Despite drawing criticism from science fiction fans for airing shows that don't fit within the genre, the Sci-Fi channel is riding high on a new wave of strong ratings as well as international expansion. The channel's success has opened a debate about what science fiction is and whether the channel's name really represents its programming.
“It’s not just aliens, spaceships and the future,” Dave Howe, president of Sci-Fi, told the New York Times. “It’s about asking that simple question, ‘What if?’” According to Howe and his boss, Bonnie Hammer, the president of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, "sci-fi" includes superheroes, fantastical adventures like Indiana Jones and Field of Dreams, and even wrestling and reality shows about ghost hunters. Their vision for the channel doesn't include new episodes of failed network shows like Jericho though.
“There were a lot of misperceptions that Sci-Fi was for men, that it was for young men and that it was for geeky young men,” said Hammer, who is also a former president of Sci-Fi. “We had to broaden the channel to change the misconceptions of the genre.”
As a result of that broadening, Sci-Fi is not only drawing large audiences in the U.S, but it's becoming one of NBC/Universal's biggest international success stories. NBCU currently owns Sci-Fi channels in a dozen countries, and hopes to double that number by the end of 2009. “We are now what MTV was 10 years ago, or what ESPN was 10 years ago,” said Howe. “We can own sci-fi as a category globally.”
The broadening of the Sci-Fi channel had generated criticism though, especially from the channel's core audience of science fiction fans. “Generally speaking, the feeling within the science fiction community is that a lot of the shows on the Sci-Fi Channel are watered-down versions of the real thing,” said Michael Capobianco, the president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He acknowledges that science fiction books have never reached the same mass audience that tv shows and movies like Star Trek and Star Wars do, though. “One of the things we’ve discussed is, ‘Should our books resemble the media works that are out there?’” Capobianco said. “Should they be dumbed down or watered down to appeal to a wider audience?”
NBCU execs have also discussed the issue, and periodically raise the possibility of changing the Sci-Fi channel's name. “SCF” and “The Imagination Channel" are options that have been floated. Those names don't carry the same "brand awareness," however. “We always come back to, we are not going to change the name because with the fragmentation of media, there’s a real advantage of having that signpost,” said Howe. “We just have to manage the downside.”
What do you think? Is "Sci-Fi" just a brand which doesn't have the same meaning as "science fiction," or should NBC change Sci-Fi's name to more accurately represent its broader programming? Click the link below to discuss.
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