My Brand New Yahoo! Club: Fire_Neal_Tiles · Save G4TV from Neal Tiles

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http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/Fire_Neal_Tiles/

On September 19, 2005, it was reported by TVweek.com that former DirecTV executive Neal Tiles had replaced G4 founder Charles Hirschhorn as the channel's CEO. Also reported was a managerial decision to decrease G4's emphasis on video game coverage, in favor of a shift toward a male general interest programming format, reminiscent of Spike. The programming format mostly consists of syndicated material.

Its website address in lieu of the slogan "Videogame TV" was introduced and gradually replaced the existing logo over the next few months.

Variety.com reported, "Now, under the aegis of Comcast and new president Neal Tiles, G4 is evolving into a lifestyle channel, peppered with videogame culture, as opposed to wall-to-wall games."

"We're going through a change. Guys like to play games, but not necessarily watch a bunch of shows with games on the screen," Tiles says. "So what we're doing now is expanding G4 from a network solely defined by videogames to one inspired by them."

The numerous changes to the network's programming also brought on a storm of criticism and deep hatred from longtime TechTV/G4 fans across the internet, many claiming that the channel has strayed too far from its gaming and technology roots, and accuse the channel of solely relying on shows like X-Play and Attack of the Show! to be the only reason why the channel is still on the air. With most of the remaining G4 original shows having been severely altered, many see this as G4's ongoing attempt to be a competitor to other male-oriented networks such as Spike, thus losing any unique identity.