Topic: Sci Fi -> SyFy

[DJ Doena]

The SciFi channel will rename itself (worldwide) to SyFy.

english: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/40461

german: http://www.serienjunkies.de/news/amerikanischer-channel-21159.html

[Najemikon]

Eh? Why? "Ooh, lets spell it wrong and look really, like, cool..."

Pillocks.

[ninehours]

Pillocks.

 

[addicted2dvd]

That is just plain ridiculous. Sure... Sci-Fi is more generic... but at least we know what the hell it means!

[Achim]

Eh? Why? "Ooh, lets spell it wrong and look really, like, cool..."

Except, it doesn't look cool...?

[Dragonfire]

Well that's just stupid

[Jimmy]

The internet generation takes the control of the television channel

It was fun to read them and laugh at their lack of competence, but in the real world it sure looks ridiculous and retard. Is it that hard to write complete word or a least recognized abreviation...
And my father who was always telling me that my generation was dumb, this one is certainly dumber than mine

I know that I generalize, I'm good for that

[lovemunkey187]

Eh? Why? "Ooh, lets spell it wrong and look really, like, cool..."

Pillocks.

Not read the link, but.

Pheonetically it's correct - Some of the mouth breathers in the town I live have been overheard calling it "the sky-fy channel" 

[Najemikon]

Yes, phonetically it's right, but that's not how we spell. We should have standards, damn it! I saw a headline today that "1 in 7 school kids, English is a second language". I don't know the context of that story, but it's bound to have a ring of truth if even the sodding broadcasters don't give a damn.

[Jimmy]

Yes, phonetically it's right, but that's not how we spell.

Exactly, we don't write like we talk. I can talk about it, since my group age were use for this way to learn our language by our minister of education that had the brilliant idea to use this new way . The result was that we have a lot of problem with a lot of simple grammatical rules that we have never learn and our writting is full of error. I'm better now but this is certainly not because of the school system.

Sorry, but this way of writting is for the uneducated persons or the internet generation who think it's cool to write everything phoneticaly.

[Najemikon]

I hadn't spotted this report from IMDB actually.

In an apparent effort to come up with a hipper image, the Sci Fi channel is changing its name to SyFy, TVWeek reported Sunday, saying that an official announcement of the name change will be made today (Monday). It quoted Dave Howe, president of the network, as saying: "It gives us a unique word and it gives us the opportunities to imbue it with the values and the perception that we want it to have." He told the trade publication that feedback from 18-34-year-olds in focus groups indicated that "SyFy" was the way many would refer to the network in text messages. "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," he said.

"Hipper", "Cooler"? And they got the idea from text messages? Urgh.

[addicted2dvd]

You think that is bad... I just read on Fangoria that they even had to pay for the name Sy Fy!...

An interesting sidebar to this is that up until a few weeks ago there was a long-running site called SyFy Portal, which suddenly changed it's name to Airlock Alpha. Michael Hinman, who created SyFy World in 1998, responded to a topic in the Airlock forums today when the naming issue came up.

raindog: I hope you at least got a little money out of NBCU in exchange for your longstanding trade name.
Michael Hinman: A little

So what do all of you think? Does the name of the channel matter, or will SyFy still mean science fiction and sometimes horror when you think of it? Share your thoughts below.

I mean come on! This is one of the most ridiculous situations I have seen in a long time! 

[RossRoy]

Actually, yes it looks ridiculous. Yes, I hate it.

... but ...

It makes business sense. You usually want to trademark your company name to lock it down to yourself. They probably tried to trademark Sci-fi and got turned down because it's too common, and they came up with SyFy as a trademarkable name, that still sounds and pronounces the same as their previous name. And also, in the same movement, they may attract the "hipster" younger generation because they have a "cool" name.

Not that I agree, but I can understand the suits' reasoning.

[Najemikon]

Actually, yes it looks ridiculous. Yes, I hate it.

... but ...

It makes business sense. You usually want to trademark your company name to lock it down to yourself. They probably tried to trademark Sci-fi and got turned down because it's too common, and they came up with SyFy as a trademarkable name, that still sounds and pronounces the same as their previous name. And also, in the same movement, they may attract the "hipster" younger generation because they have a "cool" name.

Not that I agree, but I can understand the suits' reasoning.

I see your thinking, but I wouldn't have thought it mattered, because they would trademark the name "The Sci-Fi Channel" and trademark the logo that features the very common word "sci-fi" but protects it's design.

[DJ Doena]

From Ain't It Cool News:

> By the way, the new name sounds like the name of a water bottling company.

> Sounds like slang for syphilis

From SciFi's own site:

> Syfy = See you.Frak you!

> Yt Stynks!