G4 is given the pink slip

Comcast launched G4 in 2002 and now it has been decided that continuing the channel might be a bad idea. Apparently gaming is too narrow to capture a huge demographic...

Although the concept was solid, a channel about gaming, the total amount of programming is very focused towards a small group of people, mainly young male viewers.

The channel has attempted to bring in more interest by airing "Star Trek" and "Arrested Development" but that doesn't seem to be enough. First issue, gamers don't want to watch Star Trek - they want to watch shows containing gaming information.

It is a catch-22 really. To gain the viewers you must bring the views with interesting shows, but the gaming genre apparently is too focused so one must expand to other areas such as "men shows" and other entertainment that brings the male viewers.

The end result is to fold G4 into E!, merge some executives jobs and lay off the rest of the members. This all comes as a result of G4 being ranked 57th out of 64 basic cable networks. Not a good ranking.

For many viewers (like a few of us) the channel was fluff and garbage for many hours of the day, only containing a few cheesy shows about gaming. Definately not the quality gamers would expect. Lately, the show has gone the route of "MTV" with less games and more "other stuff." What Comcast believes now, is that this type of content fits better on a "guys station" rather than its own.

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