long_time_DNC said:
So, Comcast bought out a perfectly decent channel just to get nationwide carriage of something that everyone except gamers won't watch?
Not a smart move...
Actually it is a very smart move from a business standpoint.
TechTV was owned Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures. TechTV like most of Allen's investment have been bleeding money fora while. Allen decided he could no longer keep giving TechTV any more money and finally sold.
He got pennies on the dollar for how much he invested over the years in it. Comcast got a channel cheap that had nationwide coverage.
Now Comcast gets to charge other providers money to carry the new channel and turn a profit.
The first thing Comcast does is cut expenses and axes all TechTV staff and moves their existing channel content from G4 over to the new entity. They now can sustain the new entity because providers are already locked into long-term contracts. Even when G4TechTV contract will expire Comcast has other channels they will bargain with that will guarantee carriage. If you want E! or Style or Golf Channel you have to get G4TechTV.
In addition they get national spot ad revenue.
Now Comcast customers no longer have to pay for this waste of bandwidth but we do.
From a business view its brilliant
From a user view it sucks.