Talk:TechTV

	; Archives (Index) ;
	2015; 2016;
	This page is archived by ClueBot III.

TechTV has been listed as one of the Media and drama good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.
Review: May 22, 2025. (Reviewed version).

TechTV (final version) received a peer review by Wikipedia editors, which on 6 April 2025 was archived. It may contain ideas you can use to improve this article.

California: San Francisco Bay Area Low‑importance

	California portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject California, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the U.S. state of California on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.CaliforniaWikipedia:WikiProject CaliforniaTemplate:WikiProject CaliforniaCalifornia
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	San Francisco Bay Area portal This article is supported by San Francisco Bay Area task force (assessed as Low-importance).

Technology

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Technology, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of technology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.TechnologyWikipedia:WikiProject TechnologyTemplate:WikiProject TechnologyTechnology

Television: Stations Low‑importance

	Television portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Television, a collaborative effort to develop and improve Wikipedia articles about television programs. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page where you can join the discussion. To improve this article, please refer to the style guidelines for the type of work.TelevisionWikipedia:WikiProject TelevisionTemplate:WikiProject Televisiontelevision
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by the Television stations task force (assessed as Low-importance).

United States: Television Low‑importance

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	Television portal This article is supported by American television task force (assessed as Low-importance).

Video games Low‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Video games, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of video games on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Video gamesWikipedia:WikiProject Video gamesTemplate:WikiProject Video gamesvideo game

Low

This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Summary of Video games WikiProject open tasks:

Summary of Video games WikiProject open tasks

AfDs

The Fisherman: A Codfish Tale (2 participants)
List of J.League licensed video games (2 participants)
Nathan Cheever (1 participant)
List of K League licensed video games (5 participants)
Pixelberry Studios (4 participants)
Sparrow Night (5 participants)
Grow a Garden (11 participants; relisted)
K-ID (company) (3 participants; relisted)
Smoking Gun Interactive (2 participants; relisted)
Tales of Commons (7 participants; relisted)
Ilyas El Maliki (9 participants; relisted)
Allin Kempthorne (8 participants; relisted)
Nights (character) (8 participants)

Merge discussions

Other discussions

No major discussions

Peer review

TechTV

Article (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch • Watch peer review

This peer review discussion is closed.

I've listed this article for peer review because I've been working on it on and off, but I'm now seeing potential for a Good Article. Although I feel I've done the best I could manage with a cable channel article (using Paramount Television Network as my primary frame of reference), that subject matter is certainly not my forte when it comes to Wikipedia articles. Therefore I've decided to seek input from those more familiar and experienced in the hope that the article can be fine-tuned to a level worthy of GA nomination. If there's anything that seems off or missing as far as cable channel articles go, please let me know.

Thanks, Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 18:18, 16 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This is a heartening development. While WP:TVS has many more GAs than it once did because of my work on individual broadcast stations, GAs on cable channels are rare, and the closest models are a bit funky (AMI-tv and FanDuel Sports Network Detroit). Even my work rarely goes into this space (Lifetime Medical Television). TechTV had a larger cultural impact than many channels that a) were primarily on digital cable and had fewer subs and b) lasted less than 10 years.

Here are some comments from me:

When did Ziff-Davis become Ziff Davis, unhyphenated? When I was doing some clipping hygiene, I noticed most sources hyphenated the name. Presumably at some point the company changed stylings, but that point might be after the time period they owned ZDTV.
MOS:'S: should be "Ziff Davis's" and not "Ziff Davis'".
{{Cite news}} has a |agency= parameter for when articles were written by the Associated Press or another wire service, and at least one citation could use that. The other thing I did not touch except citations I cleaned up is page numbers. In my page on citation hygiene WP:CLIP, I note, Make a note of the page number as printed. Page numbers may not match the printed page and, for non-digital microfilm sources, are almost never alphanumeric or reflective of sections. By the 90s, this was certainly true of almost all newspapers.
There are some sources I'd like to see, though getting them for you will require some shadow library business. 90s Broadcasting & Cable, before the digitized record that is the Broadcasting & Cable/Next TV online morgue (which in my experience is also missing things from the early 2000s), has multiple in-depth articles (I get 144 total hits, including ads, searching ProQuest on my end).
- They indicate there is more information on the distribution challenges ZDTV had at launch. It was separated from the part of Ziff-Davis that was IPO'd; B&C noted that less than a month before launch, they only had the Las Vegas system and no major players, in part because they weren't shelling out nine figures. (for my use: ProQuest 225359677)
- I also get a vibe from what I'm reading that TechTV was a bit adrift in a rapidly consolidating media landscape without cross-ownership and cross-promotion opportunities.
- The fact a Canadian version of this channel was launched merits a mention here. There also apparently was an international feed made available (ProQuest 221240251).
The amount of citations in the programming list is very good to see, even though there is a lot of primary sourcing here (acceptable for such a small claim). A lot of comparable articles and even entire lists are devoid of citations of programming.
- I wonder if some of the programs are too one-off or too promotional, though, to merit listing.
Is there any posthumous mention of this channel's impact? I'd feel like someone in tech would have written something.
- There's a 2008 article in the LA Times (ProQuest 422227564) that calls Revision3 a "genetic descendant" of TechTV, a 2007 newspaper review that noted that TechTV was "far superior" to G4 even though G4 decidedly survived the "merger",^[1] and a 2005 article that calls it basically a real estate deal (ProQuest 203802922).

It's tempting to come off the sidelines and work on this, particularly in regard to sourcing tied up in specialty databases. You've made a healthy start, but I think there are some things still meriting development. Sammi Brie (she/her · t · c) 07:43, 18 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Sammi Brie: Just added a good chunk more over the last few days based on your input, barring one point or two in which source access was limited. Have to say I'm feeling pretty good about the article at this point. If there's anything left that needs adding, just a little more oughta do it before this page is fit for a GA nomination, I think. Thanks a million! Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 17:41, 22 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Cat's Tuxedo Made a few additions, but I think it's ready for another reviewer. Sammi Brie (she/her · t · c) 02:14, 23 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Sammi Brie: Awesome! I'll probably give it a couple weeks and if no one else has any input, I'll go ahead and make the nomination. Thanks again for all your help! Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 02:55, 23 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

GA review

Passed. IAWW (talk) 19:42, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

This review is transcluded from Talk:TechTV/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: Cat's Tuxedo (talk · contribs) 17:41, 6 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Reviewer: It is a wonderful world (talk · contribs) 11:47, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Note: @DaniloDaysOfOurLives and I are working very hard to review every single GA nomination in the television section. Consider joining us to clear the backlog!

I'll review this :) IAWW (talk) 16:23, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Cat's Tuxedo Thanks for responding so promptly. Final comments are below. I couldn't find much wrong with this article so well done! IAWW (talk) 16:25, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Cat's Tuxedo I am happy with all your changes. Passing now. IAWW (talk) 19:41, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Prose (Criteria 1a, 1b, 4) clock

Lead

Per MOS:INFOBOXPURPOSE, there shouldn't be information that is solely in the infobox. IAWW (talk) 16:19, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 15:51, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

In 2000, TechTV was sold to Vulcan Ventures, owned by Paul Allen, and rebranded as TechTV: I think the first "TechTV" in this sentence should be changed to ZDTV to make it make sense. IAWW (talk) 16:19, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 15:51, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Origins

Looks good :)

ZDTV

Looks good :)

TechTV

Is there any information on what stations affiliated with the channel?

Information on its affiliate has been worked into this section Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 15:51, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

which resulted in a high turnover rate: Suggest changing to "employee turnover rate" to make this clearer IAWW (talk) 16:19, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 18:14, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Merger and consolidation

Comcast announced its purchase of TechTV for under $300 million: Make it a bit clearer that Comcast didn't announce it was under $300 million. IAWW (talk) 16:19, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 18:14, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

John Higgins of Broadcasting & Cable attributed TechTV's small ratings to cable television's increasingly fragmented nature: Can you explain how this would decrease ratings? IAWW (talk) 16:19, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 18:14, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

How long did G4TechTV Canada last? IAWW (talk) 16:19, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Info found Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 18:14, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Programs

I think a lot of this needs to be changed to past tense? IAWW (talk) 16:19, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 18:14, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Anime Unleashed bullet point is the only one that is not indented, which makes the other bullets look like subpoints IAWW (talk) 16:19, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 18:14, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Executives

Looks good :)

Hosts and correspondents

She notably anchored live: "notably" implies that... well... it is notable! Which is an opinion. IAWW (talk) 16:19, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 18:14, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Legacy

Sources clock

Health/formatting (Criterion 2a) Y

No issues for GA

Reliability (Criterion 2b) clock

[95, 96] seem to be self-published and doesn't fall under WP:ABOUTSELF. Can you find some better sourcing? IAWW (talk) 16:19, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Done Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 15:51, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Everything else seems to be reliable.

Spot check (Criteria 2b, 2c, 2d) clock

[4]: Y

[8b]: Y

[27]: Y

[77]: Y

Copyvio (Criterion 2d) clock

Earwig finds nothing. I will check further on the spot check.

Scope (Criteria 3a, 3b) Y

Seems to cover the channel's entire lifespan

Stable (Criterion 5) Y

Media Y

Tags (Criterion 6a) Y

The TechTV logo has a free use rationale for usage on the G4 Canada article, but that article no longer uses this logo, so I think that free use rationale should be removed. IAWW (talk) 16:19, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Done Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 15:51, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Captions (Criterion 6b) Y

Suggestions (not needed for GA promotion)

Suggest archiving unarchived references to prevent link rot IAWW (talk) 16:19, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Done Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 15:51, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Modern day conversions for the monetary amounts using Template:Inflation would be cool. IAWW (talk) 16:19, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Added Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 18:14, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Did you know nomination

(

Comment or view
Article history

)

... that TechTV host Kate Botello also performed the voice and motion capture of the network's animated mascot?

Source: A Fond Farewell from Kate Botello ("I started out as both a Screen Saver and as the puppeteer and voice of Tilde.") and Meet Tilde ("As host of TechTV and of the show the TechTV Zip File...")

ALT1: ... that an anime programming block that originally aired on TechTV was the inspiration for the founder of a Japanese animation studio? Source: SyFy ("In the early 2000s, Isom got hooked on the G4 "Anime Unleashed" program block. That was when he decided to become an animator, specifically in the world of anime.")
ALT2: ... that Erica Hill anchored live coverage of the September 11 attacks on the technology-based cable channel TechTV? Source: CNN ("Hill joined the network from Tech TV in San Francisco, where she was co-anchor and correspondent for Tech Live, a 30-minute daily news magazine. Hill was on the air live when the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks began and anchored throughout the day and as events continued to unfold.")
Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Somali Airlines Flight 40, Template:Did you know nominations/Heat: Pedal to the Metal

Improved to Good Article status by Cat's Tuxedo (talk). Number of QPQs required: 2. DYK is currently in unreviewed backlog mode and nominator has 29 past nominations.

Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 22:16, 22 May 2025 (UTC).[reply]

^ Taylor, Bob (August 24, 2007). "G4 offers odd look at pop culture". The Herald. Rock Hill, South Carolina. p. Ticket 11. Retrieved March 18, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.

[Hera070824-1] Taylor, Bob (August 24, 2007). "G4 offers odd look at pop culture". The Herald. Rock Hill, South Carolina. p. Ticket 11. Retrieved March 18, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.

[1]