Comcast just announced the cancellation of G4 TV, shocking dozens of completely unsuspecting workers, now unemployed. According to Chief Executive Officer at Comcast Spectacor Dave Scott, the gaming network was quite simply unprofitable, failing to gain enough traction during its recent reboot to provide a sufficient return on investment. Comcast Spectacor is a subsidiary of parent company Comcast.The news comes by way of Deadline which first picked up on the surprise announcement, G4 TV having been relaunched less than a year ago on November 16, 2021. The reveal has been met with a mixture of confusion and consternation by loyal viewers.“As you know, G4 was reintroduced last year to tap into the popularity of gaming,” Scott said in a memo. “We invested to create the new G4 as an online and TV destination for fans to be entertained, be inspired, and connect with gaming content. Over the past several months, we worked hard to generate that interest in G4, but viewership is low and the network has not achieved sustainable financial results. This is certainly not what we hoped for and as a result, we have made the very difficult decision to discontinue G4’s operations, effective immediately.”Scott went on to say that “I know this is disappointing news and I’m disappointed, too. I want to thank you and everyone on the G4 team for the hard work and commitment to the network.”The company has promised to help the affected employees find an external or internal placement, but whether or not this will amount to anything remains to be seen, even in the short term. “Our human resources team is reaching out to you to provide you with support, discuss other opportunities that may be available, and answer any questions you may have,” Scott explained.The news about the cancellation seems to have broken well before the memo actually made its way to workers. “Nothing like finding out via a Deadline article that you don’t have a job anymore while flying home to your grandfather’s funeral,” Creative Producer at G4 TV Emily Rose for example remarked on Twitter. “Shoutout to the awesome United flight attendant who saw me sobbing and brought me wine on the house.”
G4 TV was first launched on April 24, 2022 by NBC Universal and Dish Network under the direction of Charles Hirschhorn who considered the gaming network to be the next MTV. The current iteration of the company was focused on producing content for YouTube, Twitch, and a variety of different social media platforms. The gaming network had distribution deals with Verizon, Cox, Xfinity, and Philo.