SciFi Channel wird zu SyFy

Der Sci­Fi Chan­nel benennt sich um: ab dem 7. Juli 2009 fir­miert der Fern­seh­sen­der mit Schwer­punkt auf Phan­tas­tik unter dem Namen SyFy, zur Ver­blüf­fung vie­ler und zur Belus­ti­gung ande­rer.

Laut einer Pres­se­mit­tei­lung ist der Zweck dahin­ter ein gewis­ser Wan­del des Images sowie der Inhal­te. Man möch­te sich auf ein wei­te­res Feld an The­men kon­zen­trie­ren als nur die SF, näm­lich auch Fan­ta­sy, Hor­ror, Mys­tery und ande­re ver­wand­te Gen­res, da sei der Name »Sci­Fi Chan­nel« nicht mehr ganz pas­send. Ein wei­te­res Pro­blem dürf­te aber sein, dass der Pas­sus »Sci­ence Fic­tion« oder eben kurz »SF« oder »Sci­Fi« als fest­ste­hen­der Gen­re-Begriff nicht so ohne wei­te­res zu schüt­zen ist, oder es dabei zumin­dest Schwie­rig­kei­ten gab (zumin­dest wird das gemun­kelt). Mög­li­cher­wei­se gab es auch Pro­ble­me mit der Domain sci​fi​.com.

Der geneig­te Leser möge mir ver­ge­ben, wenn ich anmer­ke, dass ich das ein klein wenig albern fin­de. :o)

Die voll­stän­di­ge (eng­li­sche) Pres­se­mit­tei­lung im kom­plet­ten Arti­kel.

Bild: Logo syfy, Copy­right 2009 syfy

New York, NY – March 16, 2009 – Buil­ding upon six­teen years of water coo­ler pro­gramming and soaring ratings growth fol­lo­wing its most-wat­ched year ever, SCI FI Chan­nel is evol­ving into Syfy on air and on-line begin­ning July 7th, it was announ­ced today by Dave Howe, Pre­si­dent, SCI FI.

By chan­ging the name to Syfy, which remains pho­ne­ti­cal­ly iden­ti­cal, the new brand broa­dens per­cep­ti­ons and embraces a wider and more diver­se ran­ge of ima­gi­na­ti­on-based enter­tain­ment inclu­ding fan­ta­sy, para­nor­mal, rea­li­ty, mys­tery, action and adven­ture, as well as sci­ence fic­tion. It also posi­ti­ons the brand for future growth by crea­ting an ownable trade­mark that can tra­vel easi­ly with con­su­mers across new media and non-line­ar digi­tal plat­forms, new inter­na­tio­nal chan­nels and extend into new busi­ness ven­tures.

Ima­gi­ne Grea­ter will beco­me the new brand mes­sa­ge and tag­li­ne, invi­ting both con­su­mers and adver­ti­sers into a new era of unli­mi­t­ed ima­gi­na­ti­on, excep­tio­nal expe­ri­en­ces and grea­ter enter­tain­ment. Syfy more cle­ar­ly cap­tures the main­stream appeal of the world’s big­gest enter­tain­ment cate­go­ry, and reflects the network’s ongo­ing stra­tegy to crea­te pro­gramming that’s more acces­si­ble and relata­ble to new audi­en­ces. Syfy will con­ti­nue to cele­bra­te the tra­di­tio­nal roots of the gen­re, while ope­ning the brand aper­tu­re to accom­mo­da­te a broa­der ran­ge of ima­gi­na­ti­on-based enter­tain­ment.

»While con­ti­nuing to embrace our lega­cy and our core audi­ence, we nee­ded to cul­ti­va­te a distinct point of view with a name that we could own that invi­tes more peo­p­le in and reflects our broa­der ran­ge of pro­gramming,« said Mr. Howe in making the announce­ment. »Syfy allows us to build on our 16 year heri­ta­ge of suc­cess with a new brand built on the power that fuels our gen­re: the Ima­gi­na­ti­on. Syfy ushers in a new era of unli­mi­t­ed ima­gi­na­ti­on, excep­tio­nal expe­ri­en­ces and grea­ter enter­tain­ment that paves the way for us to tru­ly beco­me a glo­bal life­style brand.«

Syfy – unli­ke the gene­ric enter­tain­ment cate­go­ry »sci-fi« – firm­ly estab­lishes a uni­que­ly ownable trade­mark that is por­ta­ble across all non-line­ar digi­tal plat­forms and bey­ond, from Hulu to iTu­nes. Syfy also crea­tes an umbrel­la brand name that can extend into new adja­cent busi­nesses under the Syfy Ven­tures ban­ner, such as Syfy Games, Syfy Films and Syfy Kids.

Addi­tio­nal­ly, as the Channel’s foot­print expands rapidly around the glo­be, aiming to reach more than 50 inter­na­tio­nal chan­nels by the end of next year, Syfy meets the need of a glo­bal­ly rele­vant, trade­mar­kab­le brand that stands for some­thing uni­que to the brand in each ter­ri­to­ry.

The new brand evo­lu­ti­on will launch on air and on-line July 7th, in tan­dem with the pre­miè­re of the new script­ed dra­ma, Warehouse 13, and the return of brea­kout sum­mer series Eure­ka. An aggres­si­ve trade mar­ke­ting cam­paign will kick off this spring. sci​fi​.com will assu­me the URL syfy​.com at that time.

SCI FI Chan­nel is a tele­vi­si­on net­work that fuels the ima­gi­na­ti­on of view­ers with ori­gi­nal series and events, block­bus­ter movies and clas­sic sci­ence fic­tion and fan­ta­sy pro­gramming, as well as a dyna­mic Web site (www​.sci​fi​.com) and maga­zi­ne. Laun­ched in 1992, and curr­ent­ly in 95 mil­li­on homes, SCI FI Chan­nel is a net­work of NBC Uni­ver­sal, one of the world’s lea­ding media and enter­tain­ment com­pa­nies.

Quel­le: syfy​.com