The end of an era: TV Guide Network ending listings on 12/20

[MarcB]

On some cable systems (including mine COMCAST in Bristol, CT) still had listings on The TV Guide Network. As of December 20th there will be no more listings. There's a message following the listings that says "Coming 12/20 TV Guide Network. All TV. No Guide." It's the end of an era. An era that began in the early 1980s as EPG - Electronic Program Guide. Later Prevue Guide. And now TV Guide Channel.

 

[flashback]

then there will be no reason to call it the tv guide network.

 

[RadioOCD]

then there will be no reason to call it the tv guide network.

Funny you say that. That doesn't matter. Ex: MTV, A&E The Weather Channel. Tv Guide can just use that as an excuse. "TV Guide, we're YOUR guide to what's hot on tv." LoL Or call it TVG

 

[azumanga]

then there will be no reason to call it the tv guide network.

Funny you say that. That doesn't matter. Ex: MTV, A&E The Weather Channel. Tv Guide can just use that as an excuse. "TV Guide, we're YOUR guide to what's hot on tv." LoL Or call it TVG

They can't call it TVG, as another network, which specialises in horse races, uses that name:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TVG_Network

 

[nathannah]

then there will be no reason to call it the tv guide network.

Funny you say that. That doesn't matter. Ex: MTV, A&E The Weather Channel. Tv Guide can just use that as an excuse. "TV Guide, we're YOUR guide to what's hot on tv." LoL Or call it TVG

They can't call it TVG, as another network, which specialises in horse races, uses that name:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TVG_Network

Which is probably used under some license; TV Guide and TVG were actually sister networks until the private equity firms made a mess out of the TV Guide properties in 2008; I still remember how stupid it was that the magazine and website were under completely different companies for a year until someone finally realized that people were still visiting TVGuide.com for magazine content that wasn't there and should be there.

I haven't had TV Guide Network with listings for three years and I don't miss it at all. When there's so many other ways to find out listings a scroll seems as old fashioned as having a channel which just aired the radar rotation and local radio 24/7.

 

[JeeperOne]

TV Guide Network is more like E! 2 than anything nowadays anyway so the removal of the listings is no surprise :

Cheers & 73

 

[bpatrick]

Why doesn't TV Guide just call it quits and end a long era completely?
There's little in the magazine that you can't already find in People or Us
(and generic program listings for Eastern/Central and Mountain/Pacific are
of no help if you want to know what's on your local channels), and now they're
ending the listings on their cable channel. For all their faults, I can go to zap2it
or TitanTV just as easily.

 

[DToTheJ]

... and that's exactly why TV Guide has phased out listings in their magazine (and now their channel, a move that comes as a shock to absolutely no one) in the first place.

 

[imhomerjay]

Why doesn't TV Guide just call it quits and end a long era completely?
There's little in the magazine that you can't already find in People or Us
(and generic program listings for Eastern/Central and Mountain/Pacific are
of no help if you want to know what's on your local channels), and now they're
ending the listings on their cable channel. For all their faults, I can go to zap2it
or TitanTV just as easily.

Because the owners currently feel there's the potential to make some money?

 

[Sammi Brie]

Why doesn't TV Guide just call it quits and end a long era completely?
There's little in the magazine that you can't already find in People or Us
(and generic program listings for Eastern/Central and Mountain/Pacific are
of no help if you want to know what's on your local channels), and now they're
ending the listings on their cable channel. For all their faults, I can go to zap2it
or TitanTV just as easily.

Because the owners currently feel there's the potential to make some money?

We used to subscribe to TV Guide! That stopped when they revamped it. I think we got the Pacific edition year-round. Problem? Arizona bumps around at every DST time change between Mountain and Pacific. And for most HD feeds, there's only Eastern, so it's another wrinkle.

 

[recto101]

Why doesn't TV Guide just call it quits and end a long era completely?
There's little in the magazine that you can't already find in People or Us
(and generic program listings for Eastern/Central and Mountain/Pacific are
of no help if you want to know what's on your local channels), and now they're
ending the listings on their cable channel. For all their faults, I can go to zap2it
or TitanTV just as easily.

TV Guide can be the competitor of TMZ if thats possible?

 

[mgsports]

It's still a good Channel and came name it The Channel for Comedies and Drama's.

 

[azumanga]

We used to subscribe to TV Guide! That stopped when they revamped it.

The last time I picked up a TVG was back around 2004, when they revamped the listings and merged some editions -- it no longer became fun to read when they discontinued overnight listings for some stations and removed episode details for many shows, as well as the "Channels Listed" section, explaining which channels are which. Personally, I think the downhill slide began a little earlier than that, when TVG started a standard page that explained what the bullets were for -- black representing local channels, white representing out-of-market channels, neglecting the fact that the meaning of the bullets are different in some editions, and a few editions (including Montana and South Georgia) had additional bullet designs, as they served many areas.

 

[imhomerjay]

Ah, if only they hadn't standardized the way they described the little icons, the magazine would still be selling 25 million copies a week.

 

[vchimpanzee]

There still need to be listings somewhere. What if you're in a motel and you don't have your newspaper's listings and don't want to haul around a computer?

 

[imhomerjay]

Tough luck. Read a book.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

There still need to be listings somewhere. What if you're in a motel and you don't have your newspaper's listings and don't want to haul around a computer?

Newspapers still publish listings? Mine hasn't printed a listings supplement for around 3 years. I was under the impression it was a major trend in the newspaper industry.

 

[cd637299]

Many (but I assume not all) cable systems do have one channel which scrolls the programming for each channel for the next 2 hours or so.

But I'd say that's the only way around that issue.

cd

 

[flashback]

There still need to be listings somewhere. What if you're in a motel and you don't have your newspaper's listings and don't want to haul around a computer?

Newspapers still publish listings? Mine hasn't printed a listings supplement for around 3 years. I was under the impression it was a major trend in the newspaper industry.

newspapers are cutting back on tv listings, movie listings, full sports stories on most games not involving the home team or a championship-type game and most everything else.

sales are down so they give less service which causes lower sales.great business decision.

 

[ixnay]

We used to subscribe to TV Guide! That stopped when they revamped it.

The last time I picked up a TVG was back around 2004, when they revamped the listings and merged some editions -- it no longer became fun to read when they discontinued overnight listings for some stations and removed episode details for many shows, as well as the "Channels Listed" section, explaining which channels are which. Personally, I think the downhill slide began a little earlier than that, when TVG started a standard page that explained what the bullets were for -- black representing local channels, white representing out-of-market channels, neglecting the fact that the meaning of the bullets are different in some editions, and a few editions (including Montana and South Georgia) had additional bullet designs, as they served many areas.

AAA uses similar bullets in their TourBooks for lodgings and restaurants in cities, keyed to location maps.

ixnay