G4 HAS A BLAST
AFTER YEAR ONE ACTIVITY
Copyright 2003 www.tombraiderchronicles.com
[ June 12th 2003 ]
For years,
video-game players have hunched in front of flickering
televisions, blasting asteroids, piloting starships
and stealing cars. Now the television has something
else to show them: a fast-growing, 24-hour cable
channel brimming with video-game news, reviews
and profiles of the rock stars of their world:
game creators. Known as G4, the channel relies
on a series of edgy, low-budget shows that mix
a flip attitude with glimpses of state-of-the-art
game graphics.
G4 is
the first channel started from scratch by cable
giant Comcast Corp., which believes it fills a
hot niche and can deliver profits within five
years. It targets males between ages 12 and 34
- a demographic coveted by advertisers of cars,
clothes and, of course, video games. After a year
on the air, the channel is available to 11 million
people on cable systems around the country --
far exceeding its first-year goal of 6 million.
Although
it has attracted some national advertising accounts,
including Honda and Butterfinger in addition to
video-game commercials, G4's challenge will be
to build its cable presence to 30 million homes
- the minimum level needed to hook many major
advertisers. Philadelphia-based Comcast has budgeted
$150 million over five years to get G4 to profitability.
Executives
at the nation's largest cable company are banking
on the booming popularity of video gaming, which
boasts game sales of $10 billion a year and has
spawned several magazines. Several titles have
migrated from the small screen to the big, inspiring
such movies as "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" and "Final
Fantasy." It probably was inevitable that games
would become the focus of a 24-hour cable channel.
"Gamers are the most educated media consumers
out there," said Victor Lucas, the 35-year-old
co-host of G4's game review show, "Judgment Day."
"TV is the perfect medium to reach players and
to tell them what is coming up and to create a
forum as well."
With
the rise of digital cable, which will make the
once-prophesized 500-channel universe a reality,
there's lots of room on the dial for more channels.
There were 308 cable channels at the end of 2002;
21 new choices, including the Tennis Channel and
a channel devoted to high-definition programming,
were added between 2001 and 2002.
For G4
to be a true success, it must develop a hit show
that will persuade other cable networks, and especially
satellite TV systems, to carry it. "The key for
these networks usually is developing a signature
program," said Larry Gerbrandt, chief content
officer at Kagan World Media. "That's really what
puts you on the map, and then you build from that."
Charles Hirschhorn, a former Disney executive
who founded the network, wasn't afraid that gamers
would rather handle a joystick than a remote control.
"If you're a golfer, who I'm sure likes to go
outside and hit golf balls, you'll still go inside
and watch the Golf Channel," Hirschhorn said.
"If you're a cook, you'll still watch the food
channel."
G4 offers
a daily news show called "Pulse," a review segment
and even a show detailing the tricks programmed
into games - known as "cheats" - that let players
do things like extend their virtual lives or make
bobbleheads of players in a basketball video game.
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