? Really? Really?
wow, i nvr r33lyzed how cul SyFy iz lolz .u wun myy v0te!
They couldn’t hold a copyright on a widely held and use name like Sci-Fi but on there own created word. SyFy, you can trademark, copyright and own everything to do with it.
Even have your own Wiki entry that isn’t full of references to shows that you don’t own.
Yeah, I miss MST3K too! Sci-Fi used to be pretty good years ago, but has steadily gone to the crapper. The name SyFy is so freaking retarded. Instead of changing the name, why not change the content to reflect true sci-fi? Maybe somebody with some heavy dough, or in the TV market, will read all these posts and start a new sci-fi channel that has REAL sci-fi stuff. I can only hope. Sci-Fi, or the now corny SyFy, Ryst yin pyce. SOB, just seeing the new name makes me want to scream!
SyFy Sucks…..sorry, it just does! Get real, get back to
Sci Fi!!!! Sheeez
Marketing-wise it makes sense to change the name. They couldn’t trademark SciFi, as its been in common use for far to long. Whereas SyFy can be trademarked and reinforces their corporate identity. My only problem lately is the deluge of Scientology.org commercials.
SyFy is trying to be cool and hip…hop!!!. I swear, that sounds more like a rap music group than a Science Fiction network. Anyway, the best Sci-Fi comes from the ’50s and ’60s, so what do these young people know about Sci-Fi? Dear Craigie Engler and the rest of the politically correct hip-hop crowd pleasers, If it aint broke, don’t fix it.