SyFy is a cable channel in the United States that began broadcasting in 1992. It’s a horror, fantasy, and science fiction-themed channel. NBC Universal Television and Streaming founded it. This is another Comcast NBC Universal subsidiary. English is the medium of instruction. Syfy was previously known as Sci-Fi and Sci-Fi. After that, it was abbreviated toSyFy. On Spectrum, what channel is SyFy? SyFy can be found on channel 37 or 111.
Is SyFy available on cable?
Because the live TV streaming market is continuously changing, channels cannot be guaranteed. The many live TV streaming services not only offer a diverse range of channels, but they can also be removed, just as channels can be added. This makes it even more difficult to find the proper service that contains all of the channels a person or family desires.
In general, Syfy is one of the more easily accessible networks for those without cable. Syfy is also available on DirecTV Stream, fuboTV, Hulu Live TV, and YouTube TV in addition to Sling TV. Naturally, some of these services are less expensive than others.
On my Spectrum Guide, how do I see all of the channels?
Press the OPTIONS or “A” button on the remote to bring up the full-screen Guide, then pick Guide Settings > Show Channels. Toggle between ALL CHANNELS and SUBSCRIBED by pressing OK.
On the NYC spectrum, what channel is SYFY?
Spectrum provides excellent TV bundles at a reasonable price. Spectrum, as one of the largest cable TV providers, is sure to provide all of your favorite channels, including Syfy. However, in order to watch Syfy on Spectrum, you may need to know the channel number.
We’d also like to point out that Spectrum broadcasts the majority of its channels in HD. It’s not something you’ll find with other cable TV subscriptions. This means you’ll most likely be able to watch your favorite shows in HD on the Syfy channel.
If you can’t find the Syfy channel number or it isn’t shown on the channel roster, call Spectrum customer care for assistance. They will be able to direct you to the appropriate channel.
Why did SYFY change its name from Sci Fi to SYFY?
In July 2009, the channel announced that it has changed its name to SyFy for the first time. The key reason was that Sci-Fi was used to symbolize the entire genre rather than a specific station. A single firm cannot control the entire genre. “We couldn’t own Sci-Fi, but we can own SyFy,” remarked Bonnie Hammer, the former president.
What happened to the Science Fiction Channel?
Picking the finest television network in any given year is usually a simple task – it’s almost always FX, and if it isn’t, it’s almost always HBO. (Netflix could make a case for 2016, but for now, those three networks are the only ones worth watching.)
The question of which television network has had a breakthrough year is even more intriguing. It may be a network that wasn’t known for scripted programming before launching a slew of new shows (like AMC did between 2007 and 2009), or it could simply be a network that finally realizes its full potential (as USA did in 2015).
Breakthroughs are difficult to sustain, yet in this era of peak television, numerous networks appear to be having them with each new year. (TBS, for example, had a breakthrough this year by presenting several amusing new comedies alongside its fleet of sitcom reruns.)
It’s much more difficult to be a network that has lost its luster – all of its luster and then somehow returns to producing consistently engaging programs. Even one failure show may have analysts penning think pieces announcing a network’s demise, thus making a strong comeback is one of the most difficult things to do in television. (Also see HBO’s Vinyl.)
That’s why it’s a little surprising that the year’s biggest breakthrough and best comeback belonged to a network that had been in critical limbo for almost a decade.
Since 2009, when the network’s hit series Battlestar Galactica completed its run and the network rebranded, ditching its previous, more clearly genre-driven appellation of “the Sci-Fi Channel,” Syfy has seemed lost.
It’s imported a handful of good shows (mostly from Canada) during the last few years, and it’s occasionally aired an amusing reality show. However, you were more likely to find fantastic science fiction, horror, or fantasy elsewhere.
Syfy’s new strategy makes a lot of sense
Syfy retreated from huge, ambitious storytelling after Battlestar Galactica, resorting to episodic episodes with lower stakes. This decision wasn’t all negative; some of the content that resulted was often rather amusing. (I, too, was a fan of the small-town science fiction drama Eureka.)
However, it frequently felt as though the network had sacrificed the political resonance and painful decisions of Battlestar Galactica which, mind you, could be very episodic! for an unlimited supply of ice cream. Where the network used to tackle major issues like the war on terror or what it meant to be a human being, it was now willing to serve up froth.
Syfy CEO Dave Howe recognized in 2014 that the two most popular shows on television at the time AMC’s The Walking Dead (horror) and HBO’s Game of Thrones (fantasy) might have been Syfy originals but weren’t. Both were megahits based on well-loved science fiction source material, so shouldn’t a sci-fi adaptation of one of them be the next natural step in geek culture’s absorption of the known universe?
As a result, he made the decision to try to correct the situation. He told the Hollywood Reporter that he planned to revert to the strategy that the network had abandoned in the aftermath of Battlestar Galactica’s cancellation, which was to avoid allowing cheesy movies like Sharknado to become the network’s claim to fame (even if the network wouldn’t stop making Sharknado sequels).
It took a long time for that strategy to pay off. Ascension, a 2014 space opera miniseries, was a flop, and a number of Syfy’s other shows failed. However, the network eventually settled on a fairly simple concept, one that HBO and AMC had used to establish their respective genre hits: Great source material should be adapted.
Some of those ventures, like 2015’s Childhood’s End, a miniseries adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s classic novel, struggled to match the literary weight of its literary forerunners. However, for Syfy, the technique has worked far more often than it has failed.
Political drama set in space The Expanse is a fanciful coming-of-age story set in the future. The Magicians, a mind-melting time-traveler The spooky horror anthology 12 Monkeys (which aired its debut season in 2015) Everything from novels to films to internet horror stories has been adapted by Channel Zero, and they’ve all been very good to fantastic television. Add in a few great Canadian imports (headed by the very fun Killjoys), and you’ve got a winning combination.
Adapting great books and films is an easy way for Syfy to bootstrap gravitas
In a way, Syfy has stumbled upon something that other TV adaptations have hailed as a secret weapon: when they’re good, fans can dig into and dissect additional source material, and when they’re bad, the TV series themselves often benefit from the “maybe it was all a problem with the books to begin with” doubt.
Whatever the case may be, they gain from the borrowed gravitas of the source material. On some level, seeing a copy of Lev Grossman’s The Magicians in a bookstore with a “Now a major TV show on Syfy!” sticker on the cover suggests that the network is serious about programming excellent genre things.
Now, the network will have to stop adapting novels and movies which aren’t always natural fits for TV shows and start creating its own shows. (It would also be wonderful if it included a few of comedies.) Even the source material used by Syfy is becoming more daring, as evidenced by Channel Zero, which converts online “creepypasta” stories (scary tales shared on various message boards and subreddits) into a six-episode horror miniseries.
So far, none of its new shows have been able to capture the public’s attention on par with Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead. And the network’s hot streak hasn’t been without flops, the most recent of which was the “aliens are terrorists, sort of” series Hunters, which aired in 2016. That show, too, was based on a book, but not as well-known as Grossman’s Magicians series or The Expanse novels.
Syfy’s shows don’t always hit the target, but they do so frequently that I’m always looking forward to what’s next. I’ve talked a lot about how much I love 12 Monkeys’ crazy religiosity, and while The Expanse is a little more sedate, it has some of the best space action on TV since, well, Battlestar Galactica.
Meanwhile, The Magicians is the show that gives me the most hope for the network’s future in 2017. After a jumbled, sloppy pilot, the show rapidly pulled itself together and became the kind of TV delight I looked forward to each week.
The program, in particular, embraced both the best features of novels in that it had a ready-made universe and cast of characters to explore and television, in that it turned each new episode into a new opportunity to deepen its plot and characters.
If Syfy and its programming can maintain that level of excellence, it may be able to reclaim the prominence it has lost over the last decade. And if it keeps turning great stories into captivating television, it might just have a smash on its hands. The year 2017 will tell the story.
What does the acronym SYFY stand for?
The NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group branch of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast, owns Syfy (previously Sci-Fi Channel and Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY). Science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural, paranormal, drama, and reality programming are all available on the channel. In the United States, Syfy is available to 92.4 million households.
