Third time's a charm? The Nashville Network started in 1983, was renamed the New TNN when it was bought by Viacom in 2000 and will now be called Spike TV, as of June 16, 2003, reflecting its new brand positioning as the first network for men. The network's new logo will be unveiled at the MTV Networks upfront presentation in New York City on Tuesday, May 6, 2003, according to network president Albie Hecht. "Spike TV captures the attributes and essence of what we want the first network for men to be," said Hecht. "It's unapologetically male; it's active; it's smart and contemporary with a personality that's aggressive and irreverent. It's a name we feel our audience will get and make a connection with. I like Spike! This is a first major step in our journey to super-serving men in a way no one has done before."
Spike TV will be serving up an adult animation block of programs to debut in June 2003 with new original episodes of REN & STIMPY, Stan Lee's STRIPERELLA, starring Pamela Anderson, and GARY THE RAT, starring Kelsey Grammer.
Herb Scannell, president of Nickelodeon/TV Land/Spike TV, added, "When we decided use our near 65% male audience skew and become the first network for men, we knew we needed a name that was a strong statement of what this brand will be. Spike TV is going to be a great addition to our portfolio of channels and will laser in on its target male demo and serve them the way Nickelodeon serves kids and TV Land serves classic TV lovers."
The re-naming of the channel will be supported by a multi-million dollar awareness campaign. For programming listing guides, Spike TV will utilize the abbreviation SPIKE. Spike TV, the first network for men, is available in 86 million homes in North America and is a division of MTV Networks.
