In branding/copyright move SciFi becomes SyFy (& I don’t care what they call it as long as I get to see the last Battlestar episode)

My old buddy David Gianatasio posted this over at AdFreak and I can’t improve on it, so I won’t try.

Sci Fi Channel’s rebranding as "Syfy" has created the worst cable-network name since Court TV became whatever the hell it’s been calling itself lately. (It’s TruTV, but I had to Google to make sure, and I cover this stuff for a living.) On the SyFy front, Mediaweek reports the predictable outrage among Tweeting genre geeks. One fan decries the name-changers as "marketroids." Well, that’s just playing on the stereotype of the robotic, data-driven marketer. The 40-year-old virgin who wrote that should move out his folks’ basement and get some new material. (So should I, come to think of it.) Maybe it’s all a big publicity ploy and Sci Fi really intends to keep its current moniker. Then again, marketroids aren’t usually programmed to take bold risks, so it’s doubtful. They claim "Syfy" is all about heightened brand awareness. Ditto the new tagline: "Imagine greater." When it comes to the new name, most of us wish the network had done just that.

The whole thing makes me feel sci-fried.

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