Saturday, August 2, 2008

TechTV shows and personalities who survived the merger

Only six TechTV personalities, Kevin Rose, Sarah Lane, Morgan Webb, Adam Sessler, Chi-Lan Lieu, and Brendan Moran, survived the merger. As of January 2008, Sessler and Webb are the only remaining TechTV personalities working at G4, with Sessler being the only host remaining from the launch of the network in 1998.
In addition, only two TechTV shows, Anime Unleashed and X-Play, survived the merger without any major changes. As of March 2006, Anime Unleashed was removed from the G4 schedule--for how long is unknown--leaving X-Play the only remaining TechTV show in existence in the United States.
During the merger, members from the Anime Unleashed and X-Play message boards located on the TTV website relocated to an "exodus" board know as The Haisho. However, most members of The Haisho are still active on the G4 message boards for Anime Unleashed and X-Play.
The Screen Savers survives somewhat in Attack of the Show. Once it changed to Attack of the Show, there were several changes. The studio audience was dropped, and instead of focusing exclusively on technology, the show broadened its base to cover things like sports and movies. Kevin Rose, Sarah Lane, and Brendan Moran stayed on after the transition to Attack of the Show for a short time, but Rose left on May 27, 2005, and both Lane and Moran left on April 6, 2006.

ZDTV

Vulcan Ventures first invested in ZDTV in November 1998, acquiring a one-third interest from Ziff-Davis. In November 1999, Vulcan purchased the remaining two-thirds in a transaction that was completed on January 21, 2000. The deal (which permitted Vulcan to temporarily continue using the "ZD" initials and "red diamond" logo) was worth approximately $204.8 million.
In July 2000, it was announced that ZDNet would be acquired by CNET, placing ZDTV in the awkward position of using the initials and logo of a company that soon would belong to its main TV programming rival. However, a new name was already being worked on.

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. At the height of its six year run, TechTV was broadcast in 70 countries, reached 43 million households, and claimed 1.9 million unique visitors monthly to its website. A focus on personality-driven product reviews and technical support made it a cultural hub for technology information worldwide, still existing today online through its former hosts' webcasts, most notably the TWiT Network and Revision3.