The People Have Spoken

I'm very pleased to say that thanks to your overwhelming show of support and to a strong desire on both our parts to come to an agreement, TechTV has improved its offer and I've decided to climb back aboard the good ship Call for Help. I'll be back on the air starting next Tuesday, April 20. The future is still a little cloudy, however. Comcast assumes ownership of the channel a few weeks later and I have no idea what will happen after that. I am certain they've been impressed by your support for the show, however, and if that doesn't convince them to keep it on the air, I don't know what could. I can never thank you all enough for your incredible outpouring of encouragement and support. You really made a difference. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! [UPDATE: Vulcan doesn't want me in the studio until the contract takes effect so I won't be back until a week later: April 27. Wil Wheaton will guest host Friday, April 23 and Monday, April 26. UPDATE to the UPDATE: Never mind. It's April 20 again. But Wil will still guest host Friday and Monday. Welcome to my world.]

The Changeover is Beginning

I got this note tonight from a TechTV viewer who watches on his C-Band satellite dish:

I have been watching on C-Band satellite since the network started. There was a message on the screen tonight saying that the signal was going to digital and after some searching on the web, it will be using PowerVu technology and only available to cable head ends.

I had always taken it as a point of pride that TechTV was in the clear on the big dishes. And many of our first viewers were C-Band users. This is likely the first of many changes Comcast will be making as they assume control of TechTV and merge it with G4. At least one Charter subscriber reports on the message boards that starting May 1 TechTV is being moved to digital channel 998 in his area - the cable equivalent of invisibility. The Hart-Scott-Rodino regulatory period ends in the next few days. Things should start happening very quickly after that. No one at G4 has told us what their plans are but rumors are flying that there will be some serious changes to the lineup. I'll keep you posted here as the story develops.

C-Band Notice

Uh oh

Comcast Fires TechTV Staff

I've just learned that G4 has fired the entire staff of TechTV. Per the WARN Act (governing plant closings) all the employees of TechTV have been given 60 days notice. The San Francisco operation will be shuttered by July. 100 of the existing jobs will be posted for those willing to relocate to LA. Outgoing COO, Joe Gillespie will say good-bye to the troops tomorrow. Incoming CEO Charles Hirschorn will say hello (and good-bye) on Monday. No word on which shows G4 will keep or which hosts will be kept on.

Last Call

Yesterday was one of the saddest days of my life. We put Call for Help to bed Wednesday. You'll see the last episode on Friday, but for those of us who have been making the show for six years a huge and important chunk of our lives is over. G4 is shopping the show and it's possible another network will pick it up. I pray someone does. I'll keep doing it if I have to fly to Sandusky twice a week. Somehow, somewhere, Call for Help has to live on, if only for the folks who have come to depend on the show for their computer help. I know so many moms and grandfathers and kids and just plain folks for whom Call for Help was an introduction to technology. The show helped get so many people on track, and I feel like we're letting many more down by not doing it any more. Cross your fingers that some network executive somewhere is willing to take a chance on a funky little show that makes such a big difference in people's lives. Meanwhile G4 has asked me to keep doing the daily 90-second pre-taped tips on The Screen Savers indefinitely. I said yes, of course. It's better than nothing, and it will leave me lots of free time to try to find somewhere else to do what I do. Vinnie Longobardo, the VP Programming for G4, also asked me to ask you to stop filling his inbox with mail. I appreciate your efforts but at this point it's probably useless to keep harassing the poor guy. G4 is going for a different audience and my work is not really part of those plans. I understand that - I even agree with them. It's time for all of us to move on. Mostly I'm going to miss the people I work with. It's going to be so hard to get up in the morning and not see their faces. You never met a nicer, harder working, more committed bunch of people. We loved what we did. And we hate not getting to do it any more. Some will continue on with G4. I think Roger, Cat, and Ian will move to LA. George is getting his real estate license. Dan will be bagging groceries at the local Stop 'n' Shop. I'm not sure what Fawn's plans are. The studio crew will continue working until July 2 when 535 York gets shut down for good. Then they'll all go on to other jobs. They're the best in the business and won't have any trouble finding work. We had six good years. That's more than most TV shows get. And we are very proud of what we did. It's just hard to let go, especially when the show was starting to click. We'd had our highest ratings ever in March - 500% growth over the same time last year. The December Call-For-Help-a-thon earned us a big article in the New York Times. We had finally made it back into prime time. So close. So close. I'm not complaining. I have my family, my radio show, and my memories of an amazing little channel where I got to do pretty much whatever I wanted for way too long. I am just so grateful to have had that chance. And I'm even more grateful that so many of you seemed to actually like my work. I'm not giving up. I'm just going to take some time off to say a private good-bye. Then it's on to the next thing. I'm sure it will be wonderful and fun and all that. But there will never be another TechTV. For all its flaws, it was pretty great, wasn't it?