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Monday, August 1, 2011

Goodbye Versus, Hello ?

I love branding. A name can say so much...or so little. Some brands show logos, like Nike and Apple, need we say more. And initials always seems to come from names that are too long. That seems especially true in the cable network department.

Today it was announced that the Versus network will be changing its name the beginning of the year to NBC Sports Network. A mouthful. So many networks that started that eventually become just initials. Here's a partial list:

American Movie Classics to AMC
The Learning Channel ... TLC
Home Box Office ... HBO
Movietime ... E Entertainment ... E!
Romance Classics ... Women's Entertainment ... WE
Arts & Entertainment ... A&E
Black Entertainment Television ... BET
SciFi ... SYFY
and of course Outdoor Life Network ... OLN ...Versus to ?

Some have always been initials like fx, CNBC, AND MSNBC. Some have names that people barely remember. ESPN - Entertainment Sports and Programming Network, and CNN - Cable News Network. Or even defunct regional networks like PRISM - Philadelphia Regional In-Home Sports and Movies.

So I can only imagine that the newly named NBC Sports Network will soon be known simply as NBCS or SNBC or NBCSN. We love our initials and NBC Sports Network is simply too long to say.