TechTV

TechTV (May 11, 1998 – May 28, 2004) was a 24-hour cable and satellite channel based in San Francisco, California featuring news and shows about computers, technology, and the Internet. It originally was called ZDTV by its founder, Ziff-Davis, when it debuted on May 11, 1998. It later was owned by Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures. Vulcan Ventures sold TechTV to G4 Media (owned primarily by Comcast), which merged it with the video game channel G4 in May 2004 to form G4techTV. In February 2005, the name was changed back to G4, eliminating TechTV from the name completely.

Merger

On March 25, 2004, Comcast's G4 gaming channel announced a merger with TechTV. This move became hugely controversial among loyal fans of TechTV and Leo Laporte, because of a contract dispute with Vulcan that caused Laporte to leave the channel. Around May 6, G4 announced the termination of 250 employees from the San Francisco office by July 10, 2004, allowing approximately 80 to 100 employees to transition to G4's main office in Los Angeles, California if they agreed to relocate there. http://leoville.com/blog/index.php/TLR/comments/comcast_fires_techtv_staff/

Related Topics:
March 25 - 2004 - Contract - Dispute - May 6 - July 10 - Los Angeles, California

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On May 10, 2004, G4 Media completed the acquisition of TechTV from Vulcan. G4techTV was launched in the U.S. and Canada on May 28, 2004. This led to the cancelation of many of the TechTV channels throughout carriers across the world. On January 3, 2005, TechTV International began airing select programs from G4techTV.

Related Topics:
May 10 - May 28 - January 3 - 2005

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On February 15, 2005, the TechTV brand was dropped from the United States G4techTV feed, leaving the network name as G4—video game television. For the time being, the Canadian feed has retained the G4techTV name due to a majority ownership.

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Only six TechTV personalities, Kevin Rose, Sarah Lane, Morgan Webb, Adam Sessler, Chi-Lan Lieu, and Brendan Moran, survived the merger. Rose and Lieu have since left the network.

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