

The logo made its debut on December 2, 2002, with the launch of the Steven Spielberg miniseries Taken. The network's third and final "ringed planet" logo ran from 2002 to 2009, and was designed by Lambie-Nairn. The network's second logo, which was used from 1999 to 2002, dropped the hyphen and the word "CHANNEL" from the name. Branding history įrom 1992 to 1999, the network's first logo consisted of a planet with a ring, made to look like Saturn, with "SCI-FI CHANNEL" written on it. In 2013, Syfy was given the James Randi Educational Foundation's Pigasus Award for what was described as questionable reality programming involving paranormal subjects.
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Comcast was one of the original cable TV operators to carry the channel.Ī high definition version of the channel launched on October 3, 2007, on DirecTV. In 2010, Comcast purchased Syfy's parent company NBCUniversal. Vivendi's film and television production and cable television assets were then merged with General Electric's NBC to form NBC Universal in 2004. Three years later, Diller would sell Studios USA back to Universal, by then a subsidiary of Vivendi SA (at the time known as Vivendi Universal). In 1997, Viacom sold its stake in USA Networks to Universal, who spun off all its television assets to Barry Diller the next year into the new company Studios USA. In 1994, Paramount was sold to Viacom, followed by Seagram's purchase of a controlling stake in MCA (of which Universal was a subsidiary) from the Matsushita Electric Industrial Company the next year. The first program shown on the network was the film Star Wars.

Asimov's widow Janet and Roddenberry's widow Majel Barrett were both in attendance. Rubenstein recalled: "The first thing that was on the screen was 'Dedicated to the memories of Isaac Asimov and Gene Roddenberry'." Leonard Nimoy was master of ceremonies at the channel's launch party, held at the Hayden Planetarium in Manhattan. Star Trek 's creator Gene Roddenberry and author Isaac Asimov were recruited by Rubenstein and Silvers to serve on the initial advisory board, but both Gene Roddenberry and Isaac Asimov had died by the time the channel finally launched on September 24, 1992.
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The channel was seen as a natural fit with classic films and television series that both studios had in their vaults, including Universal's Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Rod Serling TV series Night Gallery, along with Paramount's Star Trek television series. Rubenstein and Silvers became vice-chairs of USA Networks. In 1992, the channel was sold by Rubenstein and Silvers to USA Networks, then a joint venture between Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures. In 1989, in Boca Raton, Florida, communications attorneys and cable TV entrepreneurs Mitchell Rubenstein and his wife and business partner Laurie Silvers devised the concept for the Sci-Fi Channel, and signed up 8 of the top 10 cable TV operators as well as licensing exclusive rights to the British TV series Doctor Who (which shifted over from PBS to Sci-Fi Channel), Dark Shadows, and the cult series The Prisoner.

Launched on September 24, 1992, the channel broadcasts programming relating to the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres.Īs of January 2016, Syfy is available to 92.4 million households in America. Syfy (a paraphrased neology of the former name Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. (requires subscription to access content) pay-TV subscribers only)įuboTV, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV, DirecTV Stream
