History
This a preview of the upcoming History section. Much more will be added to the timeline at a later date.
Pre-4: The All Games Network (1996-2001) Before there was G4, there was the All Games Network. Created in 1996 by Scot Rubin, AGN featured daily audio and video webcasts where viewers could interact with hosts via IRC chat. Many G4 cast and crew members first appeared on All Games Shows including Laura Foy, Josh Krane and Jim Downs. AGN was known for being a pioneer in doing broadband webcasting before there was broadband and one of the first webcasts to include interactive elements. Pseudo, AGN's provider, eventually was shut down during the dot-com bust and Rubin was hired by Comcast to help consult and develop a 24/7 video game channel to air on digital cable. |
G4TV: The Early Years (2002-2003) The first ever network dedicated entirely to video games launches in April of 2002 with 13 original series as well as a variety of gaming programs from other sources such as the UK's Gamer.tv lineup. The name G4 originally stood for the four generations of gaming: text, sprites, polygons and textures. For the first several weeks, programming was not ready, so a continuous game of Pong was shown in lieu. Backed by media giant Comcast, G4 is constrained by few carriers and low budgets but manages to build a core audience. At first the network was only seen by Comcast subscribers. G4 dumped much of it's budget into getting into more homes and worried less about the programming budget since "no one was watching." Despite the extremely low budgets, G4 was generally well recieved by gamers but was sometimes critized for attempting to be too "MTV" with shows like Blister and Sweat. Early G4 was known for having many interactive elements. Viewers could call into G4tv.com (the show), post on the website's forums, participate in IRC chat with hosts and more. Early G4 hosts also posted reguarly on the forums as well as in the chat room. |
| G4TechTV: A New Era of Whining (2004)
Comcast drops a bombshell in Spring of 2004, announcing the accquisition of the TechTV network and it's intentions to merge it with it's own G4 network in order to broaden it's viewerbase. In early FAQs posted by Comcast, G4 and TechTV would take the best shows of either network and build a network that focused on "Games, Gear, Gadgets and Gigabytes" which replaced the older four graphic generations mantra. G4 moved some of TechTV's San Fransisco based hosts and employees to it's LA studio, but laid off many, giving severage packages that forbid the former employees to speak negatively about the network to the media or on the internet. Initianlly, G4 claimed that G4TechTV would include the best shows from G4 and TechTV, but ended up immedatly cancelling several fan favorites such as Portal, Call for Help, TechLive, Pulse and more. TechTV's flagship shows, The Screen Savers, Unscrewed and X-Play were all given new seasons on G4TechTV, only to see Unscrewed cancelled weeks later and The Screen Savers retooled with new hosts. Many fans were up in arms over the massive changes, creating petitions, anti-G4 websites and protesting in G4's online forums. Over the summer of 2004, Scot Rubin, who had been hosting G4tv.com left the network to due differences with management. |
| The end of TechTV, Return of G4 (2005)
In early 2005, G4TechTV officially dropped the TechTV moniker and returned to it's old name. G4 also announced the end of The Screen Savers which would change it's name and format over to Attack of the Show, thus leaving X-Play as the only surviving TechTV show. Intinally G4's slogan was "Videogame TV" but within a year, the slogan was dropped and G4 began widdled down their original programming to just a handful of shows. |
G4 - TV for ??? (2006) In 2006, G4 begins picking up cable network leftovers, such as Star Trek, Banzai, COPS, Cheaters, Totally Outragues Behavior and others. Already outraged longtime fans began giving up hope and leaving the network's online community as new fans of above shows began arriving. G4 resparked it's interest in interactivity and began making "2.0 versions" of Star Trek, X-Play, Banzai and COPS which featured on-screen chat, trivia and behind the scenes info. G4 began reffering to itself as the "Most Podcasted Channel" and a network for men who were into video games, technology and pop culture. G4's original content continuned to shrink, with the cancellation of long running G4tv.com, Judgement Day and Arena. The only remaining shows that were produced at G4 were X-Play, Attack of the Show, Cinematech and Cheat! The network expirments with late night blocks filled with raunchy and adult themed programming such as The Man Show, Ed the Sock and Happy Tree Friends. G4 - TV that's Plugged In (2007-Future) In 2007 G4 unleashed a new logo, a new motto and fully shed it's "gaming network" label. The network's CEO, Neal Tiles admits publicly that the network was not working as a 24/7 video game channel and that changes had to be made. Tiles reaffairms that network will still cover gaming and technology but must now branch out and attempt to appeal to a wider audience. The network moves into a shared studio space with fellow Comcast channel E! Entertainment and is folded into E!'s management structure. The only remaining shows produced in studio are X-Play and Attack of the Show. The network also begins venturing into animated programs with it's original series "Code Monkeys" and eventually a series based on Mel Brook's "Space Balls." |
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