In a move surely designed by Frog Hammer (link not safe for work), the SciFi Channel is aiming to break its geeky image by renaming itself as a homonym.  According to TV Week, the new name of the cable network will be Syfy, which even the American Idol fans will recognize as being the exact same name, only spelled differently. 

SciFi president Dave Howe said, "What we love about this is we hopefully get the best of both worlds.  We’ll get the heritage and the track record of success, and we’ll build off of that to build a broader, more open and accessible and relatable and human-friendly brand."

Now that we know that the current audience for the SciFi Channel is not, in the estimation of its president, human, why is the network branching out?  Ratings this past season have been stellar, and the earnings have shown a double-digit increase, according to GE (the parent of NBC Universal).  So what's the problem?

Tim Brooks, who helped launch the network way back when, said, "The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular. ... We spent a lot of time in the '90s trying to distance the network from science fiction, which is largely why it’s called Sci Fi.  It’s somewhat cooler and better than the name 'Science Fiction.' But even the name Sci Fi is limiting."

Meanwhile, the female audience has been here the whole time, watching MST3K, Farscape, Battlestar Galactica, both Stargates, Eureka, and even the inexplicable wrestling.  The name hasn't scared us off nearly as badly as being told that a) we're not watching, and b) we don't count when the ratings come in for a series.  (See the deaths of most of the above once the 18-34 y.o. males moved on.)

The changeover is planned for July 7, with the premiere of Warehouse 13, which Howe describes as "a dramedy and it is set in the here and now. It's a kind of an Indiana Jones meets Moonlighting meets The X-Files," but the fans have heard this before and read the description much as the ill-fated Tremors series read: "cheaper to produce than actual science fiction, ohpleasepleaseplease let the normal people watch us!"

It's not that this is anywhere near the dumbest move Skiffy has made.  For that, again I direct you to the cancellations of the network's keystone properties at the height of their popularity (strangely often accompanied by a sudden scheduling switch losing audience during the transition).  Still, this rebranding is another example of how the management of the SciFi Channel has tried to cash in on geek money while ignoring the actual geeks.  Focus groups made of Regular Joe 18-34 y.o. males pretends that those mainstream viewers are ever going to give a damn about a network that marathons Star Trek regularly.  Instead, SciFi ought to embrace its declared target: us.  More space shows, more fan-oriented events, more shows talking about comics and upcoming tentpole flicks with heroes in spandex.  Want more female viewers?  Acknowledge the ones who are already here!  More slash-friendly series, more shows with female leads who aren't there as eye candy.  (The Sarah Connor Chronicles will be looking for a new home soon, and you couldn't get a better fit if you tried.)  Encourage quirky microseries.  Bring back Amazing Stories and remake it for this generation.  Keep the webisodes; they're cool.  But make a block on Saturday nights to show them to the folks still stuck on dialup.  Speaking of Saturday nights, do we really need the constant rotation of "Killer Piranhas From the Black Hole" cheesy B-movies?  (Okay, I did just hear a few people say, "Yes!")  Make Saturday night movie event night.  When Spike TV and TBS are showing "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings," and the SciFi Channel isn't, you're losing your brand.  Make it about the brand, and make sure you're showing "Star Wars" without the '90s digital updates.  (Your core fanbase thinks the updates are an abomination unto Nuggan.  Trufax.)

Or just do the rebranding.  I'm sure that will make all the difference.