1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:17,599 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and How Stuff Works and I love 5 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 1: all things tech. And today I'm going to do the 6 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 1: first of a couple of episodes. Actually, this one, I'm 7 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: going to talk about a cable television channel that was 8 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:35,720 Speaker 1: geared toward a tech savvy audience, specifically computer nerds. It 9 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:40,560 Speaker 1: was a channel that included reviews, how to guides, interactive programs, 10 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:43,960 Speaker 1: and a bunch of stuff that really geeky computer nerds 11 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:47,360 Speaker 1: like yours truly would really be interested in. It was 12 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: an attempt to build out some niche programming that ultimately 13 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:55,280 Speaker 1: lasted about six years before things would change dramatically and 14 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: the channel would get merged into a different niche oriented 15 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: cable chan annel. So today we're going to talk about 16 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 1: tech TV, and in our next episode, I will cover 17 00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:09,400 Speaker 1: the story of G four TV, the channel that tech 18 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:12,760 Speaker 1: TV would get merged into in two thousand four. So 19 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:17,199 Speaker 1: spoiler alert for that, I guess uh. I will attempt 20 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:21,080 Speaker 1: to tell all of G four's story, including what happened 21 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:24,080 Speaker 1: after the merger in one episode. We'll see if that 22 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: pans out, because a lot happened in those years. So 23 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:31,120 Speaker 1: one thing I do want to mention is that these 24 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: episodes were a little challenging to research simply because a 25 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:39,559 Speaker 1: lot of the information about them happened to be online 26 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: on their own websites, and once those channels ceased to exist, 27 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: because neither of them are around anymore, a lot of 28 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 1: that web based material just kind of lapsed. People didn't 29 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:57,080 Speaker 1: maintain the sites, companies stopped paying for hosting fees, and 30 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 1: a ton of information disappeared. And I our databases, and 31 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 1: I went through the Internet archive and I looked at 32 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: lots of different stuff to get a kind of a 33 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:09,240 Speaker 1: big picture of what was going on. And I should 34 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: also mention that a lot of the decisions made both 35 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:18,000 Speaker 1: at tech TV and G four resulted in a lot 36 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: of hurt feelings among the employees there, and as a result, 37 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:26,959 Speaker 1: there's a lot of um Vitriolic is a good word, 38 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 1: of hashion. It is another good word. There are a 39 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: lot of high emotion type texts and messages and articles 40 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: that were written in blog posts that kind of thing 41 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:42,960 Speaker 1: that we're written in the wake of both Tech TV 42 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 1: and G four. So trying to parse all that and 43 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 1: get to the nuggets of truth that are buried in 44 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: a lot of emotional baggage can sometimes be a bit challenging, 45 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 1: and it's understandable why there was so much emotional baggage. 46 00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: We'll get into all of that. So the story of 47 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:04,519 Speaker 1: tech TV starts with a publishing company that was originally 48 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 1: founded by William Ziff Sr. And Bernard Davis way back 49 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:14,120 Speaker 1: in nineteen seven, decades before there would ever be any 50 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: dream of a cable television channel. Obviously, the original name 51 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:23,360 Speaker 1: for this publishing company was Popular Aviation Company, named after 52 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 1: the magazine it published, Popular Aviation, But before very long, 53 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 1: the founders decided to rename the company and call it 54 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:36,720 Speaker 1: the Ziff Davis Publishing Company. Now, this company largely focused 55 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: on hobbyist topics. Hobbyists tend to be a passionate customer base, 56 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:44,120 Speaker 1: and they tend to have a lot of disposable income 57 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: because hobbies cost money to maintain, and it was relatively 58 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:52,120 Speaker 1: easy to get companies that catered to hobbyists to advertise 59 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:55,560 Speaker 1: in those magazines, so it wasn't hard to sell ad space. 60 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: So when we skip ahead a few decades, into the 61 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties. Because obviously this is not an episode about 62 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:05,360 Speaker 1: Ziff Davis the publishing company, it should come as a 63 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: little a little surprise to anyone really that the publishing 64 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:13,880 Speaker 1: company soon explored magazines catering to computer enthusiasts. Ziff Davis, 65 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:17,839 Speaker 1: then under the control of williams If Senior's son, clearly 66 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:21,560 Speaker 1: William Jr. Purchased the publishing rights to a magazine called 67 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:26,160 Speaker 1: PC Magazine in nineteen two. PC Magazine had just started 68 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:29,719 Speaker 1: publishing only a few months earlier. This would usher in 69 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:32,839 Speaker 1: a new era for Ziff Davis, one that was increasingly 70 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:37,240 Speaker 1: connected to the world of technology. That wasn't necessarily by choice. 71 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: Zif the younger had developed cancer and he wished to 72 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:44,200 Speaker 1: simplify the magazine empire of Ziff Davis in the early 73 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:49,600 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties. By that time, the publishing company was enormous, 74 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:53,799 Speaker 1: so it would sell off two big branches of the company. 75 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:58,360 Speaker 1: One was the Consumer Group Magazines, which had sold to CBS, 76 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:01,440 Speaker 1: and the other was the Business Group Magazines, which it 77 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:05,719 Speaker 1: sold off to Rupert Murdoch. Ziff Davis, the company really 78 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:10,480 Speaker 1: only held onto the computer magazine titles. PC Magazine would 79 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:16,160 Speaker 1: go into great some might say excruciatingly great detail about 80 00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:20,360 Speaker 1: computer specs and recommendations, and it really was not for 81 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:23,640 Speaker 1: the computer illiterate. It also did quite well, growing to 82 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 1: become one of the top ten largest magazines in the 83 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 1: US by and if Davis would complement this with other 84 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: magazines such as a one called Mac User, so for 85 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:38,120 Speaker 1: the Mac users out there, not just the PC owners 86 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:40,960 Speaker 1: and others. And back in the nineteen eighties, the company 87 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 1: had acquired the Information Access Company, which was an early 88 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:49,839 Speaker 1: electronic publishing organization. It largely oversaw lots of databases that 89 00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:53,520 Speaker 1: were useful for library functions. If Davis would build upon 90 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:57,600 Speaker 1: this innovation with the development of zif net and electronic 91 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 1: version of various magazines that the publisher offered to subscribers 92 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 1: of online service providers like American Online or Prodigy, then 93 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: the company became an online service provider of its own 94 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:12,840 Speaker 1: with the Interchange Online Network, though that would not go 95 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 1: live before the company would get broken up. Spoiler alert now, 96 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,560 Speaker 1: in case you're not familiar with the termin online service 97 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 1: provider was sort of a predecessor to the internet service 98 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:27,080 Speaker 1: providers we use today. The online service providers would offer 99 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:30,839 Speaker 1: access to a computer network and sometimes limited access to 100 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:33,840 Speaker 1: the Internet at large, and keep in mind that in 101 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 1: the very early days there was no Worldwide Web yet, 102 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: so it would usually mean things like email exchanges and 103 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:45,440 Speaker 1: uh FDP servers that kind of thing. OSPs would provide news, 104 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:49,680 Speaker 1: entertainment and communication services like email, although depending on the USP, 105 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:53,640 Speaker 1: you might be limited to sending and receiving email with 106 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:57,800 Speaker 1: other members of that same online service provider. There wasn't 107 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:03,160 Speaker 1: necessarily interser of us connectivity between different online service providers 108 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:08,520 Speaker 1: in the early days. After Ziff Jr. Would retire, the 109 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:12,480 Speaker 1: Ziff Davis Publishing Company got broken up a second time. 110 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: The publishing arm would go to an investment firm called Fortsman, 111 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 1: Little and Company for the princely sum of one point 112 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 1: for billion. With a B dollars, the Soft Bank Corporation 113 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:29,200 Speaker 1: from Japan would buy a division called Ziff Davis Exhibitors, 114 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 1: which organized and managed computer trade shows, and the Information 115 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: Access Company would go to the Thompson Corporation and A 116 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:41,280 Speaker 1: T and T would scoop up the Interchange Online network. Now, 117 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:45,440 Speaker 1: despite this breakup, the publishing arm continued business as usual, 118 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:49,720 Speaker 1: growing in the process. By it launched a new magazine 119 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 1: called Yahoo Internet Life. Obviously inspired by Yahoo the web portal, 120 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: and it was kind of described as the TV guide 121 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:03,360 Speaker 1: for the Internet. That same year, soft Bank, which you 122 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:07,280 Speaker 1: know I just mentioned had purchased the exhibitor part of 123 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:12,520 Speaker 1: Ziff Davis back in decided it was gonna try again 124 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:15,800 Speaker 1: because it had tried to buy the publishing branch but 125 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:19,880 Speaker 1: got outbid by Fortsman Little. So SoftBank went to Fortsman 126 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:22,360 Speaker 1: Little and said, tell you what, We'll give you two 127 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:26,840 Speaker 1: point one billion dollars for the publishing arm. Now keep 128 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:31,600 Speaker 1: in mind Fortsman had purchased this publishing arm for one 129 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:33,760 Speaker 1: point four billion dollars the year before, so this was 130 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:36,880 Speaker 1: a pretty good deal, you know, turning around and selling 131 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:39,679 Speaker 1: it for two point one billion dollars. So soft Bank 132 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:44,200 Speaker 1: then took ownership of the Ziff Davis publishing part of 133 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:48,040 Speaker 1: the business. In as part of the launch of the 134 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 1: MSNBC cable channel, Ziff Davis dipped its corporate toe in 135 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: the waters of TV programming. The company produced an hour 136 00:08:57,040 --> 00:09:01,679 Speaker 1: long show called The Site s I T E. Solo. 137 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:05,160 Speaker 1: Doda Brian acted as host for the show. She would 138 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 1: go on to do many amazing things in TV and beyond, 139 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:13,079 Speaker 1: and she had a motion capture animated sidekick named dev Null, 140 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: voiced by a certain Leo Laporte, who would go on 141 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:20,679 Speaker 1: to become a host on the future tech TV. I'm 142 00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:22,640 Speaker 1: sure it must have been a lot of fun seeing 143 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:26,199 Speaker 1: Leo in that motion capture suit. The site was a 144 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:30,559 Speaker 1: technology news and culture program that focused primarily on the Internet. 145 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:34,640 Speaker 1: It also had a companion website that complimented the programming 146 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:38,120 Speaker 1: on the television show. Now. Sadly, the site the TV 147 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:42,320 Speaker 1: show didn't last very long. MSNBC would preempt episodes of 148 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:46,880 Speaker 1: the show in in the wake of Princess Diana's death, 149 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:51,520 Speaker 1: and the show never returned to air. Instead, in MSNBC 150 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:54,760 Speaker 1: changed formats to become a twenty four hour news channel 151 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:58,560 Speaker 1: and Ziff Davis would hire back all the staff of 152 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 1: the show with a new goal. They decided that they 153 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:05,360 Speaker 1: were going to launch a dedicated television channel, a cable 154 00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:08,040 Speaker 1: channel of its very own, and it was going to 155 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:11,520 Speaker 1: leverage the expertise it had with its print and web 156 00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 1: content and adapted for the medium of television. Now, the 157 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 1: ownership of the channel, which was originally not called tech TV. 158 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:26,520 Speaker 1: The original name was z d TV gets a bit confusing, 159 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:31,160 Speaker 1: so originally it was not the Ziff Davis division of 160 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:35,440 Speaker 1: soft Bank that would own this channel. Instead, a soft 161 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:40,360 Speaker 1: Bank affiliate holding company called MAC owned the channel. And 162 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:42,960 Speaker 1: maybe it pays to talk about that a bit, because 163 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 1: I think the corporate ownership of Ziff Davis gives us 164 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:52,400 Speaker 1: a little bit of insight into how much or how 165 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:55,840 Speaker 1: little support initiatives like z d t V would get 166 00:10:56,280 --> 00:11:00,840 Speaker 1: from its corporate overlords. Okay, So soft Bank is an 167 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 1: investment company and it's it's headquartered in Japan. It's publicly 168 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:09,520 Speaker 1: traded and was and still is led by a guy 169 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:14,000 Speaker 1: named Masa Yoshi. San San owns a large stake of 170 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:17,760 Speaker 1: soft Bank, and he did it through this holding company 171 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:21,040 Speaker 1: MAC M a C. And he used companies kind of 172 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:25,160 Speaker 1: like how a magician uses cups and balls. So to 173 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:30,439 Speaker 1: avoid affecting soft Bank's bottom line and thus the value 174 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:34,640 Speaker 1: of its shares, he used the MAC company to purchase 175 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:39,600 Speaker 1: some of the more risky divisions for acquisitions like Ziff Davis. So, 176 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:41,959 Speaker 1: in other words, if it was part of a company 177 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:44,760 Speaker 1: that made money, it could go to soft Bank because 178 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:47,880 Speaker 1: that would help boost SoftBank's numbers and it would improve 179 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:50,280 Speaker 1: the price on the shares. But if it was a 180 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:52,800 Speaker 1: loss making business, if it was something there's a little 181 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:56,120 Speaker 1: more risky, MAC would scoop it up because it was 182 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:59,440 Speaker 1: a private company, and as a private company it could 183 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 1: sort of eyed those losses. So in other words, all 184 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:07,079 Speaker 1: the hits would go to soft Bank, all the strikes 185 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:10,240 Speaker 1: would go to MAC, which could just sort of absorb 186 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 1: it as divisions stabilized. Sun would oversee soft Bank purchasing 187 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:20,120 Speaker 1: those divisions back from Mac, frequently at cost. So essentially 188 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:24,960 Speaker 1: he was transferring ownership from one company, a private company, 189 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:28,280 Speaker 1: to another, a public company. So z d t V 190 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:31,720 Speaker 1: would initially fall under MAC Holdings. That was essentially the 191 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:35,320 Speaker 1: American version of the Mac company that Saun was using 192 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:41,040 Speaker 1: in Japan, and about a year after that things would change. MAC, 193 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:45,679 Speaker 1: the Japanese one would get merged into soft Bank, ostensibly 194 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:50,240 Speaker 1: to improve transparency, and if Davis would buy z d 195 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:54,600 Speaker 1: t V from Mac Holdings in late n But a 196 00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:57,760 Speaker 1: little bit of other stuff happened in between the launch 197 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:00,400 Speaker 1: of z d t V in early nine d eight 198 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:06,199 Speaker 1: and z if David's purchasing the rights over from MAC Holdings. Now, 199 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:08,199 Speaker 1: the reason that all of this is important, apart from 200 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:12,440 Speaker 1: the fact that it illustrates how extremely rich people manipulate systems. 201 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:15,800 Speaker 1: In order to get even more rich is that for 202 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:19,479 Speaker 1: a time it hid z d t vs financial performance, 203 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:22,200 Speaker 1: and I'll get to that in a second. The channel 204 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:27,000 Speaker 1: would launch on May tenth or May eleventh. Really was 205 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:29,560 Speaker 1: announced on the tenth and really launched on the eleventh, 206 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:34,160 Speaker 1: but it also launched in a very limited distribution. Larry Weinberg, 207 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:36,760 Speaker 1: who had previously served as president and CEO of a 208 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: cable television company, would sign on as president and CEO 209 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:43,120 Speaker 1: of z d t V, and originally z d TV 210 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:46,840 Speaker 1: was only available on a few smaller cable providers like 211 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:51,600 Speaker 1: clear Vision Cable or Helicon Cable, and Georgia, where I'm from, 212 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:54,959 Speaker 1: there was a little carrier called Teleview that offered it. 213 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:57,560 Speaker 1: I was not a tele of View customer, so I 214 00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:01,880 Speaker 1: actually remained completely ignorant of zd TV and later tech 215 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:05,000 Speaker 1: tv for quite some time. A bit later in the summer, 216 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:08,959 Speaker 1: of Direct TV and z d TV would put together 217 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:13,199 Speaker 1: a carriage deal that would put the new programming on 218 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:17,840 Speaker 1: channel two hundred seventy three of the satellite TV service. 219 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: That would also mark the first time that certain people 220 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:25,240 Speaker 1: in San Francisco, that being Direct TV customers where z 221 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:28,760 Speaker 1: d t V was actually shot, could finally watch the channel. 222 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:32,280 Speaker 1: In fact, for a very long time in the z 223 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:35,840 Speaker 1: d TV tech TV history. Despite the fact that it 224 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 1: was shot and produced in San Francisco, most people in 225 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:42,520 Speaker 1: San Francisco had no access to the show. They couldn't 226 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:45,760 Speaker 1: watch it. The company decided not to publish how many 227 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:49,720 Speaker 1: households it would reach on its debut, but analysts estimated 228 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:52,960 Speaker 1: that was likely fewer than a million households. Now, keep 229 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: in mind that meant that the channel would be available 230 00:14:56,200 --> 00:15:00,760 Speaker 1: for fewer than one million households. Presumably, even on the 231 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:03,160 Speaker 1: households that got the channel, not all of them were 232 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:05,480 Speaker 1: going to be glued to the television to watch tech 233 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:10,120 Speaker 1: related contents. So we're talking about significantly fewer than one 234 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:13,720 Speaker 1: million viewers. But you gotta start somewhere. Now. I'll get 235 00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:16,120 Speaker 1: to some of the programs that the channel carried in 236 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:19,040 Speaker 1: the next section of this episode. But first I want 237 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:23,720 Speaker 1: to mention that in November of just half a year 238 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:27,960 Speaker 1: after the channel had debuted, a company called Vulcan Ventures 239 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:31,720 Speaker 1: would invest more than fifty million dollars into z d 240 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 1: t V in exchange for one third ownership of the company. Now, 241 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:41,720 Speaker 1: Vulcan Ventures had a famous founder Paul Allen, co founder 242 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:45,600 Speaker 1: of a little company called Microsoft. This is also around 243 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:48,520 Speaker 1: the time when Ziff Davis would exercise its options to 244 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:52,360 Speaker 1: buy z d t V from Mac Holdings. Now I 245 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 1: mentioned the financial performance a second ago by The Times. 246 00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:59,160 Speaker 1: If Davis would buy z d t V from Mac Holdings, 247 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:03,800 Speaker 1: the Ziff Dave subsidiary overall had an operating profit of 248 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:07,960 Speaker 1: thirty one point one million dollars, and because z d 249 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:14,239 Speaker 1: t V wasn't organized under Zif Davis, the channels operating 250 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:18,760 Speaker 1: losses would not affect that company's budget sheets, which is 251 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:21,040 Speaker 1: a good thing, because it turned out that z d 252 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:24,400 Speaker 1: t V had operated at a loss of forty seven 253 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:30,200 Speaker 1: point five million dollars, which means the channel's losses were 254 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 1: more than ten million dollars greater than the operating profit 255 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:39,080 Speaker 1: of the entire Ziff Davis company, including all the magazine publishing, 256 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:43,880 Speaker 1: which is scary. Now. Granted, the launch was at best 257 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:46,840 Speaker 1: a modest one, and the startup costs of launching a 258 00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:50,960 Speaker 1: cable channel are incredibly high. You could say they're pretty substantial, 259 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:53,840 Speaker 1: so it would have been remarkable if z d TV 260 00:16:54,040 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 1: had turned a profit in its first year. But this 261 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:01,040 Speaker 1: would create a pretty hefty burden on the little channel 262 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:05,160 Speaker 1: and for Ziff Davis in general. On the other hand, 263 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:08,840 Speaker 1: Paul Allen had also made another significant purchase that could 264 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:11,639 Speaker 1: give the fledgling channel a little bit of a boost. 265 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:15,919 Speaker 1: He had purchased Charter Communications, a cable TV operator, for 266 00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:19,720 Speaker 1: four and a half billion With a B dollars. In 267 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:24,160 Speaker 1: November of Vulcan Ventures would strike a deal to acquire 268 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:27,639 Speaker 1: the rest of the shares of z d TV, buying 269 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:31,480 Speaker 1: it from Ziff Davis. So now it would become wholly 270 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:36,240 Speaker 1: owned by Vulcan Ventures. The channel would continue with its 271 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:40,600 Speaker 1: original name for nearly a year more until September two thousand, 272 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:45,320 Speaker 1: when it would rebrand itself as tech TV. Now. I'll 273 00:17:45,359 --> 00:17:47,399 Speaker 1: have more to say about this in just a moment, 274 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:57,320 Speaker 1: but first let's take a quick break. So one thing 275 00:17:57,320 --> 00:17:59,800 Speaker 1: I want to mention before I go into the sorts 276 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:02,359 Speaker 1: of shows that were on z d t V and 277 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:06,040 Speaker 1: then tech TV, is a bit of confusion regarding the 278 00:18:06,119 --> 00:18:09,760 Speaker 1: channel and then the company c Net, which is today 279 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: part of CBS. I've seen some videos and read some 280 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:17,640 Speaker 1: news reports even some articles that conflated c nets purchase 281 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:21,040 Speaker 1: of z d net, which was a family of websites 282 00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:24,040 Speaker 1: that were operated by Ziff Davis and z d t 283 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:27,560 Speaker 1: V the television channel. So to clear this up, c 284 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:33,240 Speaker 1: NET purchased z d net and these two things were competitors. 285 00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:36,560 Speaker 1: Zd net actually for a while was out performing c 286 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:40,000 Speaker 1: NET back in those days, but it did not include 287 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:44,840 Speaker 1: the television channel that remained under Paul Allen's general ownership 288 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 1: through Vulcan Ventures. This did complicate things a little bit 289 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:52,400 Speaker 1: because up until the acquisition, some of the content from 290 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:55,840 Speaker 1: z d t V would then be featured on the 291 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:58,920 Speaker 1: z d net sites, so maybe that's where the confusion 292 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:03,400 Speaker 1: stems from. Also, Vulcan Ventures, Paul Allen's investment company, at 293 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:07,399 Speaker 1: one time nearly owned twenty percent of all the shares 294 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:11,080 Speaker 1: of c NET, but the company, the investment company, had 295 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:14,040 Speaker 1: begun divesting itself of those shares leading up to the 296 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:17,800 Speaker 1: purchase of z d TV. That also makes it all confusing. 297 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:20,119 Speaker 1: But the important thing to remember here is that c 298 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:24,240 Speaker 1: NET did not at any time acquire z d t 299 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:27,040 Speaker 1: V and thus tech TV. Now, when the channel went 300 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:29,640 Speaker 1: on the air, there was a mixture of excitement and 301 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:34,240 Speaker 1: skepticism about its fate. It's a cliche and it's obvious, 302 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:39,639 Speaker 1: but was a very different landscape from today. Back in 303 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 1: less than half of all American homes even owned a computer, 304 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:48,200 Speaker 1: and only about a quarter of all American households had 305 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:51,840 Speaker 1: Internet access. So there was a question, and it seemed 306 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:55,280 Speaker 1: a legitimate one, was there even enough demand to support 307 00:19:55,640 --> 00:20:01,880 Speaker 1: a tech oriented computer NERD targeted twenty for our cable channel, 308 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:06,320 Speaker 1: particularly one that was going to focus heavily on the Internet. Now, 309 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:09,280 Speaker 1: on the flip side of that, the Internet was considered 310 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:16,120 Speaker 1: virgin territory, wide open landscape, just ripe for making your fortune. 311 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:19,280 Speaker 1: It was like a gold rush, So there was a 312 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:23,160 Speaker 1: lot of optimism about how important the Internet was going 313 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:26,919 Speaker 1: to be in the very near future. So in that sense, 314 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:32,400 Speaker 1: they were kind of taking a gamble, but they felt 315 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:34,480 Speaker 1: like it was a gamble that was pretty sure it 316 00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:37,120 Speaker 1: was going to pay off. But let's talk a little 317 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:40,240 Speaker 1: bit about the programming on the channel. When z DTV 318 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:44,639 Speaker 1: launched in it had around six hours of programming a 319 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,160 Speaker 1: day that would repeat to create the twenty four hour 320 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:51,320 Speaker 1: cable TV channel. The programming, most of which was live. 321 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:54,480 Speaker 1: By the way, they would actually broadcast live for the 322 00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:59,359 Speaker 1: initial uh airing of the shows ran across a pretty 323 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:03,000 Speaker 1: decent spectrum of the computer experience. There was an on 324 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:07,199 Speaker 1: air tech advice show called Call for Help, and that 325 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:09,159 Speaker 1: one was aimed at people who are either new to 326 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: computers or only had a little experience with them, hosted 327 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:15,960 Speaker 1: famously by Leo Laporte. One thing the channel did early 328 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:19,480 Speaker 1: on was to offer free net cameras or web cameras 329 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:22,719 Speaker 1: to users who registered on the show's online forums. If 330 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:25,199 Speaker 1: they wanted to ask a question, they could register, they 331 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,320 Speaker 1: could get a camera sent to them. They would hook 332 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:30,320 Speaker 1: up the camera and then their web camera footage would 333 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:32,040 Speaker 1: actually be used in the show. So you do a 334 00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:35,880 Speaker 1: live call, your video would be up on screen as 335 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:39,080 Speaker 1: you're asking people for computer advice. Let's say that you're 336 00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:41,800 Speaker 1: having an issue with your computer crashing and you're calling 337 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:44,240 Speaker 1: them to find out what you can do to solve 338 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:46,600 Speaker 1: this problem. It was a really neat idea and it 339 00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:50,480 Speaker 1: really built a sense of community among the viewers. The 340 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:52,800 Speaker 1: channel also had a half hour show that focused on 341 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:57,240 Speaker 1: new tech called Fresh Gear UH. There was also a 342 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:01,680 Speaker 1: money oriented computer show called The the Machine that gave 343 00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:04,320 Speaker 1: users advice on how to leverage computers to do stuff 344 00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:08,200 Speaker 1: like make financial investments. UH. There was also the entertainment 345 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:11,800 Speaker 1: and news segment that was mostly covered in a show 346 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:17,760 Speaker 1: called Internet Tonight that featured segments about Internet trends, rumors, news, 347 00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:21,280 Speaker 1: They had segments on music, They had segments on memes 348 00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:24,920 Speaker 1: before we called them memes. Funny little side note. While 349 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:27,800 Speaker 1: I was researching this episode, I happened to read an 350 00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:32,040 Speaker 1: article that had a fully embedded episode of Internet Tonight 351 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:36,119 Speaker 1: on it. I believe it was for July, so I 352 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:38,439 Speaker 1: watched a good good amount of it just to kind 353 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:40,000 Speaker 1: of get a feel for what it was like. And 354 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:45,520 Speaker 1: you know, it was a fairly slick production that was 355 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:48,640 Speaker 1: covering tech news, and I thought it was pretty interesting. 356 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:52,159 Speaker 1: I scrubbed through it and just around nineteen minutes and 357 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:56,040 Speaker 1: thirty seconds or so, it goes into a segment about 358 00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:59,840 Speaker 1: a website that was pretty useful. That website turned out 359 00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:04,160 Speaker 1: to how stuff works dot com, which I found really amusing. Obviously, 360 00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:06,879 Speaker 1: being someone who had worked for how Stuff Works since 361 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:12,159 Speaker 1: two thousand seven, h seeing a feature from about the 362 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:15,440 Speaker 1: website really tickled me. Also, boy, the website has come 363 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:18,680 Speaker 1: a long way since those days, but it did make 364 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:23,480 Speaker 1: me chuckle. There was another show called Silicon Spin, hosted 365 00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:28,520 Speaker 1: by John C. Dvorak, who was an editor for PC magazine, 366 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:32,399 Speaker 1: which she will remember, was a magazine published by Ziff Davis. Uh. 367 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:35,479 Speaker 1: He kind of gave an opinion show about technology and 368 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 1: tech news and developments. One of the big shows to 369 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:42,000 Speaker 1: come out of this debut was called The Screen Savers, 370 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:46,080 Speaker 1: another computer oriented show that included reviews, advice, and news. 371 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:49,800 Speaker 1: This one also was hosted by Leo Laporte and Kate Botello. 372 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:53,040 Speaker 1: This show, like Call for Help, often include questions from 373 00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:55,360 Speaker 1: viewers to help solve issues they were having with their 374 00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:59,240 Speaker 1: computer systems, and also would include net camera footage. This 375 00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:02,880 Speaker 1: show was more are for intermediate to advanced computer users. 376 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:07,040 Speaker 1: You know, they didn't really pussy foot around talking about 377 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:11,680 Speaker 1: you know, computer terminology and and and tech terms, and 378 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:14,480 Speaker 1: if you didn't know your stuff at least the basics, 379 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:18,080 Speaker 1: you can very quickly get lost. So this was something 380 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:20,760 Speaker 1: that appealed to a lot of the tech savvy audience 381 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,560 Speaker 1: because they felt like they weren't being patronized, they weren't 382 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:28,120 Speaker 1: being talked down to. This show would undergo massive changes 383 00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:33,240 Speaker 1: over the following years, usually involving it being dialed back 384 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:37,640 Speaker 1: from being quite so tech heavy to the point where 385 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:41,159 Speaker 1: by the time it was in its final incarnation, you 386 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:44,960 Speaker 1: could argue it was unrecognizable. Now, it was a pretty 387 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:48,119 Speaker 1: bold move to put out this kind of niche oriented 388 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:51,240 Speaker 1: programming out on the air. Now at this time, we're 389 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:53,400 Speaker 1: we're also seeing a lot of other channels that were 390 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:57,960 Speaker 1: catering to specific interests. Channels like MTV had paved the 391 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:01,120 Speaker 1: way for other cable channels that would focus on specific 392 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:05,000 Speaker 1: subject matter, though by this time MTV had already drifted 393 00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:08,560 Speaker 1: far away from its origins as music television that is 394 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:13,040 Speaker 1: what MTV used to stand for. Channels like the Learning Channel, 395 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:16,720 Speaker 1: which would later become TLC, and Sci Fi which would 396 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:20,440 Speaker 1: later become SIFFY, and American Movie Classics which would later 397 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:24,600 Speaker 1: become a MC, we're all attempting to build audiences using 398 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:27,760 Speaker 1: a sort of laser like focus on subject matter. The 399 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:31,520 Speaker 1: idea was, if you focus on a specific topic, you 400 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:34,800 Speaker 1: can dominate for that topic and you can become the 401 00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:39,000 Speaker 1: go to source. Now, as we'll see when we talk 402 00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:42,720 Speaker 1: about G four in our next episode, the strategy would 403 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:47,919 Speaker 1: shift away from catering to that core audience over time 404 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:51,680 Speaker 1: in an effort to build out a larger viewership, something 405 00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:54,240 Speaker 1: we've seen time and time again, not just with tech 406 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:57,760 Speaker 1: TV and G four, but MTV is a great example. 407 00:25:57,920 --> 00:25:59,880 Speaker 1: That was an early example of how we would see 408 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:04,639 Speaker 1: that at and show channels like the Learning Channel or 409 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:08,320 Speaker 1: TLC as another great example, and sci Fi as another one, 410 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:13,760 Speaker 1: and even Cartoon Network that's another one. Well. According to 411 00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:17,159 Speaker 1: Russ Pitts, who served as a line producer on the 412 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:21,160 Speaker 1: Screen Savers, employees were not told how many people were 413 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:25,720 Speaker 1: actually watching the programs. The best and employee could hope 414 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:27,800 Speaker 1: for at the time was an estimate of how many 415 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:31,800 Speaker 1: people could potentially watch a show based on the number 416 00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:34,960 Speaker 1: of households that z d t V was reaching, like 417 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:39,000 Speaker 1: how many how many cable companies were actually carrying z 418 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:42,760 Speaker 1: d t V By the middle of that was around 419 00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:47,000 Speaker 1: eleven million households, and four million of those were through 420 00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:51,520 Speaker 1: cable providers and the other seven million were through satellite 421 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:55,600 Speaker 1: television providers. Two years after the channel went on the air, 422 00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:59,760 Speaker 1: the bottom fell out under the dot com industry the 423 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:03,800 Speaker 1: dot com investment bubble burst, as the same year the 424 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:08,359 Speaker 1: channel would undergo its transformation into tech TV. Several months after, 425 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:12,199 Speaker 1: Vulcan Ventures had purchased the remaining ownership from zip Davis 426 00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:15,920 Speaker 1: for somewhere in the neighborhood of three hundred million dollars 427 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:19,000 Speaker 1: a princely Some keep in mind they had already spent 428 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:22,280 Speaker 1: another fifty million dollars just to get that first third 429 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:24,880 Speaker 1: of the ownership. So it's a bit hard to remember 430 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:29,280 Speaker 1: exactly how big an impact this dot com bubble collapse 431 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:33,399 Speaker 1: had on the world in general and San Francisco in particular. 432 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:37,480 Speaker 1: During the boom years, San Francisco was doing incredibly well. 433 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:40,399 Speaker 1: The city was really turning around. There were all sorts 434 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:43,359 Speaker 1: of innovative startups and more than a few ventures built 435 00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:45,919 Speaker 1: on little more than wishful thinking, and as we all know, 436 00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:49,240 Speaker 1: it wasn't something that would go on forever. The collapse 437 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:52,080 Speaker 1: hit those companies hard, and it also delivered a big 438 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:55,960 Speaker 1: blow to the advertising industry. Companies that had survived the 439 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,720 Speaker 1: dot com crash and the economic fallout that fought that 440 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:02,960 Speaker 1: went behind that were becoming much more careful with their 441 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:06,280 Speaker 1: money and they would spend less on advertising and marketing. 442 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:09,720 Speaker 1: So for a television channel that drew its revenue from 443 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:13,440 Speaker 1: selling ad space, this was really bad news and it 444 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:15,720 Speaker 1: was a big ripple effects. So think of it like 445 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:18,119 Speaker 1: a bull's eye. Target at the very center of this 446 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:21,520 Speaker 1: bull's eye, we have the companies that went under when 447 00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:25,439 Speaker 1: the dot com bubble collapsed around that the circle just 448 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:29,160 Speaker 1: outside of the core were the companies that survived. They 449 00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:31,600 Speaker 1: had enough money, they were able to pivot, they were 450 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:33,880 Speaker 1: able to weather the storm, but they took a big 451 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:37,240 Speaker 1: hit further out from them, where companies like tech TV 452 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:42,680 Speaker 1: that depended upon these entities further inside the circles to survive, 453 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,920 Speaker 1: they were getting ad revenue from those companies. Wasn't just 454 00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 1: tech TV, I mean, obviously websites were also deeply affected, 455 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:53,800 Speaker 1: including how Stuff Works. That one was really hit hard 456 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:57,760 Speaker 1: as well, when the advertising industry as a whole took 457 00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:00,320 Speaker 1: a big step backward in the wake of the dot 458 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:03,520 Speaker 1: com collapse. To make things even more complicated, tech TV 459 00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:07,640 Speaker 1: also had a large complementary web presence that ran in 460 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:12,040 Speaker 1: parallel with the television station. So the company had two 461 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,600 Speaker 1: sets of staff. You had one on the table TV 462 00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:19,560 Speaker 1: production side and you had one on the website development 463 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:22,920 Speaker 1: production side. And as the belts began to tighten in 464 00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:25,160 Speaker 1: the wake of the dot com crash, it became clear 465 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:29,120 Speaker 1: that there just wasn't enough money to support everyone. Now, 466 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:31,400 Speaker 1: I'm sure many of you have been through a situation 467 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:33,280 Speaker 1: in which there was a major change of the company 468 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:35,960 Speaker 1: you worked for and you felt the effects of that 469 00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:39,680 Speaker 1: ripple through the organization. That was definitely the case with 470 00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:42,840 Speaker 1: z d t V slash tech TV. Paul Allen had 471 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:45,560 Speaker 1: some ideas about programming, and one of those was that 472 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 1: the channel should launch a television show dedicated to music 473 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:52,680 Speaker 1: called Audio File f I l E. Which had a 474 00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:55,240 Speaker 1: higher budget than most of the other shows on the channel, 475 00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:58,440 Speaker 1: including the two best performing shows on the channel, which 476 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:01,920 Speaker 1: were Called for Help and This Green Savers. So that 477 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:06,320 Speaker 1: raised some hackles over at tech TV. You saw producers 478 00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:09,280 Speaker 1: get a little upset when they saw how much money 479 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:12,480 Speaker 1: and care was being poured into this this pet project 480 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:16,560 Speaker 1: of Paul Allen's. And meanwhile, the shows that were consistently 481 00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:21,400 Speaker 1: performing well with their audiences weren't getting much love from 482 00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:25,520 Speaker 1: the executives. But the first really big change that would 483 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:28,680 Speaker 1: have a disastrous effect for the channel would start in 484 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:31,320 Speaker 1: two thousand one, and in March of two thousand one, 485 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:33,920 Speaker 1: the company would have its first round of layoffs. Now 486 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:37,120 Speaker 1: this was a very small round of layoffs, but it 487 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:39,640 Speaker 1: was something that would set a tone for the next 488 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:42,840 Speaker 1: couple of years. They laid off about a dozen employees, 489 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,000 Speaker 1: so in the grand scheme of things, not a huge 490 00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:48,360 Speaker 1: number of people. These were all employees who worked on 491 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:52,440 Speaker 1: the website side of the business. That also started to 492 00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:55,600 Speaker 1: build a further divide within the company. You had people 493 00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:58,120 Speaker 1: who were working very hard on the website side to 494 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:02,960 Speaker 1: support the television shows and to build out more information 495 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:07,320 Speaker 1: about actual tech and they were seeing this start to 496 00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:11,840 Speaker 1: transform where the focus, at least from the TV executive side, 497 00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:17,600 Speaker 1: was more on pushing the channel toward an entertainment path 498 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:22,200 Speaker 1: rather than on the very tech focused path that was 499 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:26,160 Speaker 1: the original purpose of tech TV. This is also when 500 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,360 Speaker 1: tech TV would launch a nine and a half hour 501 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:35,360 Speaker 1: block of programming called Tech Live. This was essentially a 502 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:39,080 Speaker 1: very long cable news show dedicated to all things tech, 503 00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:43,920 Speaker 1: and it was largely geared towards business professionals like day traders, 504 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:48,000 Speaker 1: things like that investors, which was a tough sell in 505 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:50,640 Speaker 1: those days. The behind the scenes leader for this show 506 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:54,280 Speaker 1: was Jim Lauderback, who had also served as host of 507 00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:57,360 Speaker 1: Fresh Gear And in the interest of full disclosure, I 508 00:31:57,440 --> 00:31:59,840 Speaker 1: used to work with Jim lauder Back, but briefly back 509 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:02,560 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works and Revision three were both part of 510 00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:06,720 Speaker 1: Discovery Communications. We technically worked in the same departments, but 511 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:09,560 Speaker 1: our path didn't really cross that much, so I never 512 00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:12,280 Speaker 1: really got much of a strong sense of of who 513 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:16,400 Speaker 1: he is as a leader. But there were several problems 514 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:20,320 Speaker 1: that were later connected to this big push of tech Live. 515 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:23,960 Speaker 1: One of those was that it was really expensive and 516 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:27,600 Speaker 1: the channel wasn't exactly a huge cash cow. According to 517 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:31,200 Speaker 1: a Wired magazine article from two thousand two, expenses included 518 00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:35,480 Speaker 1: opening up news bureaus in Seattle, New York City, and Washington, 519 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:39,480 Speaker 1: d C. Also, they built out a broadcast center in 520 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:43,120 Speaker 1: the San Francisco headquarters, and meanwhile, the channel was still 521 00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:46,520 Speaker 1: fighting to gain more purchase on cable networks, so recapturing 522 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:51,680 Speaker 1: those costs was a big challenge. Another problem with tech 523 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:56,360 Speaker 1: Live was that the move began to alienate some of 524 00:32:56,400 --> 00:33:00,560 Speaker 1: the channel's most faithful audience, so viewership number is actually 525 00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:06,240 Speaker 1: went into decline. They were wanting to see the programs 526 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:09,800 Speaker 1: that they had loved from the very beginning of z 527 00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:12,040 Speaker 1: d t V, and more of those were getting kind 528 00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:14,560 Speaker 1: of pushed off to the side because of this enormous 529 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:18,120 Speaker 1: block of programming with tech Live. Another issue was that 530 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:21,120 Speaker 1: it's really really hard to fill that many hours with 531 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:24,320 Speaker 1: content without retreading the same stuff on a regular basis, 532 00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:28,520 Speaker 1: So within six months, executives decided to pair back tech 533 00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:32,720 Speaker 1: Live into three separate programs. One was a ninety minute 534 00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:36,520 Speaker 1: morning show, another was an hour long afternoon show, and 535 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:39,760 Speaker 1: the third was a half hour nightly program. A former 536 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:43,120 Speaker 1: tech TV employee named Josh Green wrote a post on 537 00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:47,479 Speaker 1: Leo Laporte's site, his blog site that laid out a 538 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:52,760 Speaker 1: bunch of complaints about tech TV around this time, and 539 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:57,960 Speaker 1: it's a heck of a read. Green is, let's say, 540 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:02,640 Speaker 1: acidic in his uh. In his criticism, he argued that 541 00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:06,920 Speaker 1: the top leadership, both at the channel side of tech 542 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:11,239 Speaker 1: TV and the website side was unqualified. He even went 543 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:14,120 Speaker 1: so far as to call them incompetent. He also argued 544 00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:18,720 Speaker 1: that tech TV launched tech Live at precisely the worst 545 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:22,200 Speaker 1: time because it was the aftermath of the dot com bubble, 546 00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:26,480 Speaker 1: so there was not a whole lot of consumer interest 547 00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:29,600 Speaker 1: for technology in general, and certainly not a lot of 548 00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:34,759 Speaker 1: enthusiasm about investing in tech companies mere months after the 549 00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:38,319 Speaker 1: entire market had had such a massive collapse. It does 550 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:41,120 Speaker 1: seem odd that a channel would pour resources into a 551 00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:44,960 Speaker 1: huge commitment revolving around the tech financial industry when the 552 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:47,520 Speaker 1: desire to invest in that industry was less than ideal. 553 00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:52,440 Speaker 1: Green's post again is really vitriolic, and that's an understatement. 554 00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:55,600 Speaker 1: He clearly held a lot of contempt for many on 555 00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:58,719 Speaker 1: the television side of tech TV. He also was a 556 00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:01,960 Speaker 1: little prophetic. He wrote in two thousand one that much 557 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:04,240 Speaker 1: of the content on the channel was being created for 558 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:08,680 Speaker 1: quote an audience of one end quote, and by that 559 00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:12,880 Speaker 1: he meant that the creative decisions guiding the executives for 560 00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:15,880 Speaker 1: creating programming for tech TV all seemed to be geared 561 00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:20,680 Speaker 1: as an effort to please Paul Allen, because ultimately it 562 00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:23,760 Speaker 1: was Alan who was kind of floating the company through 563 00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:28,640 Speaker 1: the Vulcan Ventures investment firm, and Green stated correctly as 564 00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:30,960 Speaker 1: it would turn out that Alan would only do that 565 00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:33,560 Speaker 1: for a certain amount of time before he would want 566 00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:36,319 Speaker 1: to dump the venture, and it would take a couple 567 00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:38,879 Speaker 1: of years. But that's pretty much what would happen. I'll 568 00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:41,600 Speaker 1: explain more in just a moment, but first let's take 569 00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:52,279 Speaker 1: another quick break. So something else that happened in two 570 00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:56,600 Speaker 1: thousand one that would have a lot of consequences for 571 00:35:57,320 --> 00:36:00,000 Speaker 1: not just tech TV, but obviously the entire world, where 572 00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:03,759 Speaker 1: the terrorist attacks on September eleven, two thousand one. It 573 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:07,759 Speaker 1: had repercussions around the world, and tech TV was not excluded. 574 00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:10,439 Speaker 1: The channel would go dark for a couple of days. 575 00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:14,120 Speaker 1: San Francisco was viewed as a possible target for further attacks, 576 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:18,760 Speaker 1: so much of the staff didn't come into work following 577 00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:22,279 Speaker 1: September eleven. Also was a very tough psychological challenge for 578 00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:26,320 Speaker 1: the writers and the hosts and the producers to produce 579 00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:31,279 Speaker 1: shows and talk about something that was seemingly inconsequential. Technology 580 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:36,720 Speaker 1: news and goofy gadgets just didn't seem important or valid 581 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:40,120 Speaker 1: in the wake of such an enormous tragedy. The tech 582 00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:42,640 Speaker 1: industry as a whole, which was still unsteady after the 583 00:36:42,719 --> 00:36:46,200 Speaker 1: dot com bust, was knocked off balance again, but the 584 00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:50,680 Speaker 1: shows eventually started coming back. The channel came back with 585 00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:55,040 Speaker 1: with new programming. People soldiered on, and then two months 586 00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:58,600 Speaker 1: later a large round of layoffs would follow. It happened 587 00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:01,839 Speaker 1: on November six and one. The company let go of 588 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:07,000 Speaker 1: one hundred thirty employees. That was about twenty of the 589 00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:11,200 Speaker 1: entire staff, according to Leo Report on his blog. This 590 00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:14,080 Speaker 1: was around when tech Live was first cut back from 591 00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:16,960 Speaker 1: its gargantuan nine and a half hours to three programs. 592 00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:21,480 Speaker 1: The live programming in general shrank from eleven hours to 593 00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:24,640 Speaker 1: six and a half hours a day. A half year 594 00:37:24,719 --> 00:37:29,760 Speaker 1: later and the company did another round of layoffs. This time, 595 00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:33,800 Speaker 1: it laid off about fifty people, and Tech Live shrank again. 596 00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:38,080 Speaker 1: At this point, it was just a half hour nightly program. 597 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:41,080 Speaker 1: Gone was the morning program, gone was the afternoon program, 598 00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:43,200 Speaker 1: and most of the folks who were laid off had 599 00:37:43,239 --> 00:37:45,560 Speaker 1: worked on the morning edition of the show. Both the 600 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:49,759 Speaker 1: Paul Allen Pet Project audio File and the opinion show 601 00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:53,319 Speaker 1: Silicon Spin were canceled around this time as well. At 602 00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:56,319 Speaker 1: this point, in the spring of two thousand two, there 603 00:37:56,400 --> 00:37:59,240 Speaker 1: was a new push from the executives of tech TV. 604 00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:04,080 Speaker 1: The goal was to transform the channel into a lifestyle channel. 605 00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:07,720 Speaker 1: This would mean less of an emphasis on the tech 606 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:10,800 Speaker 1: e stuff like you know, fewer talks about hard drives, 607 00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:16,080 Speaker 1: fewer talks about ram. It was, fewer episodes or or 608 00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:19,839 Speaker 1: or segments dedicated to helping people with computer problems. If 609 00:38:19,880 --> 00:38:23,520 Speaker 1: you research tech TV, you'll likely come across many accounts 610 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:26,799 Speaker 1: that lament these changes, and in fact, a lot of 611 00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:31,279 Speaker 1: people have posted about how upset they were leading up 612 00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:34,040 Speaker 1: to this point in the first place. Generally speaking, the 613 00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:37,360 Speaker 1: original writers and hosts for shows on the network felt 614 00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:40,000 Speaker 1: that it was kind of a mistake to move away 615 00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:42,720 Speaker 1: from the core content the channel had been built around, 616 00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:46,000 Speaker 1: and many of the more faithful viewers felt the same way. 617 00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:49,360 Speaker 1: Shows like Call for Help in the Screensavers remains some 618 00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:52,320 Speaker 1: of the most popular programs on the channel, and advocates 619 00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:56,160 Speaker 1: for those shows point to how those remained more anchored 620 00:38:56,239 --> 00:38:59,480 Speaker 1: in the original philosophy of tech TV compared to programs 621 00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:03,680 Speaker 1: that were either are changed dramatically or had been introduced 622 00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:07,239 Speaker 1: later on. So people were saying, why do you keep 623 00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:12,040 Speaker 1: changing away from your core focus when the shows that 624 00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:15,120 Speaker 1: do best are the ones that are closest to that 625 00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:18,360 Speaker 1: core focus. Still, while people in the channel might have 626 00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:21,520 Speaker 1: been upset at the time at those changes, the channel 627 00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:24,680 Speaker 1: as a whole was starting to reach more households. Tech 628 00:39:24,719 --> 00:39:28,280 Speaker 1: TV landed more carriage deals with cable companies and increased 629 00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:31,520 Speaker 1: its range to somewhere between forty five and fifty seven 630 00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:36,239 Speaker 1: million homes. The numbers for how large tech TVs reach 631 00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:38,719 Speaker 1: was are kind of all over the place, but the 632 00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:41,600 Speaker 1: range I encounter was essentially forty five to fifty seven 633 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:45,719 Speaker 1: million households in America. It's made more complicated because Comcast, 634 00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:49,680 Speaker 1: which had been carrying the channel in several markets, began 635 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:53,160 Speaker 1: to drop Tech TV from its lineup around two thousand 636 00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:55,640 Speaker 1: one and two thousand two. More on that in just 637 00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:59,960 Speaker 1: a second. The channel began to run more non original work, 638 00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:04,319 Speaker 1: stuff that had been produced independently, such as reruns of 639 00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:08,040 Speaker 1: old Max Headroom TV series and films like Forbidden Planet, 640 00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:12,840 Speaker 1: an anime series from Japan. Some shows stuck around but 641 00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:16,040 Speaker 1: changed a bit in branding. What used to be called 642 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:21,439 Speaker 1: Game Spot TV would transform into Extended Play before then 643 00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:25,359 Speaker 1: turning into the video game review series x Play, which 644 00:40:25,360 --> 00:40:27,239 Speaker 1: was one of my favorite shows when I finally got 645 00:40:27,239 --> 00:40:30,719 Speaker 1: a chance to watch some Tech TV programming, and one 646 00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:33,239 Speaker 1: of just a couple of shows that would survive the 647 00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:36,200 Speaker 1: transition that would happen in two thousand four. It was 648 00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:38,680 Speaker 1: back in two thousand three that x Play would pair 649 00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:41,279 Speaker 1: the original host, Adam Sessler, who had been with the 650 00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:43,959 Speaker 1: show since the beginning, back when it was Game Spot TV, 651 00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:48,120 Speaker 1: with Morgan Webb, who had previously hosted the Screen Savers 652 00:40:48,239 --> 00:40:50,520 Speaker 1: and Call for Help, and then they would take that 653 00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:54,719 Speaker 1: show to new heights. So remember a minute ago when 654 00:40:54,719 --> 00:40:57,759 Speaker 1: I mentioned that Comcast had been dropping tech TV from 655 00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:00,480 Speaker 1: some of its markets. Well, here's where things get a 656 00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:05,400 Speaker 1: little juicy. Comcast had its own tech oriented cable channel 657 00:41:05,480 --> 00:41:09,520 Speaker 1: called G four that was specifically focusing on video games 658 00:41:09,560 --> 00:41:13,600 Speaker 1: and video game culture, but not many cable companies outside 659 00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:18,560 Speaker 1: of Comcast would carry the channel. Danielle Levitas and an 660 00:41:18,600 --> 00:41:22,080 Speaker 1: analyst at the time, estimated that tech TV reached probably 661 00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:25,839 Speaker 1: about four times as many households as G four did, 662 00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:30,200 Speaker 1: so in two thousand four, Comcast had a proposition, which 663 00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:33,000 Speaker 1: was to acquire tech TV. In fact, some people suggest 664 00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:37,560 Speaker 1: that the real reason Comcast started dropping tech TV wasn't 665 00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:42,200 Speaker 1: so much to eliminate the competition from its channel G four, 666 00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:46,480 Speaker 1: but rather in an effort to perhaps decrease the value 667 00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:50,920 Speaker 1: of tech TV because the company had anticipated making a 668 00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:55,320 Speaker 1: move to acquire it a couple of years later. Well, anyway, 669 00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:57,719 Speaker 1: by that time, Paul Allen must have been a bit 670 00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:02,120 Speaker 1: disenchanted with his tech reented cable channel. Much of the 671 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:04,919 Speaker 1: programming had failed to get a huge audience. Many who 672 00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:07,920 Speaker 1: worked on the flagship shows were frustrated with changes in 673 00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:10,839 Speaker 1: the company and seeing a lot of their coworkers let 674 00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:14,080 Speaker 1: go over the past year and a half. I'm not sure, 675 00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:17,520 Speaker 1: it was an agonizing decision on Allen's part to agree 676 00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:21,799 Speaker 1: with the sale, and it was set for an unreported sum, 677 00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:23,520 Speaker 1: but most of the guests, as I saw, there were 678 00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:27,040 Speaker 1: around three hundred million dollars, which means that Paul Allen 679 00:42:27,040 --> 00:42:30,279 Speaker 1: would have seen a little bit of a loss because remember, 680 00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:34,440 Speaker 1: the company originally spent almost three hundred sixty million dollars 681 00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:37,960 Speaker 1: just buying you know, tech TV back when it was 682 00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:41,719 Speaker 1: z d TV, let alone how much money they must 683 00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:44,040 Speaker 1: have poured into the channel to keep it floating over 684 00:42:44,080 --> 00:42:48,640 Speaker 1: the following years. But the pitch was Comcast was going 685 00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:52,640 Speaker 1: to merge tech TV with G four and there would 686 00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:56,160 Speaker 1: be a brand new channel, G four tech TV, and 687 00:42:56,239 --> 00:42:59,440 Speaker 1: it would combine the best of tech TVs programming with 688 00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:02,759 Speaker 1: the best of G four's programming. It would also mean 689 00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:05,799 Speaker 1: that anyone who wanted to continue their employment was going 690 00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:09,839 Speaker 1: to have to pick up stakes. Technically, what Comcast would 691 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:15,120 Speaker 1: do when they finally completed this merger was fire everybody 692 00:43:15,239 --> 00:43:19,880 Speaker 1: at tech TV, but several of them would be offered 693 00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:23,800 Speaker 1: the opportunity to take on a job at the new company, 694 00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:26,400 Speaker 1: G four tech TV. The folks at G four, by 695 00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:30,359 Speaker 1: the way, did not go through this process. This also 696 00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:32,239 Speaker 1: would mean that you would have to move from San 697 00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:36,520 Speaker 1: Francisco to Los Angeles, because that's where G four's headquarters were, 698 00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:39,839 Speaker 1: and most of the tech TV staff really didn't have 699 00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:43,880 Speaker 1: that option. The new channel would cancel nearly all the 700 00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:47,560 Speaker 1: shows produced by the older tech TV, and about two 701 00:43:48,239 --> 00:43:52,160 Speaker 1: five people were fired when this merger process was completed. 702 00:43:53,080 --> 00:43:56,200 Speaker 1: Shows that were canceled included a Call for Help, the 703 00:43:56,239 --> 00:43:59,240 Speaker 1: show that was hosted by Leo Laporte. Laporte himself decided 704 00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:02,680 Speaker 1: to leave the company he did not go with the 705 00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:06,719 Speaker 1: transformation for G four tech TV. He would get a 706 00:44:06,800 --> 00:44:09,640 Speaker 1: chance to host Call for Help for G four tech 707 00:44:09,719 --> 00:44:13,719 Speaker 1: TV Canada, but the American version of the channel would 708 00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:17,440 Speaker 1: not carry the program, so he did continue to host 709 00:44:17,480 --> 00:44:20,279 Speaker 1: the show for a while, but it wasn't shown in 710 00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:23,080 Speaker 1: the US. In fact, it's actually more efficient for us 711 00:44:23,120 --> 00:44:26,920 Speaker 1: to talk about the shows that successfully transferred over to 712 00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:29,880 Speaker 1: G four tech TV rather than list out all the 713 00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:33,720 Speaker 1: ones that disappeared. Once G four merged with tech TV, 714 00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:38,520 Speaker 1: the screen savers would make the transition, though after a 715 00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:41,719 Speaker 1: short while it would get rebranded as a new show 716 00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:45,600 Speaker 1: called Attack of the Show, and it would change significantly 717 00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:49,719 Speaker 1: in the process. Anime Unleashed, which was a block of 718 00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:52,759 Speaker 1: anime programming that I mentioned earlier that tech TV had 719 00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:55,200 Speaker 1: added to the lineup in late two thousand to early 720 00:44:55,239 --> 00:44:58,239 Speaker 1: two thousand three, That one made the transition over to 721 00:44:58,280 --> 00:45:01,239 Speaker 1: G four tech TV. That show would stick arounduntil two 722 00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:04,280 Speaker 1: thousand six, and then it kind of quietly faded away. 723 00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:07,960 Speaker 1: There was never any official notification of cancelation as far 724 00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:10,640 Speaker 1: as I could tell, but it just got dropped from 725 00:45:10,680 --> 00:45:16,840 Speaker 1: the lineup, possibly because of licensing expiration for the various 726 00:45:17,320 --> 00:45:20,879 Speaker 1: anime programs that was showing, and it never came back. 727 00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:25,120 Speaker 1: The other show that made the transition was ex playing 728 00:45:25,320 --> 00:45:28,160 Speaker 1: The Video Game Review Show, which is no big surprise 729 00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:31,080 Speaker 1: since G four's whole identity was, at least in theory, 730 00:45:31,400 --> 00:45:34,279 Speaker 1: wrapped up in the world of video games. Everything else 731 00:45:34,280 --> 00:45:36,759 Speaker 1: pretty much got the ax once the move to Los 732 00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:39,680 Speaker 1: Angeles was complete. The list of folks who worked at 733 00:45:39,719 --> 00:45:42,799 Speaker 1: tech TV in its six years before being merged with 734 00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:47,160 Speaker 1: G four is effectively a who's whose list of of technology, 735 00:45:47,200 --> 00:45:50,040 Speaker 1: and not just in tech news. So I mentioned Leo 736 00:45:50,080 --> 00:45:52,840 Speaker 1: Laporte several times. He would later go on to create 737 00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:56,480 Speaker 1: This Week in Tech or Twit, which is a phenomenally 738 00:45:56,600 --> 00:46:01,200 Speaker 1: successful tech news podcast Empire. John C. Dvorak, the host 739 00:46:01,239 --> 00:46:04,360 Speaker 1: of The Silicon Spin Show, would become a frequent guest 740 00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:07,560 Speaker 1: on Laport's shows, though the two had a bit of 741 00:46:07,560 --> 00:46:10,600 Speaker 1: a public falling out in two thousand fifteen that eventually 742 00:46:10,600 --> 00:46:15,080 Speaker 1: got patched up by Kevin Rose, another former tech TV 743 00:46:15,239 --> 00:46:18,560 Speaker 1: producer and personality, would go on to found the Revision 744 00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:21,959 Speaker 1: three network and be joined by several other former tech 745 00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:27,920 Speaker 1: TV personalities and hosts and producers, and the website dig 746 00:46:28,040 --> 00:46:32,040 Speaker 1: was also founded by Kevin Rose. The Dig was essentially 747 00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:35,160 Speaker 1: read it before there was read It, and then of 748 00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:40,200 Speaker 1: course dig would sort of fall apart. That's another story 749 00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:43,319 Speaker 1: for another day. Martin Sargent, who had worked as a 750 00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:45,560 Speaker 1: segment producer on the Screen Savers, would go on to 751 00:46:45,680 --> 00:46:48,799 Speaker 1: host or co host several other shows, both online video 752 00:46:48,840 --> 00:46:52,280 Speaker 1: and podcasts. Tom Merritt, who had worked as a producer 753 00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:55,520 Speaker 1: on tech TV shows, would go on to join c Net, 754 00:46:55,960 --> 00:46:59,279 Speaker 1: then he joined twit, and ultimately he would launch his 755 00:46:59,320 --> 00:47:04,120 Speaker 1: own independent podcast, The Daily Tech News Show, and used 756 00:47:04,360 --> 00:47:08,799 Speaker 1: the Patreon support model. He's brilliant and The Daily Tech 757 00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:11,440 Speaker 1: News Show is a great show. He also tends to 758 00:47:11,480 --> 00:47:14,200 Speaker 1: host about a billion other shows at any given time. 759 00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:18,239 Speaker 1: Patrick Norton, who was co host of The Screensavers with Leolport, 760 00:47:18,560 --> 00:47:21,800 Speaker 1: would join Revision three and he would co host a 761 00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:26,040 Speaker 1: show called tech Zilla with my buddy Shannon Morse. Roger Chang, 762 00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:28,520 Speaker 1: who was also a producer over at tech TV, would 763 00:47:28,520 --> 00:47:31,919 Speaker 1: similarly joined Revision three, and the list goes on and on. 764 00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:35,200 Speaker 1: There was Becky Warley, who hosted The Screensavers for a while. 765 00:47:35,280 --> 00:47:37,560 Speaker 1: She went on to become a tech contributor for Good 766 00:47:37,560 --> 00:47:41,440 Speaker 1: Morning America. Chris Parrello, who hosted Call for Help for 767 00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:44,239 Speaker 1: a few years, would go on to do a lot 768 00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:48,560 Speaker 1: of other web related endeavors, and some folks like Sarah Lane, 769 00:47:48,680 --> 00:47:51,560 Speaker 1: Adam Sessler, Morgan Webb, and for a short while Kevin 770 00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:54,200 Speaker 1: Rose would actually make the transition over to G four 771 00:47:54,280 --> 00:47:59,120 Speaker 1: tech TV. Now our story doesn't really end here, even 772 00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:02,000 Speaker 1: though tech Tv had essentially come to an end at 773 00:48:02,040 --> 00:48:05,160 Speaker 1: this point. In our next episode, I will talk about 774 00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:08,080 Speaker 1: G four and how it was founded, so it will 775 00:48:08,560 --> 00:48:11,480 Speaker 1: involve a little bit of backtracking, But then also what 776 00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:17,520 Speaker 1: happened following this merger and the ultimate fate of both channels, 777 00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:21,200 Speaker 1: which I'm sure most of you are aware of, is 778 00:48:21,239 --> 00:48:25,200 Speaker 1: not a happy one. But that leads me to the 779 00:48:25,320 --> 00:48:28,319 Speaker 1: end of this episode. If you guys have any suggestions, 780 00:48:28,360 --> 00:48:31,120 Speaker 1: you can email me the addresses tech stuff at how 781 00:48:31,200 --> 00:48:33,759 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. You can drop me a line 782 00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:35,680 Speaker 1: on Facebook or Twitter. The handle of both of those 783 00:48:35,760 --> 00:48:39,000 Speaker 1: is tech Stuff hs W. Head on over to our 784 00:48:39,040 --> 00:48:42,640 Speaker 1: website that's tech stuff podcast dot com. You can find 785 00:48:42,680 --> 00:48:45,360 Speaker 1: an archive of all of our past episodes. There. You 786 00:48:45,360 --> 00:48:47,879 Speaker 1: will also find a link to our online store, where 787 00:48:47,880 --> 00:48:50,120 Speaker 1: every purchase you make goes to help the show. We 788 00:48:50,239 --> 00:48:53,120 Speaker 1: greatly appreciate it, and I will talk to you again 789 00:48:54,239 --> 00:49:01,279 Speaker 1: really soon. Text Stuff is a production of I Heart 790 00:49:01,360 --> 00:49:04,760 Speaker 1: Radio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 791 00:49:05,120 --> 00:49:08,280 Speaker 1: visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 792 00:49:08,360 --> 00:49:09,880 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.