G4 becoming Esquire Channel - Report
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
NBCUniversal to rebrand gaming-focused network in early 2013; programming will be "more in line with the modern male," with shows focused on cooking, fashion, and games.
The rumors were right. The gaming-focused G4 network will be rebranded as the Esquire Channel, according to sources speaking to The Hollywood Reporter. The tipsters revealed that NBCUniversal has inked a deal with Esquire parent company Hearst Corporation that will morph the gaming network into a channel "more in line with the modern male."
New programming for the Esquire channel is already in production, and includes shows focused on cooking, travel, and fashion. The Esquire channel is expected to launch during the first half of 2013, the sources said.
The Esquire channel will also feature various gaming-focused programming, though it is not clear what form this will take. Earlier this year, G4 officially announced that Attack of the Show and X-Play would be canceled after 2012.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
463 comments
1 Like Why can't any channel created for it's initial purpose remain for what it's intended? I mean seriously, when was the last time anyone learned something on The Learning Channel?
@egger7577 It's a business. Clearly G4 was not living up to the expectations held by it's owners.
About the only channels that sick to their intial purposes are HSN, QVC, The Weather Channel, the ESPN family of networks and all those cable news channels.
1 Like Kinda wish CBS would itself launch a TV channel centered around GameSpot and Giant Bomb, featuring a compilation of videos and other new content. Then again, that could very well backfire and end up horribly.
@CRS98 I've said this numerous times, as well--since the whole 'final nail for G4TV' thing went down. What a better way to stick it to your rival than to succeed (which I DO believe it would) where they've seemed to have failed (...and miserably, to boot). CBS Interactive already has a powerhouse of tech and gaming content across several sites (GS, GB, and Cnet).
If they where to combine that w/ maybe even hiring some of G4TV's best personalities--like Morgan Webb and Adam Sesslar (to name a few), it could be killer.
3 Like G4 was all style and no substance. Too many people trying to be cool and hip and not enough comedy and honesty. Any bets on how long the Esquire channel lasts?
2 Like Instead of X-Play, people should watch "Reviews on the Run" (used to be called "Judgement day" in the US with victor lucas and tommy tallarico). That's an awesome video game review show. The hosts on x-play are way too scripted and spend half the time pulling corny jokes, skits, or pimping out borderlands 2 just because they're buddies with the game designer.
1 Like "shows focused on cooking, travel, and fashion. "
So Esquire wants to become a clone of Bravo Channel?
3 Like I think they meant the modern male thats into other modern males that wear skinny jeans
4 Like How exactly are shows focused on cooking, fashion and travel in line with the modern male? What in the hell is this?!
2 Like Mila Kunis is just too sexy. I remember her being on that 70's show. Ahh good times. I didnt care about this article by the way ...
G4 is basically gonna become SPIKE now and belive me I will still watch SPIKE not ESQUIRE
2 Like I'm curious what definition of "modern male" will be operative. I suspect it will be the one where we all just need to put down the controller, quit wasting time with misogynist videogames and listen to some feminist indoctrinated hosts tell us how to be better men. No, thanks.
what a shame, G4 was initially great. a joke, and a shame.
a men's channel about cooking. as in, "Hey bitch, where's my dinner?" nice.
1 Like I will not be surprised to see an auction show and some iteration of 'worlds greatest/dumbest _____ (< fill in the blank)' show(s).
You can bet that I will not be watching this channel...
Like others (on GS) have already said, we have plenty of channels that are the equivalent of this 'new' channel.
... Then these people wonder why consumers are dropping cable for netflix , hulu, etc. There really isn't anything good on TV anymore, basically...
1 Like g4 was done when they got stop showing shows like street fruy. formala D, tech tv, Cheat Codes, They should let me run their network I would it would be the s***
1 Like It died the day Cops start airing repeatedly. it died when all things related to gaming were condensned in to one show (X Play) G4 was done anyway.Their reviews on X Play as of late became too bias. The E3 showing was bland.The programming became less than subpar.Honestly I have to retype what I said.G4 died the day they started showing repeats of the show Cheaters.No reason for me to watch it now and no reason for me to watch Esquire.In response to Gr3gSolidus yes Cinematech was cool but for the weird intermingling of sex appeal,humor and video games there was Nocturnal Emissions.And another thing I liked was the show that talked about how Technology and Sex were becoming intertwined.I forgot the shows name but it was entertaning as well as informative.As I gamer I can care less. I get my news via youtube and this site.Youtubers Eventstatus,AlphaOmegaSin as well as Darksidephil and HardcoreViolence carry valuable information so gamers can be more aware of what's happening.Come to think of it they helped raise my consumer awarness level more than G4 ever did.LOL.When it came down to Capcom being caught cheating consumers or EA caught being crooks it was mainly Eventstatus and AlphaOmegaSin that helped me see through that veil of decit.LOL G4 was ready to let us consumers be sheep.Oh well.G4 you were good back then now your nothing.I'm not sad to see you go.Well no I'm sad to see the old G4 die in order to give way to Esquire.When all the original programming was cancelled that's when I quit watching.I won't watch a channel that's trying to be another Spike TV
1 Like It's a good thing my satellite company dropped G4 earlier this year. Now I don't have any reason to be pissed.
1 Like So much anger!! If you don't wanna watch it....don't watch it. Why do people care so much if they put video game news on tv? X-Play really isn't that bad. In fact they actually interview a lot of interesting developers and I tend to agree with their reviews.
The problem with a gaming channel would be there's not enough gaming news to warrant a 24/7 stream of it. Most developers are just normal people who go home at the end of the day. I think an hour show once a day would be enough, but I doubt they'll even do that. Early G4 is a good example. I know way more about Sir Richard Garriot then I probably should...
1 Like @Rat_King X Play didn't go in to great detail about how Capcom cheated consumers with SfxT. Their reviews aren't honest.They probably get paid like other reviewers.I still remember what they said about GT5 but didn't give another review when all the Updates started happening and they contiuned adding to the game for a good amount of time and then added DLC.and the Season mode keeps everything fresh.Also X Play was funny in the past.That one guy and girl who replaced Adam and Morgan aren't funny at all.They're as funny as a wooden plank
and this is why i like gs over ign cos even ign is in to this tv show and stuff
long life gamespot the true site for gamers
2 Like Hey NBC/Comcast! Thanks for reminding me why I only watch Boomerang, Nicktoons, and the HUB nowadays. :|
11 Like Maybe the BIGGEST problem with a gaming network/channel is that those of us who care the most about gaming are not watching TV... we're gaming.
Maybe the reason this is happening is that people who are really interested in gaming enough to MAYBE watch a gaming channel are not watching enough TV to justify such a channel. Maybe those types of people are just getting their gaming news, culture, information, etc. from the internet.
Cooking, ok maybe, personally I watch a lot of Food Network, but I doubt that this new channel's cooking shows will be better. Travel, well I guess travel appeals to almost anyone, though if it's male targeted it will probably be like those shows that already exist where they show the best party locations with plenty of eye candy, oh I guess some adventurous stuff in there too.
I gotta say though, fashion is an odd choice. Even 18 to say 40yr old men that happen to be quite fashionable probably don't care to watch shows about it.
3 Like "more in line with the modern male."
Don't they already have this channel? I think they call it Bravo or something. Do we REALLY need another one? Between Logo and Bravo, I think the so-called 'modern' male has all the 'coverage' he needs...
Oh well, no big loss to me. I quit watching this POS channel when TechTV died. Only thing I gave a damn about on G4 was its E3 coverage and the occasional X-play review. Somehow I think I'll survive without them.
Good luck NBC. While you are launching your new channel, I'll either be playing games somewhere or watching somebody else's channels. Have a nice day.
About damn time, I say. Not that I'll be watching Esquire, but at least G4 is finally dead. A shame that it turned into what it did, as they had something going back in the TechTV days, but quite frankly the photo accompanying this article is more interesting than anything G4 has produced in the last five years.
3 Like This type of "market-minded" programming is exactly why I don't own a f___ing TV anymore.
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