According to a report on Variety, G4 - one of the only TV stations in the world with a "geek" mandate - will be "rebranded" early next year, resulting in a change of focus and possibly a change of name as well.

In other words, it'll be an almost entirely new/different channel.

NBCU, the station's owners, are reportedly looking at turning it into a TV version of GQ, ditching the nerd focus in favour of something more "modern male".

Beginning in 2002 as a purely video game-oriented channel, G4 slowly evolved into a more general "young male tech/geek/game" site, with its most popular shows at the moment being Attack of the Show! - which in recent years lost both its popular hosts, Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn - and American Ninja Warrior.

There's no details on just what a "modern male" rebranding would entail, but I'd bet you could expect a lot more coverage of micro-breweries, indie bands, expensive loafers and designer laptop bags.

http://kotaku.com/5941222/report-g4-...ium=socialflow

G4 as I knew it was gone by late 2003 anyway.

That's pretty much what I was thinking the response would be.

Not a shock with the mass exodus this year. Did they ever replace Kevin in Attack?

Seems like all they do is rerun Kill Bill v1 and 2 over and over anyway.

I wonder what a channel aimed at the "modern man" is going to really mean.

They tried it already with Spike TV. Ended up being syndicated Star Trek re-runs because they can't afford original programming right off the bat.

When Kevin left I figured something like this was about to happen. Shifting focus is industry code for another generic cable channel with wall-to-wall reality programs.

Id be pissed if we get no more American Ninja Warrior

Yeah, with Kevin and Sessler leaving this had to be inevitable. I wonder if another channel could pick up Attack of the Show.

I only (ocassionally) watch X-Play anyways.

I think that's why NBC picked it up.

I can't believe text-heavy reruns of Star Trek and COPS marathons aren't doing better, color me shocked.

Campus PD is hilarious.

The problem with these male-oriented channel attempts (like Spike) is that they go after the same guys that love sports, and those guys would rather just be watching sports. At least G4 ostensibly went after the flipside of that coin. The only problem with that idea that is that audience gets the same information from the web, and earlier.

Now, a GQ-like station just sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. I doubt many straight guys are going to tune into shows about male fashion, even those who are into fashion. And the rest of GQ just covers topics like sports, politics, entertainment... all things viewers can already get elsewhere.

Not shocking. ALTHOUGH, Variety (and for that matter THR) isn't exactly reliable these days. If this had shown up at Deadline it would be a gurantee.

So glad that they killed TechTV for G4 all those years ago.

Pick up Attack? It's a show of randomness. Any station can start their own.

So nerd programming is not popular or profitable anymore?

used to really like AOTS, but haven't watched since the split with DirecTV. I was wondering why Kevin Pereria would leave such a cool gig, now I guess I know.

No Spike TV is for the Man that lives in a double wide.

Replace "glad" with "pissed," and I would agree.

i used to watch TechTV 24/7

I miss Call for Help with Leo.

As as opposed to G4 which is for the man that lives in his parent's basement. I kid. i kid.

I thought that was CMT.

I had fond memories of that era of ZDTV/Tech TV too. Mainly because it had so many good background noise shows on.

The one show I really miss, though, is Extended Play. A version of that show lived on as X-Play, but I think there was something really special about the more feature heavy Extended Play. Kate Botello and Sessler had some really good chemistry, and during the Extended Play years the show wasn't so snark-tastic. X-Play tries too hard to have this biting humor that just never works for me.