Sci Fi Prez Talks SyFy Situation

Posted on March 20, 2009

Now that the Sci Fi channel has decided to call itself SyFy (and has been taking quite a bit of grief over the name change), the president of Sci Fi Dave Howe has decided to answer a few questions about the change in an interview with Sci Fi Wire.

Why did you change your name in the first place? What's wrong with sci-fi?

Howe: There's nothing wrong with sci-fi, and we've had 16 great years as the SCI FI Channel. We love sci-fi, which is why we've said we have no intention of abandoning our roots or our core audience. We intend to continue to develop and produce great sci-fi shows like the two upcoming series we recently greenlit, Stargate Universe in the fall and Caprica, the prequel to Battlestar Galactica, coming early next year. Plus we're bringing back Eureka in July, Sanctuary in the fall and launching a brand-new sci-fi show, Warehouse 13, in July. We're still the biggest producer of sci-fi shows in all of TV, and we intend to stay number one.

Isn't this just an excuse to put more shows on that aren't sci-fi?

Howe: As the SCI FI Channel, we've always defined the sci-fi genre very broadly. Some of you may disagree, but we believe that sci-fi includes fantasy, supernatural, paranormal, superhero, horror and quite a lot of speculative action and adventure. Since we launched 16 years ago, we've always carried this broad range of sci-fi/fantasy programming on our air. So the mix of shows isn't new and won't change in the future.

The challenge for our brand is that many non-SCI FI Channel viewers think "sci-fi" is only about space, aliens and the future. (Those are the actual words many people use in focus groups.) They still only expect to see reruns of Star Trek on something called the SCI FI Channel.

So we believe that by evolving our branding, we'll be able to encourage more viewers to check us out and watch the broad range of shows on our air.

We not big fans of the new name (it looks like it should be pronounced "siffy" and it's a pain to write), but we will continue to be fans of the channel even if they decide to change the name yet again in the future, to something even worse. Will the new name get new viewers? Clearly the focus groups say yes.

Howe says Eureka and Sanctuary will be returning. He also says there will be new shows including Warehouse 13, Stargate Universe and Caprica for science fiction fans.

There is also some reality television in the mix. Howe also said, "And that includes our hit reality shows-such as Ghost Hunters and Destination Truth-which are rooted in the supernatural: ghosts, myths and legends."

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