Why Is G4 Changing To Esquire Network?

If you remember back in December, news was leaked that G4 would officially be changing into the Esquire Channel so that they could "morph the gaming network into a channel more in line with the modern male. New programming for the Esquire channel is already in production, and includes shows focused on cooking, travel, and fashion." But why exactly are they changing? We all loved G4 the way it was, a place to go to sit back and relax to watch and listen to discussion about video games and other things in pop culture.

[Godmars290]

Because for some reason gamers were only staying around for Xplay and Attack of the Show instead of that campus drunk show and Cheaters?

[camel_toad]

I was certain instead of Esquire they were just going to rename G4 to COPS.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Lol

[Anon1974]

Because "G4 S. Preston Esquire" was too long?

[dee-ecks]

I get it!!!

[joab777]

Very true. It wasnt a gaming network anyway. And gaming shows dont do great because we r ....gaming!

[Kalowest]

Damn I miss TechTV

[sithsylar]

Leo Leporte is the man!

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Because taking the "NeoGAF format" and putting it on TV didn't work.

Because talking down to your audience and patronizing your viewers only turns them off.

Because giving Kevin Periera and Morgan Webb a job was a mistake.

Because pimping Olivia Munn wasn't enough to get ratings.

Because the suits behind this channel didn't really understand gaming in the first place.

[joab777]

Olivia should get her own network. It would so better.

[SaiyanFury]

I used to watch TechTV all the time, it was my favourite channel. In recent years I stopped watching G4 altogether. Within the last year or so, just for S**ts and giggles I decided to see what was happening on G4. Little to my surprise ALL 3 times I put it on, Olivia Munn was performing some simulated sex act. While she's not completely unattractive, it does get old...

[Number-Nine]

Cops reruns for the win!

.....................

[Soldierone]

It's because the execs in charge of the channel are morons. Simple as that.

If you want more description:

They are blaming us, the target audience, for the downfall of G4 when it was THEM that did it. They didn't care about us, or cater to us, so why would we watch it? Everytime I turned the channel on (before DirecTV got rid of it) COPS was on.... what does cops have to do with gamers?

They are making remarks like our audience doesn't deserve a channel, and its irritating. Maybe if they actually care then G4 would be fine. They are also misleading saying it will still cater to us, the gamers, on multiple occasions yet not a single show about gaming or tech AT ALL is scheduled. Its target at "males" yet they have "cooking, travel, and fashion" as content? The execs are clueless entirely.

[jdiggitty]

I agree with everything you said. At this point, hell, even years ago, I have no idea why the execs even try and keep the channel running. How can paying for syndication rights for re-runs that are already on Netflix be a better idea than just shutting it down?

Plus, like you said, they've continued to insult their target audience.

[RetrospectRealm]

Damn straight my man.

[Jek_Porkins]

Nobody was really watching it, I think once G4TV had an issue with Direct TV it really killed what they had as far as a fan base is concerned.

I loved the channel when they had gaming related shows like G4TV, Cheat, XPlay, AOTS, Filter, Icons and all the other gaming related shows. Once they dropped all of those other shows I knew it was over.

There are enough gamers out there to support a TV channel, if it's available and marketed correctly. Just make sure you have people that actually know about games and likes to game.

[dee-ecks]

Exactly, i looooooooved icons!

[Parasyte]

Because the internet does anything gaming related better.

[Yodagamer]

Simple nbc didn't see the money in a game company. Meanwhile they're willing to waste time on the jimmy fallon show to show video games. Nbc simply doesn't understand anything related to tv anymore, like the leno situation. Leno got low ratings at 9 o clock and it passed on to the shows after it, as there wasn't a lead in. Who did they blame? conan, even nbc newstations got upset about the ratings leno droped for them
.

[Soldierone]

I quit watching NBC when Conan left. Haven't missed it at all.

Only time I watch anything related to NBC is when hockey is on, and now I have Center Ice so I don't even have to do that anymore.

[trenso1]

To be honest seeing the commercials for Conan weren't impressing or funny to me I I never even bothered to watch it

[Yodagamer]

Still for nbc to blame conan when leno was the one causing the ratings drop as he didn't draw as lead in, just shows the utter stupidity of nbcuniversal.

[XboxInnovation]

G4 never evolved, and never expanded. It stayed with the same exact shows and their was only a couple each day. It needed to expand into a full-time gaming channel and never did.

[NicSage]

Did anyone read this? This new station is targeted to make us " MEN " not just men but " METROSEXUAL " men.

I've been a man for the past 30 years of my life, all this channel is going to do is make a bunch of pussies imo.

Respect
Honesty
Responsibility
Kindness
Understanding

These are what it takes to be a man, not fashion or anything silly of the sort.

[sithsylar]

Not pussies but basically the roles are being reversed haha. Man are turning into females and females into Men haha its really funny and sad.

[MONOLITHICIDE]

Its by design so noone can fight the system I think.

[NicSage]

FYI, Roles are being reversed. Just because they are reversed does not mean men are women. Just a different way to look at things.

I am a stay at home father, I love it.

My kids are amazing, I love every second with them.

My wife is a Pharmacist & the manager of the pharmacy she works at, she is an amazing woman. She also lets me be a big kid as well with all my electronic toys. hah

[Soldierone]

I was saying the same thing. They say its for males, yet say they are having fashion based shows? WTF? Then later they say "Bravo is our inspiration" .........

You have very good keypoints to being a man.

[a_bro]

I remembered when this channel used to be Tech TV. It was everything related to what WE AS AN AUDIENCE HAVE AN INTEREST IN. in this case, Video Games/current tech trends/ and tips on how to maximize the performance of your electronics. I remembered when I had that channel on for all day. it was pretty much my channel of choice, and im sure most people who are on here had this channel as their choice of tv watching as well. Although the channel had some flaws with their lineup, it was perfect for me.

It was the beginning of the end when they switched to G4. i mean, why the f_____G F__K!!!! would i want to watch reruns of COPS, Campus PD, and CHEATERS!!!!? might as well put Maury and Jerry Springer smh....

These executives are retarded and the channel deserved to die after at.

@sithsylar

Call for help was awesome, and so was the Screen Savers until they removed it from the lineup

[sithsylar]

hahah i live in Australia so we couldnt get tech tv but we had a couple of shows from the channel and it was great. Call for help i remember and damn it was good...

[KillrateOmega]

Not surprised. They insulted their audiences and had nongaming-related content such as fashion, cooking, etc. I don't watch a GAMING channel for fashion tips, I watch it for gaming. So little of the content was actually about gaming.

Not to mention that the internet is just better at accomplishing their supposed intention of creating a 'gaming' channel.

[jakmckratos]

I only watched it around E3...I hope that they still air E3.

[Rivitur]

Need someone to pick up Bombsquad Afghanistan even though the season finished. Someone has to tell these brave men's story.

[FarCryLover182]

NBCUniversal and Comcast are terrible. NBC is failing for years now, not sure what they are expecting turning this into Esquire channel.

[A7XEric]

G4 has been dead to me since the Tech TV merger where they cancelled every awesome show they had and just had Xplay and Attack of the Show (which I didn't even like as much as G4s own programs prior).

[RickHiggity]

I knew this channel was dead when my grandmother started watching it. Why? Because of Cops. There are plenty of gaming sites and channels on youtube now, so it doesn't really matter.