TechTV is dead

[James_F]

WSJ is running a story claiming that Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures is looking for buyers of its dying cable channel, TechTV. Among the possible suitors are ViaCom, who will likely transform it into a science fiction channel. Or, get this...SONY, who has plans to use the network as a giant infomercial for its products.

I just wish someone would put it out of its misery...

[Geronimo]

Can a Japanese firm buy a US cable/satellite network? They can't buy a broadcast network. And before you mention Murdoch----he became a US citizen.

[AppliedAggression]

whaaat?? Are you kidding? I love TechTV. It's one of my favorite channels. I think they have great shows, such as the screensavers, call for help, the tech of, xplay, techlive. there's so many shows i love on that channel. i thought it was getting better, i find this almost hard to believe.

[Unthinkable]

Erica Hill was smart to jump to CNN Headline News when she did. Tech Live hasn't been the same show without her. Sumi Das recently left the network for greener pastures and Brett Larson announced today he's leaving for a job with CBS. Leo Laporte deserves a better fate then this as do so Adam Sessler and Patrick Norton.

[AppliedAggression]

Erica Hill was smart to jump to CNN Headline News when she did. Tech Live hasn't been the same show without her. Sumi Das recently left the network for greener pastures and Brett Larson announced today he's leaving for a job with CBS. Leo Laporte deserves a better fate then this as do so Adam Sessler and Patrick Norton.


Starting to make sense now. I was torn when Erica Hill left, she really made the show. I agree with you on those people deserving better. Hopefully they'll turn this around.

[James_F]

TechTV has been bleeding red ink for years. Paul Allen has lost huge money on it and to tell the truth the programming sucks, and it lost its stamina ever since they killed off TechLive, the 9 hour long live tech news program. And all of the most interesting shows like Silicon Spin were cancelled long ago. The only original shows that are left is The Screensavers that has long been stale.

[Steve Mehs]

IMO, I think TechTV started to go down hill after Tech Live debuted and Leo was replaced by that moron on Call For Help. I never liked Tech Live, they tried to copy the news channel format and add their own twist, none of which really interested me. I haven't watch much of Tech TV in years, sad really, I used to watch ZDTV 4-5 hours a day and make plans to watch repeats on the weekends. I don’t really care what happens to Tech TV, the channel is nothing like it used to be and never will be the same again. :(

[SamC]

IMHO, one of the most worthless ideas for a channel ever. The "watch other people play with computers" channel. Bad concept.

[James_F]

After Tech Live? That was a quality show. As Sam said, watching people try and get their usb video camera working on screensavers isn't TV. Tech Live was all the news I needed in the morning. Maybe when you get older and you are lucky enough to be in the IT industry, you'll understand why Tech Live was needed. Now I have to watch CNBC in the morning and get lucky with some Tech News....

[Mark Holtz]

I'm a computer geek, but unfortunately, when I finally got to see the channel (2001), the tech industry began sliding downhill. The only shows I ended up watching was Thunderbirds and Anime Unleashed... not exactly what the TechTV people had originally envisioned.

[Steve Mehs]

TechLive was news/financial show, I have Fox News and Bloomberg for that. I enjoyed shows like the Screen Savers and Call For Help much more then TechLive. I learned a lot about the histoy of computers and the internet, troubleshooting, and learned about things I already knew but more indepth. YMMV, but I'd rather have the help and information type shows then hours of news that gets repeated every hour.

[James_F]

What is it with people and Screen Savers? Other than the chicks with big hoots wearing computer t-shirts, its all "An Idiots guide to Windows XP".

[music_beans]

TechTV = HeckTV

[Steve Mehs]

Well thats your opinion James, and that's just it, your opinion.

[James_F]

Well thats your opinion James, and that's just it, your opinion.
Uh OK Steve... :rolleyes: Unlike your informed comments...

Just tell me how any of the current shows is not a waste of bandwidth?

[Steve Mehs]

James, have you ever read my rants against TechTV. I think the current line up sucks, the current screen savers is terrible. I like the old Screen Savers, when it was on at 9PM with Leo and Kate then Leo and Pat. I liked the old stuff, not the crap that’s on now. Yes TechTV is a waste of bandwidth IMO, but the old ZDTV wasn't. It used to be a channel about technology informations, now it’s technology entertainment. Can we just agree the channel used to be a lot better then it is now and end this pissing match?

[James_F]

We both are... Check my post back in the "Ford" thread and let me know what is going on today with us... :p

I know we both were very sad about "Silicon Spin"... :(

[Steve Mehs]

Yeah Silicon Spin was a good show. Dvroak (sp?) was the perfect host for that show. I also miss Big Thinkers, that was the first show I ever watched on ZDTV. I still remember that episode, an interview when David Yang and David Filo, the founders of Yahoo. I learned more Yahoo facts in that 30 minutes then I did in surfing the internet.

James, 10 points to you in this thread and 15 in the Ford/Toyota thread if can tell me what Yahoo stands for? :)

[James_F]

Well Yahoo! was first know as "David and Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web". Yahoo! was named because they just opened the dictionary and liked the word. Yahoo sort of refers to a group of very uncivilized and rude people from Gulliver's Travels.

At least thats how I know it... I've hear all the stories about Yahoo! standing for "Yet Another...." but I don't really think they are true. I don't recall ever hearing Jerry or David give their side, I just recall reading it on the internet back when Yahoo! first started out and I was in college.

[Steve Mehs]

AFAIK it's is true, Yahoo stands for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle. I remember hearing it on the interview, but after not remembering what the first O stood for I went to the Webopedia and looked it up.

Short for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle, Yahoo! is a World Wide Web directory started by David Filo and Jerry Yang at Stanford University. The two began compiling and categorizing Web pages in 1994. By 1996, they had one of the most popular Web sites and a very valuable commodity.

Watching those two guys on Big Thinkers gave me a real apperciation for ZDTV and I started to watch more and more. If I could bring one show back, it would be the short lived Working The Web. Silicon Spin, Big Thinkers, et al were all great, but Working The Web would be a really useful show for me now.

[James_F]

OK, I searched for what I thought it was and this is what I got...

http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=248619

[sorahl]

I stopped watching Tech TV when Chris P left.
Gnomies forever!!!

sorahl

[Steve Mehs]

I didn't realize how indepth this got, looking at it now, it looks like and I really do hope there was a Gulliver's Travels influence. Great story, one of the very few things I had to read in high school that I enjoyed.

[James_F]

I don't think we will ever know.... ;)

[Steve Mehs]

I wonder of Yahoo Employees get a clearer account of the history of Yahoo and the story behind the name? One of my great uncles had 4 kids, 3 of which moved to California and started their own families back in the ‘70s. Their kids who are now in there late 20s/early30s are racking up big bucks in Cali. One of them works in the marketing department for yahoo, from what I gather she used to be an administrator type figure with Yahoo Auctions, but got promoted to the Market Dept. One is a professor in some tech related study at UCLA, another works for the LA Lakers, and 2 or 3 work in Hollywood. The oldest out of the bunch, Joe had a direct hand in the making of Independence Day and The Green Mile among some other big name films. I only met the California group once when they flew in for their fathers funeral, but I’d love to chat with the one that works for Yahoo.

[Uncle Peter]

Selling it to someone who can carry on the tradition like it once was....

[James_F]

Is there a need? I doubt the advertising is what it once was. :shrug: