Turn on the SyFy Channel?

by Kiley Kellermeyer, MZD Account Executive

Having somehow gone unmonitored by historians and semanticists everywhere, the sometimes-vowel “y” has finally ascended the ranks of letterdom and become infinitely cooler than the letters “c”and “i”. This is bad news if your name is “Chris Irwin” but great news for Dave Howe, president of the Sci Fi Channel, which will evolve on July 7 to the SyFy Channel in attempts to shed its geeky image.

Here’s Howe’s thinking: “When we tested this new name, the thing that we got back from our 18-to-34 techno-savvy crowd, which is quite a lot of our audience, is actually this is how you’d text it,” Howe told TV Guide. “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.”

In the official press release on scifi.com, Howe said that “the new brand broadens perceptions and embraces a wider and more diverse range of imagination-based entertainment,” but I think what he really meant is best summed up by this statement from TV historian Tim Brooks (who helped launch Sci Fi Channel) when he told TV Guide: “The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular.”

The name Sci Fi, said Brookes, is better than Science Fiction, but still limiting.

Now, I fit right smack dab in the middle of Mr. Howe’s demographic. And –bonus points for me – I’m a geek. I enjoy a great lightsaber battle as much as the next girl, and time travel makes my heart go pitter pat.

But, come on now, Howe! SyFy? I’m certainly no “y-hater,” but it seems to me in order to attract people to your channel you need to air shows that will draw them and keep them coming back for more, not simply swivel a couple of letters around. Not to mention, when a middle-aged man says something is “much more hip,” I’m heading for the hills, and I’ll wager a lot of those 18 to 34 year-olds will be right behind me.

One look at the comments on the TV Guide story suggests that Sci Fi Channel doesn’t have a branding problem, it has a content problem. Apparently, it has strayed so far away from science fiction its core audience feels it shouldn’t actually be called the science fiction channel – which is apparently the direction the executives are heading, as well. Unfortunately, that core audience is also “heading” for the remote control.

The Sci Fi Channel – er, SyFy Channel – is a niche. The beauty of the channel is that it doesn’t have to be NBC, CBS or ABC. Those networks are for the general public, with some viewers who aren’t quite capable of stretching their minds past the mundane. A channel devoted to science fiction shows and movies, then, should not hide behind two little y’s when the real marketing efforts could be made building a fan base for science fiction across the board.

See that guy over there who says he doesn’t like anything that couldn’t happen in real life? Make and market something so good he’ll be captivated. I doubt he’ll turn off “CSI:Miami” in favor of “Warehouse 13” because he’s got a fetish for the second to last letter in the alphabet.

Oh, and Mr. Howe and Mr. Brookes, while you’re at it, you might try not publicly insulting your core audience with the “geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys” comments in the future.

Hey, look – “dysfunctional” has a “y” in it!