Timeline-LM/G4

**G4** (also known as **G4TV**) is an American pay television and digital network owned by NBCUniversal, a division of Microsoft. The channel airs a range of "experimental" programming geared towards 12-to-34-year-olds, with a large empahsis on video games.

The network is controlled by G4 Media, initially a joint venture between the NBCUniversal Cable division of NBCUniversal and Dish Network, and first launched on April 24, 2002. As of September 2018, approximately 80.24 million households in the United States received G4.

## History

#### Launch

G4 was launched on April 24, 2002, under the ownership of Comcast. The initial concept was to create a service similar to rival TechTV but targeted at 12-to-34-year-olds, an elusive demographic. The channel was soft launched with a week-long series of *Pong* matches. It was initially available to three million Comcast subscribers, and offered 13 half-hour programs.

G4 was created and originally led by Charles Hirschhorn, a former president of Walt Disney Television and Television Animation. He expected video game creators themselves to eventually produce programming for the channel. He envisioned that G4 could follow in the footsteps of MTV, which provided music video producers with a venue for non-traditional television programming. Hirschhorn intended G4 to become a vehicle for unconventional advertising. In 2002, G4 offered advertisers wide latitude to place their products on G4's programs, and even allowed their commercials to appear as if they were a part of the program. G4 offered what was called a "2 minute unit", which was an advertising package played as if it were part of a G4 program that was long enough to run an entire movie trailer. G4 offered to sell the right to have a game showcased on the show *Pulse*.

#### Merger with TechTV

On March 25, 2004, Vulcan Inc. announced that G4 Media would acquire TechTV and merge the two networks. The combined network was rebranded as G4techTV. On February 15, 2005, less than a year after the merger, the "TechTV" brand was dropped from the channel's name. A Canadian version of TechTV, originally launched on September 7, 2001, would also be relaunched under the "G4techTV" branding and would retain the brand until 2009.

In September 2005, Neal Tiles replaced Hirschhorn as the channel's president. Tiles had previously been a senior marketing executive at DirecTV, Fox Sports and ESPN. He announced that G4 would be retooled as a male-oriented channel, stating that "guys like to play games, but not necessarily watch a bunch of shows with games on the screen".

Comcast announced on October 12, 2006, that it would consolidate its west coast entertainment operations, including G4, E! and Style Network into a new group headed by Ted Harbert, who had formerly run E!. It was announced that the upper management of the G4 channel would relocate to E!'s Los Angeles office. Harbert gave his opinion at the time that the focus of the channel on "gaming has been demonstrated as being too narrow."

In April 2007, G4, in association with Earth911, launched an electronic-waste-recycling campaign called Gcycle.

In March 2008, NBCUniversal, who had been acquired by Microsoft back in 2006, announce that it would acquire G4, E! and Style Network from Comcast.

On February 17, 2009, it was reported that G4 intended to cut back its original programming. *X-Play* would be reduced to three nights a week while *Attack of the Show!* would be cut to four nights a week. Consequently, a number of the staff and production crew involved in the shows would be laid off. Layla Kayleigh also left G4 in April 2009 after Neal Tiles announced that her contract would not be renewed.

It was announced during Comic-Con 2010 that G4 would be the exclusive North American broadcaster of *Marvel Anime*, which made its television debut in 2011. During the week of July 26-August 1, 2010, G4 changed its logo to 4G as a promotion for Sprint Nextel's next generation wireless internet service.

## Programming

In addition to video game culture, G4's programming encompasses geek, fandom, genre, and general audience shows aimed at young adults. The network primarily livestreams its studio programming on their Twitch and YouTube channels. These livestreams are edited to air on the linear television channel and video on demand platforms the next day. The television channel's programming also features reruns of past G4 shows, as well as other acquired programs, as well as adult animation, which also airs on the *Midnight Spank* block. ***Pulse*** was a prerecorded weekly news show that focused on the gaming industry that ran on cable TV channel G4. In November 2004, along with other G4techTV programs, the show was cancelled. News segments were merged with revamped version of *The Screen Savers* (later *Attack of the Show*), though eventually those duties were taken over by the editorial staff of *X-Play*.

G4's website features game trailers and reviews, select video clips of its original shows, and certain web original programming.