Old G4TV lives in Canada

6:30 PM on 01.08.2007   |   Faith

30 comments

Over a year ago, G4TV opted to change their station format from an all tech/gaming channel to more of an all guy channel with new programming like that of SpikeTV, in hopes that they would draw in more viewers and advertisers. Little did they realize that by changing formats, G4TV would lose a huge chunk of their loyal viewers that enjoyed the “all tech” format and the channel would end up being a huge joke to gamers. Now G4 only stand for the greatness that was and could have been for thousands of American gamers instead of “For Gamers” which the station’s programming no longer caters to.

Fear not loyal G4 fans, for the idea that G4 once held is still alive and living in Canada. Yes, that’s right. While Comcast decided to give up on an “all tech, all the time” channel, Rogers Media in Canada decided not to change the format of their G4TechTV channel and continued to move on towards a bigger and better tech/gaming channel.

Though most of the cancelled G4 shows could not be saved to run on the Canadian network, some shows and personalities still remain. Remember The Screensavers with Leo Laporte? Well Leo now lives on the Canadian revived version of his first G4TV show, Call for Help, where he and special guests talk about anything tech related and also help viewers with their tech problems via phone and web cam.

Electric Playground and Reviews on the Run, which was known as Judgment Day on G4 in the US, still air on G4TechTV and recently Greedy Productions, the company behind these two great shows signed an exclusive rights deal to air new episodes of the two gaming shows on the channel and any other Rogers Media channels. They will also be handling the production of two other Rogers Media produced shows, Call for Help and Torrent.

Of course, the remaining G4 gaming shows like Attack of the Show, Cheat, X-Play and Cinematech also air in Canada, though we don’t get the Nocturnal Emissions version of Cinematech.

We also have a bunch of Rogers Media produced shows that are exclusive to the Canadian channel like Gadgets and Gizmos, a technology show about the latest gadgets on the market. We also have Tech Books, Medical Intelligence, More Gadgets, Digital Lifestyle, Web Gems and Torrent . Each of these shows cover topics from cool websites to video podcasts to the latest in medical technology.

We also have a spot for anime shows called Anime Current which shows different animes like R.O.D the TV or Gad Guard.

G4TechTV wasn’t the best channel in the beginning and still could use some work as compared to G4 in terms of more of a mainstream format, but with the inclusion of Greedy Productions to the creative process of the network, I think we will see some amazing changes to the programming schedule and the overall format. Possible changes that will prove that an “all tech” channel can and will work, even as a normal free to air channel one day.

See one of the main reasons our G4TechTV didn’t change is because it’s a pay-TV channel where all it's viewers subscribe to it. So unlike a normal network which has to cater to the masses to keep them watching them as opposed to other station like theirs, G4TechTV is a specialty channel that tech people pay to see and if the format of the station were to change to another topic, they would lose a lot of money from the viewers that pay to see shows on tech topics only. It’s good for gamers, because we get to keep our favorite channel always on the same topic, but it’s bad because pay channels tend to suck in the beginning.

1 year ago G4TechTV had the worst and most repetitive commercials that could drive you around the bend. Most had nothing to do with technology and would repeat in every single commercial break. Sometimes the network would even put a commercial on for the very show you were watching. Now the station has numerous main stream commercials and most of them are tech related.

The original programming was and still is sometimes repetitive in that you can watch the same episode of X-Play, Call for Help or Attack of the Show 3 time a day, but it’s better than watching 4 different reality TV shows that you couldn’t care less about, I guess.

So there you go, G4 didn’t just roll over and die; its spirit was just relocated to the great white north.