After an eight-year hiatus, Comcast Spectacor-owned video gaming culture network G4 will return to linear TV on Nov. 16, launching on Verizon Fios, Cox Communications, Comcast’s own Xfinity TV and Philo TV.
G4 also said it also has struck a multiyear promotional and commercial partnership with Twitch, and will continue to create channel-specific content on YouTube and social media.
“Since the initial announcement of G4’s revival at Comic-Con@Home last year, we’ve been in constant dialogue with our audience through the content we’ve produced,” G4 president Russell Arons said in a press release. “We made a promise to fans that we would build this network with their input and are proud to say that our promise has been kept. At G4, we never stopped playing and can’t wait to have our fans join us in our hilarious and fairly preposterous sandbox on November 16.”
The network will produce and deliver programming through its own Burbank, California, broadcast studio, which features a collaborative workplace and professional esports and gaming environment.
“G4 was a pioneer for video games on television for12 years, long before businesses were focused on gaming. The credibility that comes with that cannot be manufactured,” G4/Spectacor Gaming chief revenue officer Josh Cella said in a press release. "As we gear up to launch, we are excited to unlock our portfolio of talent, creative marketing platforms, interactive programming and an innovative distribution model for business partners."
G4’s programming slate at launch will include new takes on legacy content like geek culture variety program Attack of the Show! with host Kevin Pereira, video game review show Xplay; and competition series Ninja Warrior. New programming includes weekly esports comedy series Boosted, ESL Gaming, a partnership with gaming lifestyle company ESL Gaming to produce and broadcast several primetime esports programs and Dungeon & Dragons Limited Series, a limited-run offering that debuts in the fall.
Additional distribution, programming and content partnerships will be announced closer to the network launch.
G4 launched in 2002, the brainchild of former Disney exec Charles Hirschhorn. The channel was replaced by short-lived brand experiment the Esquire Network in 2013, and in 2020 moved over to another Comcast unit — Comcast Spectacor — which, after a healthy dose of social media buzz around the channel, announced its revival later that year.
