Comcast Corp. is slated to announce plans Wednesday for a new network
dedicated to video games.
The channel, G4, is expected to launch next April, sources said Tuesday.
The new programming service is being led by Dale Hopkins and Debra Green,
veterans of E! Entertainment Television, according to several sources.
As first reported by Multichannel News Aug. 6 , G4 is targeting
game-show aficionados with an assortment of programming on video games,
including previews of new games.
G4 is the brainchild of Charles Hirschorn, former chief of The Walt Disney
Co.'s TV and animation unit.
The new network -- which is expected to release information about its
distribution plans during a press conference at the Western Show in Anaheim,
Calif., Wednesday -- has hopes of snaring ad dollars from the booming video-game
market.
The major video-hardware makers alone -- Microsoft Corp., Sony Corp. and
Nintendo of America Inc. -- planned to spend an estimated $1 billion on
advertising this year.
A Comcast spokesman declined to comment on G4 Tuesday.
