TNN to be Called Spike

[Ksyrup]

I guess they couldn't shed the "Nashville Network" image...



NEW YORK (AP) -- Spike is no longer just the name of a famous film director or a volleyball move. Now it's the name of a cable network, too.

Struggling TNN -- which just two years ago changed from The Nashville Network to The National Network -- announced Tuesday that, effective June 16, it will call itself Spike TV and become the first network aimed specifically at men.

"We just like the idea of having a guy's name," said Albie Hecht, network president. "We thought that was smart and fun and irreverent."

TNN's switch isn't exactly a stretch. Since it already airs World Wrestling Entertainment, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and a made-up game of basketball played on trampolines called "slam ball," nearly two-thirds of TNN's audience is male, anyway.

Lifetime, Oxygen and the Women's Entertainment network all seek female viewers. Although outlets like ESPN have a mostly male audience, Hecht said Spike TV is the first to explicitly identify this as a goal.

The switch also enables TNN, and parent company Viacom, a chance to outmaneuver the publishers of Maxim magazine. Dennis Publishing is developing a cable channel called the Maxim Entertainment Network, or MEN.

Viacom's attempt two years ago to keep the TNN initials, though, confused some viewers who still saw it as a regional, country music-oriented channel.

TNN's ratings have been sagging, with an average prime-time audience of a little more than 1 million viewers during the first three months of 2003, down 16 percent from the same year-earlier period. TNN dropped from the eighth-most popular basic cable station to 14th.

Its most popular programs, Monday's two WWE wrestling shows, are off 22 percent in viewership, with "Star Trek" down 32 percent, Nielsen Media Research said.

They will remain on Spike TV. Spike will also work with Men's Health magazine to produce segments on fitness or relationships, and CBS Marketwatch to provide financial updates.

New programs in the works include "A Guy and His Stuff," about gizmos and gadgets, and "Top 10 Things Every Guy Should Experience," which will follow men to top sporting events like the Super Bowl.

Spike TV is already available in 86 million television homes.

Despite the name, Hecht promises the network will be no He-Man Woman Hater's Club.

"We'll be unapologetically male," he said. "But it will also be a place where women are welcomed."

[Draft Dodger]

someone making a lot more money than me has the power to make a dumb decision like this.

[Butter]

Anybody that has MuchMusic USA (which sucks)... I think they're changing their name to Fuse.

Who are the ad wizards who came up with that one?

[Fritz]

We need more "Man Shows!"

[Ksyrup]

MuchMusic is great. I just wish we'd get the Canadian version, and not the US watered-down version.

[Draft Dodger]

MM sucks? news to me.

Fuse is a stupid name - not that MuchMusic was that much better.

[Butter]

MM USA sucks. Not the Canadian version, which I don't get anymore, but used to watch a good bit, especially after MTV2 became the Hip Hop channel.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally posted by Ksyrup
MuchMusic is great. I just wish we'd get the Canadian version, and not the US watered-down version.

You're not missing much. The channel now spends most of its time promoting its on-air hosts (sorry, "personalities"), rather than actually playing videos. It's basically "Rick goes to Cuba", "Amanda babbles on about something", "Bradford mugs for the camera", and then the Top 30 replayed fifteen times a week.

[Logan]

So "Spike" is the most manly name they could come up with?

[Ksyrup]

Originally posted by Maple Leafs
You're not missing much. The channel now spends most of its time promoting its on-air hosts (sorry, "personalities"), rather than actually playing videos. It's basically "Rick goes to Cuba", "Amanda babbles on about something", "Bradford mugs for the camera", and then the Top 30 replayed fifteen times a week.

That's unfortunate. Not that I've ever seen the Canadian version, I just know they pay attention to Canadian artists I like, like Tea Party, Rufus Wainwright, and Hawksley Workman. I don't really watch ANY music TV stations anymore, but MM and VH1 Classic are the only two I will occasionally stop on.

[Ryche]

Maybe the commercials they kept running with the stupid marketing guy were not that far off after all.

[JeeberD]

Spike sucks. They should have names it Frank...

[scooper]

There was a sportstalk radio station here called Bob. They've since been bought out, but I liked it while it lasted.

[Butter]

Why not just go all out and name it "Dick Johnson TV"...

Instant ratings.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Butter_of_69
Why not just go all out and name it "Dick Johnson TV"...

Instant ratings.

for people that like sausage parties.

[Franklinnoble]

I think "Spike TV" will end up being a network full of programming that involves nothing but blatantly homoerotic themes, like professional wrestling, strong man competitions, and men's tennis. They'll own the "Closet Fags aged 18-50" demographic. Figure on seeing lots of ads for men's cologne, cheap table wine, and Hanes tightie-whities.

[Ksyrup]

Quite a turnaround from their Nashville Network image. Or maybe not?

[Franklinnoble]

Originally posted by Ksyrup
Quite a turnaround from their Nashville Network image. Or maybe not?

I dunno... seems like the old TNN used to play a lot of country music videos and such... and that's pretty gay, if you asked me.

[Ksyrup]

All I remember is Dukes of Hazards reruns. And that Moto-ball game where guys on motorcycles tried kicking/hitting a giant ball into a goal.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally posted by Ksyrup
All I remember is Dukes of Hazards reruns. And that Moto-ball game where guys on motorcycles tried kicking/hitting a giant ball into a goal.

Ah, the Dukes of Hazard... any show that can get away with supporting characters with names like "Cletus" and "Cooter" ought to be considered highly suspect and likely to subconsciously undermine your manhood.

[Butter]

Originally posted by Franklinnoble
I think "Spike TV" will end up being a network full of programming that involves nothing but blatantly homoerotic themes, like professional wrestling, strong man competitions, and men's tennis. They'll own the "Closet Fags aged 18-50" demographic. Figure on seeing lots of ads for men's cologne, cheap table wine, and Hanes tightie-whities.

Thus making my suggestion of "Dick Johnson TV" a natural fit.

[heybrad]

I was told at lunch today that this change is directly related to the fact that Maxim will be coming out with the Mens Entertainment Network (MEN) soon.

[SplitPersonality1]

hey spike

[Ksyrup]

A men's network with the abbreviation M-E-N? Brilliant! Even the dimmest of us dimwitted men can remember that!

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

Time for some good ole male bashing .

[EagleFan]

Uh oh, I can see Martha Burke getting her protest ready.

[Bad-example]

I never, ever watch TNN. They are the asshats that have the evil black bar at the bottom of the screen.

I don't care if it is the only place I can see Star Trek:TNG, they can go Spike themselves.