TechTV Lives Alternatively

TechTV has been long replaced by G4, the syndicated cable network for gaming. The Screen Savers has been replaced by Attack of the Show, replacing intelligence and valued information with spoof and technical sloppiness. Call for Help has not been replaced by an equivalent substitute at all, which enabled everyday people to call in and ask for general help questions live on the air. From Wikipedia: TechTV (May 11, 1998 – May 28, 2004) was broadcast in 70 countries, reached 43 million households, and claimed 1.9 million unique visitors monthly to its website.

While many of the TechTV fans have restrained from finding any interests in G4 at all, they still follow the former anchors as they have ventured other projects on their own without support of any major network. In fact, the major support for all of the TechTV evolutions comes from the fans and the anchors themselves. While mostly Leo Laporte comes to mind, other TechTV leaders have also ventured successfully as freelance internet geeks promoting their efforts via podcasting, websites, communities, technologies, and more.

Leo Laporte has founded the TwIT Network that homes his weekly podcasts including The Tech Guy, This Week in Tech, Security Now, Windows Weekly, Mac Break, and more. TwIT is survived by several former TechTV hosts, and the community themselves. All episodes are owned through the Creative Commons License as noncommercial, meaning there is total liberty in opinion without the politics of commercial sponsorship.

TwIT has won several awards including #9 in Time Magazines Top Podcasts of The Year in 2006. TwIT has also been ranked as the #1 Podcast on iTunes, Yahoo Podcasts, and Podcast Alley. Laporte also hosts The Lab on G4TechTV Canada and hopes to market the title to an American network in HD.

Former TechTV anchorman Kevin Rose has also evolved in other projects, most specifically development in Digg: the social bookmarking website. This has spawned Diggnation, a weekly podcast disscussing the top rated stories from the Digg network.