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G4 Latest to Play the Awards Show Game

Cable World, March 3, 2003

Byline: JON LAFAYETTE

And the award for youngest cable channel to launch its own awards show goes to...drumroll, please...G4.

Following in the more established footprints of MTV's Video Music Awards, ESPN's Espies, CMT's Flameworthies and others, G4, the ten-month-old video-game channel owned by Comcast, is planning to hold an event to be called G-Phoria in Los Angeles on July 30.

To the network, G-Phoria will be more than an awards show. It's designed to attract celebrities and help game players raise their video-game consciousness to achieve "the glow," which, coincidentally, will be the name of the prizes to be given out.

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The awards show and celebration is part of G4's push with programming and promotion after a launch that exceeded expectations in terms of cable's most valuable commodity - distribution.

G4 founder and CEO Charles Hirschhorn said that when the network pushed the play button, it had 200,000 subscribers and planned to end the year with 6 million. Instead, it finished 2002 with 9 million subscribers, thanks to the acquisition of AT&T Broadband by Comcast. Even before the deal closed, AT&T systems were adding G4.

Hirschhorn said G4 is getting business from national advertisers. Procter & Gamble made a three-year deal worth more than $2 million that makes Pringles the sponsor of the show Cheat! Pringles Gamers Guide. Pringles also sponsors Strategic Moments vignettes. (Hirschhorn said that P&G came to G4 after a study found that gamers preferred Pringles because less grease slid from fingers to game consoles.)

In the coming months, G4 promotions will be featured on six-packs of Pringles sold at Costco and on the membrane that seals the chips inside Pringles tubes.

G4 also made a multimillion dollar, multiyear deal with game retailer EB Games. EB is featured on air in G4 programming, and G4 is promoted inside EB stores. EB is adding to its sponsorship commitment by being the presenting sponsor of G-Phoria. Other sponsorships are being pitched by the G4 ad sales group.

There is a downside to G4's fast start: Its parent won't give it a free game. "Comcast is apt to set the bar higher" in terms of its expectations, said Hirschhorn, who thinks the channel will pay off big. "At 24 million to 30 million homes, this becomes a good business," he said.

G4 plans to hold G-Phoria in Los Angeles. No host has been signed, but Vinnie Longobardo, SVP of programming, expects entertainment, music and sports stars to participate.

The two-hour awards show will be just a part of the six and one-half hours of programming generated by G-Phoria, beginning in May and stretching into August. G4 is planning to produce and air five 30-minute specials called The Path to G-Phoria, and the nominees for the Glow awards will be announced and discussed in a special called Pre-Phoria. After the event, the network will air a wrap-up show.

THE NEXT QUESTION:

*How would interactivity affect a network that's dedicated to video games?

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G4 Latest to Play the Awards Show Game

Cable World, March 3, 2003

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