When Did The Sci-Fi Channel Start In The USA?

[KoshN]

Anybody know, or know where to look it up?

I've only had 'em for about five or six years, which is the entire time my cable provider has offered the channel.

 

[AerynSun]

i think it started in the early or mid 1990's

 

[KoshN]

Since I posted this thread, I've found
http://www.innermind.com/sfc/

which has listings as far back as 1992, but I was looking for some kind of "announcement of the channel's coming into the world."

2nd question. When did the current regime take over?

 

[Glacophane]

I seem to remember seeing advertisements in magazines for the Sci Fi channel way back when..early 90's. Back home our cable provider had it from Day One which was kind of unusual for a place of only 2,000 people. It was alot of showings of Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, Space 1999, Voyagers, etc. It would run throughout the day and then they would repeat the programming around 4 or 5pm. I'm not sure when the new regime took over. Hmmm..this probably wasn't much help after all.

 

[MartinRoth]

Accoding to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association fact sheet, the Sci-Fi Channel "was launched in September 1992 into 10 million homes."

It was part of USA Networks from the beginning, but I haven't been able to track down anything else about the management history.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

2nd question. When did the current regime take over?

I believe that Bonnie Hammer has been in a senior position at the channel since its debut. She was certainly in charge (when the top job was called "VP and General Manager" rather than "President") in 1997 when Sci-Fi and TNT were both bidding for the reruns of B5 S1-S4, and later when they tried to make a deal happen for S5. She presided over the biggest growth the channel has seen and the production of its most successful movies and mini-series.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Loadhan]

*sigh* I didn't remember the year but I remember writing letters to my local cable company encouraging them to get the channel. It was suppose to be the pinacle of what I wanted in TV. *double sigh*

 

[KoshN]

Accoding to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association fact sheet, the Sci-Fi Channel "was launched in September 1992 into 10 million homes."

That's it! Thanks!

 

[KoshN]

2nd question. When did the current regime take over?

I believe that Bonnie Hammer has been in a senior position at the channel since its debut. She was certainly in charge (when the top job was called "VP and General Manager" rather than "President") in 1997 when Sci-Fi and TNT were both bidding for the reruns of B5 S1-S4, and later when they tried to make a deal happen for S5.

"They" ? Sci-Fi tried to get B5 Season 5??? I thought it was TNT-only who was interested in B5 Season 5.

She presided over the biggest growth the channel has seen and the production of its most successful movies and mini-series.

...and it's recent dive into trashy, exploitative TV.

 

[channe]

We've had Sci-Fi since 1995 out here.

 

[LondosHair]

The first time I ever watched SFC was in 1994... the channel's coolest years among sci-fi fans were 1994-1998, before it started targeting a different audience. They've seen a lot of growth, yes, but at the expense of much of its core audience, IMHO...

I fell in love with MST3K, thanks to Sci-Fi... oh, the good ol' days...

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Sci-Fi tried to get B5 Season 5??? I thought it was TNT-only who was interested in B5 Season 5.

No, it was shopped to both networks - they were both offered an option on year 5 when they were bidding against each other for S1-S4. Even after TNT took the reruns and declined S5, Sci-Fi still toyed with the idea of doing S5 themselves before dropping out. At that point the show was dead as far as anybody knew. The last two possible homes for B5 S5 had turned it down. It was only after the two TV movies that were part of the rerun deal (Thirdspace and In the Beginning) were filmed that TNT took an interest in doing S5. That's why everything went down to the wire. Negotiations didn't even start until quite late.

Remember what Bonnie Hammer said when negotiations with Netter and Stracyznski first started? (These were the talks about something knew in the B5 universe that ultimately led to Rangers.) "We'ree big fans of Netter and Straczynski; we've wanted to work with them for a long time." Their interest in B5 S5, and their later attempt to pick up Crusade (along with the B5 reruns) were probably what she had in mind when she said that.

Personally I refuse to put all the blame for what Sci-Fi is up to these days on her. Just because she is president and is the name we know doesn't mean she's responsible for everything that happens over there. I doubt that any unit of the madhouse known as Universal-Vivendi has been operating on an entirely rational basis for the past two years or more, and I can only imagine what kind of demands Paris is pressing on USA Networks in New York, which then filter down to SFC. In the absence of facts I'm not going to condemn anybody, much less do so based on assumption, speculation or imagination.

Regards,

Joe