Comcast gives up on G4

  • By Staff, GameSpot
  • Posted Oct 13, 2006 11:11 am PT

Game network loses legs, will fall under E! umbrella at Comcast.

GameSpot readers may live and breathe gaming, but the real world prioritizes things a bit differently, apparently. TV Week today is reporting that the cable giant Comcast Entertainment Group has decided to fold the G4 brand. "I do agree with the vision of going after young men more than just going after gaming," E! and Style chief Ted Harbert told the trade pub. "Gaming has been demonstrated as being too narrow." The magazine is reporting that layoffs at G4 are likely. The cable net launched G4 in 2002.

206 Comments

  • iowastate

    Posted Mar 21, 2008 3:47 am PT

    I always prefered Tech TV to G4 - I noticed that as of 2008 G4 is no longer part of my basic cable package so I am not surprised

  • tooki

    Posted Nov 13, 2006 6:49 pm PT

    PRAISE THE LORD!

    I've wanted nothing but this channel's death since it took over TechTV. I just hope that somehow TechTV can be ressurected.

  • MeckaLecka

    Posted Oct 20, 2006 12:14 am PT

    I knew it was coming....the only show I'd watch was x-play and it was one of the original shows that was on Tech Tv...when the channel was actually decent. The shows just got more and more crappy. Basically a bunch of scantily clad airheads who really know nothing about gaming or tech.....other than Morgan ;-) I like her.. There are better tech channels out there it's all about my satellite company getting them on the air.

  • darquesyde

    Posted Oct 18, 2006 2:34 pm PT

    "Folding" is such a misleading term. We'll have to wait and see. Personally, I think the move will only make it worse in that it will continue to be geared toward pop culture and even less on vg and tech. Then again...G4 couldn't get that much worse Bring Back Leo!

  • Drudaddy

    Posted Oct 18, 2006 9:37 am PT

    So long :-)

  • Jabadaw

    Posted Oct 17, 2006 4:10 pm PT

    The return of Leo. Enough said... http://www.undotv.com

  • G_23

    Posted Oct 17, 2006 9:19 am PT

    Hey guys, I'm sorry but Gamespot made a mistake. G4TV is, unfortunately, not going anywhere. They even said it themselves. http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/TheFeed/date/10162006/index.html#655510 I wish that they would go away but it's just like everything else that is bad. It just won't die!

  • solidsubzero

    Posted Oct 17, 2006 4:42 am PT

    *points and laughs at G4*

  • shawgdawg

    Posted Oct 17, 2006 12:58 am PT

    Yes! This is a great day, I will remember it for a long, long time.

  • Konfusion

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 10:07 pm PT

    I agree with mman426. It's not what it used to be. I won't miss it.

  • mman426

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 8:30 pm PT

    I am glad that G4 is dying, because it has been killing me on the inside for the past year (maybe a bit longer) it was good before it merged with techtv and they were good together for a while, but then they turned it into another MTV channel. They took everything to do with videogames off and replaced it with pop culture and cars. They changed filter and they screwed one of the best shows that was on the channel, Attack of the Show, by starting to do news on practically anything, and by adding that "In Youre Pants" segment, what was that about anyway, it just made me have to shut my door so that people in my house wouldnt think I was watching a sexual talk show in my room. So I am happy that they are pulling the plug.

  • DuDEwithAGuN

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 7:48 pm PT

    Huh?? No more Morgan Webb!!?? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo

  • neoian

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 7:44 pm PT

    I need me some screensavers. DL.TV just ain't cuttin' it.

  • Supersonic2000

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 4:57 pm PT

    Blondeguy428. The reason Sarah Lane and Brendan Moran left was because they were getting married.

  • hrudey22

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 12:46 pm PT

    This is a shame... well, inasmuch as it should have happened long ago. The merger was bloody awful. I would much rather have endless repeats of Judgement Day than Fastlane and Star Trek 2.0. G4 was "TV for Gamers" about as much as MTV is "Music Television" these days.

  • glhx1rush

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 12:46 pm PT

    i hope they get rid of the stupid tv shows, I dig startrek, but lets stick with videogame news, and gamer stubjects, How the hell "Drifting" (inbred racing for hip hop generation?) made it on this network boggles the mind.....

  • funky_muzic

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 12:20 pm PT

    I agree with most of you, it has gone down hill. What's with the Star Trek and Fastlane re-runs? Did anyone watch Fastlane when it was first on?
    I did like X-Play (but I haven't watched it for a while) and Icons is a good show. I watched a couple excellent Icon shows on Atari & Pac Man. The E3 coverage was good too, but now there's no more E3 (as we have known it). The times are a changin...

  • InjuredNoodle

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 11:20 am PT

    Maybe if they stopped playing Star Trek all damn day people would actually watch it, bring back the old days!!

  • MrHappyBizzar

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 11:16 am PT

    I kind of like G4, I'm a bit confused as to what the result of all of this is going to be. Is G4 still going to be around or are they getting rid of the network entirely? Either way, I like Attack of the Show and X-Play from time to time, that Ninja Warrior show they recently started playing is also somewhat entertaining (although in no way, shape, or form does it have anything to do with gaming). They do have a tendency to put shows on that network that have no relevance to gaming and have failed at other networks (why would you want the Jamie Kennedy Experiment, yuck). Did anyone watch the episode of Attack of the Show where they were interviewing Jamie Kennedy? It was hilarious, they had a guy there who had apparently written an article or something saying that Jamie Kennedy was a no talent hack and wasn't funny and so they brought him into the interview and Jamie Kennedy was getting pissed at the guy. It must've been awkward to be there.

  • Booticon

    Posted Oct 15, 2006 6:46 pm PT

    Lame! I remember when G4 was actually cool, back before the merger with TechTV. It was all about gaming, gamers, and games - not rehashed garbage that other networks discarded, hip-hop sports car wannabe tuners, reruns of shows that had no place alongside videogame programming, and a long, sad march into oblivion as their best shows fell away. Out with a whimper...

  • MasterAsh42

    Posted Oct 15, 2006 2:27 pm PT

    I never did get G4, but I had heard great things about that one documentary type series. . .

    Then a friend of mine with satellite showed me a recording of this one late night series which just consisted of clips of raunchy import titles. . .I spent the majority of that time dying a little inside.

  • iceuk

    Posted Oct 15, 2006 1:48 pm PT

    G4 was going downhill from last year. Time for the big axe.

  • jedismurf2

    Posted Oct 15, 2006 1:02 pm PT

    Personally, I feel this is sweet revenge for what G4 did to TechTV. I love gaming news, but G4 always felt like it was designed to appeal to 14-year-olds. Even X-play got fairly stupid as the years went by. It became less about gaming news and more about showing off games with semi-nude women. Personally, I am glad to see G4 fade into nothingness.

  • SavoyPrime

    Posted Oct 15, 2006 10:48 am PT

    Funny, the channel was good when it was all about games. It's when they started adding those crap shows that got cancelled on regular networks; that things started to fall apart. G4 sucks now!

  • _Sam_

    Posted Oct 14, 2006 10:49 pm PT

    GameSpot should make a TV channel now

  • ivan_the_one

    Posted Oct 14, 2006 5:45 pm PT

    oh......

  • smbius

    Posted Oct 14, 2006 1:37 pm PT

    As soon as they changed their logo, image and other shows the network sold out. Death to G4. They deserved it.

  • Nintendo_Ownes7

    Posted Oct 14, 2006 11:55 am PT

    i wish G4 was still about Video Games, because I used to like Every Show on G4 but now I only like X-Play, because they cancelled all the good shows except for X-Play and Attack of The Show but Kevin Perarra and Olivia Munn shouldn't even be on tv because they suck, sure people think Olivia Munn is hot but when you here her talk I know I'm thinking to myself Shut up.

  • sean87

    Posted Oct 14, 2006 9:53 am PT

    Iam surprised that anyone in here right mind still would watch that crap network it has nothing to do with games anymore all they do is play tar trek reruns that you alredy see on spike for three hours but g4 has to show star trek and the an show because they can not eve make new episodes of the fiew good shows that they have I hope they replace it with something better.

  • billysea

    Posted Oct 14, 2006 9:19 am PT

    If they can do it with better quality like On The Spot or 1up Show, then people would watch it. The way they have it now is like crap and ignorant Xbox fanboy running the channel who only know GTA or Halo.

  • firehawk12

    Posted Oct 14, 2006 4:52 am PT

    Gaming is too narrow?
    What a jackass. When people like Ted Harbert move into the retirement home, gaming will finally have it's place in the mainstream.

    I mean, tell MS, EA, Ubisoft, Sony and even Nintendo that gaming is too narrow. They're too busy paying rolling around in their money to give a **** about what this dinosaur has to say about the future of entertainment media.

  • cjcr_alexandru

    Posted Oct 14, 2006 3:23 am PT

    I don't know if this are bad news or good news. Whatever...

  • enevharaldarion

    Posted Oct 14, 2006 2:17 am PT

    If everyone actually clicked on the link to the TV Week article and read the whole thing, and not just the piece of it shown here, a lot of these comments would never have been made. The way I read it, the production staff and facilities are being combined but the G4 channel will still exist with the same shows that are now on it.

  • kcarlson1130

    Posted Oct 14, 2006 12:33 am PT

    everytime i wanted to watch something game related they were showing star trek and the man show. that drift show was terrible to.

  • Lee2000

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 10:59 pm PT

    LOL

  • blondeguy428

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 10:58 pm PT

    Comcast should NEVER meddle in anything other than cable providing. EVER. And they think they can. Case in point: TechTV. It was good with its all-gaming (albeit repeated) lineup. And then G4 came along in its place; does anyone think that Sarah Lane and Brendan Moran quit BECAUSE of this merger?

    I pretty much think that the station was dead AS SOON as they put on that annoying little piece of crap Kevin Perrera. Why on earth would you put him anywhere NEAR a camera?

    The only two I will miss from the G4 era are, of course, Adam and Morgan. I hope they find better jobs, you know, NOT working for anything remotely "Comcastic."

    P.S. Ted Harbert, Spike TV goes after young men...ever heard of them?

  • Raptor2155

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 9:48 pm PT

    DIE!!!! G4!!!! DIE!!!!

  • moonhangover

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 9:28 pm PT

    6 hour blocks of Star Trek is no way to run a network

  • Serbine

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 9:20 pm PT

    Yeah I agree with everybody that G4 suck big time, the only good shows that enjoy watching were Cinematech, Game Maker, Attack of the Show, and Elecplay

  • tk3513

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 8:35 pm PT

    Believe it or not, I used to like the channel RIGHT AFTER the merger, but they were digging themselves deeper in the hole when they added The Whip Set, The Man Show, Cheaters, and Fastlane! I really hope that X-Play survives this and moves to another network (classic X-Play from the TechTV days, not the G4 X-Play crap). What really got me P.O'd was when they laid off Morgan Webb. HOW COULD THEY LAY OFF ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FEMALE GAMERS ON THE PLANET?! I can't believe that there are IDIOTS out there who think Morgan is not a gamer. If they bring TechTV back or they move the classic X-Play to another network, GET MORGAN BACK! Otherwise, it's just not the same. In the meantime, best of luck to the lovely Ms. Webb, I hope Adam Sessler will still be seen somehow on TV or in media covering games and I hope that someone smart will bring back TechTV!

  • S_Pac_316

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 8:18 pm PT

    G4 sucked. So I couldn't care less. F*** Ted Harbert and his "Gaming being to narrow" BS!

  • Kuruption84

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 8:01 pm PT

    Good, they destroyed merged with TechTV and totally FUBARed both stations. I was the channels biggest defender and even I stopped watching it. Once they ruined X-Play I had enough.

  • meatball15

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 8:00 pm PT

    I hope they get rid of everyone!! Wipe the slate and start clean! TechTV was such a great channel. G4TechTV was ok at first and seemed like perfection. Technology and gaming! Totally awesome!! It was perfect. Then they started trying to appeal to a different crowd by getting rid of the tech show and adding crappy shows and reruns. What really bugs is their forums! They have forum Nazis that lock topics when people complain. They never, ever listened to their fans and took them for granted. It was only a matter of time before something like this would happen. I am suprised they lasted this long. I hope they get rid of everyone at that god awful station. Goodbye and good riddance. Rot in hell G4!!!

  • hemakm3

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 7:51 pm PT

    Sad. I watched G4.

  • QualityJeverage

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 7:45 pm PT

    Great. E! and going after Young Men.

    We can now look forward to stories about Celebrity Boobjobs. Any actual Gaming news will be purely coincidental.

  • AA7

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 7:37 pm PT

    Was I the only person who liked this chanel. Mogan was so hot.

  • kamillebidan92

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 7:29 pm PT

    G4 can rot in hell

  • Squall_Griver

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 7:19 pm PT

    what will replace G4?!
    cuz i hope its something worth watching unlike G4
    icons and X-play i will miss tough

  • Wellfedmonkey

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 7:16 pm PT

    No more Olivia Munn? That Sucks!

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