TV Guide Acquires TVShowsonDVD.com (1 Viewer)

News is here:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=6923

Let me off my congrats to Gord and Dave, and say that you truly deserve your success.

However, I hope the corporate influence won't dilute what you do. Your site is resource that many of us can't imagine being without, so I hope it continues for a long, long, long time.

All the best.

I have to agree with SAM on this one.

I saw the news yesterday and couldn't believe it!
I am confident that what Gord states in the article will happen (about the site not changing and that it will get EVEN BETTER with all the extra resources that they now have for us )

Happy 5 year Anniversary guys and here's to 100 more!

Congratulations to you guys!I hope this brings awareness to the site and doesnt just commercialize it. I know TV Guide also bought www.jumptheshark.com from John Hine for a pretty penny. Thats a fun site for TV fans as well! Good Luck, enjoy your money and thanks for creating such a great site!
Chad

Perfectly said, Sam Cheers and salutations to Gord & Dave They helped me considerably during my early home-'net days and invited me to join HTF.

Well, I hope that this will help us get more 'inside' info about upcoming DVDs, and as long as the TV GUIDE 'suits' don't interfere with the site's day-by-day operation, I'll look upon this new venture with favor and hope for better things ahead.

hopefully studios will start taking note of what shows people want released on dvd, more hope for some of the lesser known shows maybe.

I'll add my congratualtions and I'm sure the offer was too tempting to resist, but I'm not very confident that the integrity of the site will remain given TV Guide's corporate track record.

Thank you Jeff! I was getting worried there. TV Guide has been buying up everying, and the content is getting harder and harder to find on those sites now.

Good luck!
Glenn

I feel in a very cynical mood about this. When corporations take over, it's just a matter of time before the announcements on the site are up for bids --- the more you pay, the bigger the announcement.

However, as someone else just said here, I'd like an open forum there where we can tell the companies what we'd LIKE to see released --- assuming, of course, the companies read it and respond to it. Otherwise, what's the use?

I expected to find some negative feedback to TV Guide acquiring the site, and I appreciate everyone's willingness to share their thoughts, whether it be positive or negative.

Everyone I've met with and spoken to at TV Guide is extremely excited that we're joining them. We'll be filling a gap that TV Guide has had for awhile; I think you'll agree they haven't done a lot of TV-DVD promotion in the past, and they want that to change. I'd already come up with some ideas on ways to improve the site, and they're very open to them. TV Guide buying the site will raise awareness of it, and help us further promote the genre. I've already spoken to some of my contacts at the studios and they're very interested in working with us on new projects.

I've always tried to do things on the site for the users, and that won't change, since YOU guys are the ones that visit the site. I'll be working closely with TV Guide on any changes, and I'll voice my opinion if I think something they're proposing will hurt the integrity of the website, or drive visitors away.

Yesterday I received emails from people worried that they would wreck the site, like they wrecked the magazine. The magazine and online people are almost completely separate, except for some crossover with writers who work on both. I've met a ton of people at TV Guide, but no one that works on the magazine. Others have been worried that we'll turn into TV.com. If I thought that was possible then I wouldn't have joined TV Guide.

I decided to join TV Guide partially because of feedback from users. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked to add episode information to the site, list the number of seasons a show ran for, or add some cast information. We've never had access to that information before, but now we do. Maybe in the future you'll be able to click on our "Show Info Page" and see that a show ran for 7 seasons, but fans think the show "Jumped the Shark" in season 5.

Hopefully people will keep an open mind to what lies ahead. If you see something you don't like, email me. I'll still be the one answering the email on the site, and keeping contact with the visitors.

Gord

I'll admit that I'm not sold yet that it's a good thing, but I think I trust Gord that he wouldn't let his baby get away from him in such a way that it is no longer an important and valuable resources.

Well, maybe it will be good for the owners financially but as for the integrity of the site . . . We all saw what happened when TV Tome got bought. It is now a shell of it's former self. And the current owners of TV Guide took an established, legendary publication and drove it into the ground within a couple of years. But, hey, on the bright side maybe now we can get the one thing on the site that TV Guide added to their publication and the one thing that all television lovers are dying for - all of the info on the latest theatrical films!!

Along similar lines, my concern is that a year from now we may be battling a sea of endless pop-ups only then to have to weed through celebrity fashion tips, recipes, lovemaking secrets, etc. just to get to the info we seek.

whatever happens Gord and David, don't like TV Guide suck the integrity out of the site. Your site has been the "go to" place for several years now and I know I would hate seeing a TVShowsonDVD.com without the two of you

Gord, I just read your post and it makes this surprising news of TV Guide acquiring your site a little easier. I hope your website continues to bring everything you have enjoyed about TV-on-DVD, and that it will expand to even more enjoyment and reward that we here have come to known for years. I also hope this new relationship with TV Guide will bring nothing but even more great things to TVShowsOnDVD in the future.

I had a feeling of a pit in the middle of my stomach when I read the news. The first thing that entered my head was the tvtome.com --> tv.com fiasco. I certainly hope the site stays much the same, but along with the fears others have I envision a de-emphasis on pre-70s era tv series in favor of news on contemporary/topical shows. I may be overly pessimistic but one certainly can't deny how awful the magazine is now compared to just a couple of years ago.

Congrats Gord and Dave! As long as you two are involved in the site, I don't think anyone should be worried about it. It is still one of the few must read daily sites.

As for TV Guide itself, I've come around to thinking they've done a good job with it. Sure, the local listings are gone, but with Tivo, I haven't used it in a while. And, the writing is normally very good. I spend more time reading the new magazine than the old.

I've got mixed feelings on this too. On the one hand, I think the site was great the way it was and that it'll lose the style/appeal if it starts being run by a corporation.

OTOH, and ultimately this is the more important, TV Guide is a much bigger and more powerful entity than the site on its own was. If it works out that studios will begin taking the site and its readers more seriously and begin putting out more of the product we want, then it could be a fantastic development.

But I know that the site is even more important to Gord than it is any of us, and he won't let it get ruined.

I was interviewed by a company hired by tv guide to guage our opinions about a potential buy out. While they didn't say what it was for...it was obvious by the questions who they were and what they wanted. I spoke to the guy for over an hour. And pretty much voiced all of your concerns. That the reason we go to the site is for info on tv shows. And that any changes to the base purpose and intergrity of the site would be looked upon poorly by most of the sites regular visitors. I think the guy got the idea.

Congrats Gord & Dave. You both worked hard on this.