How NBCU Kept Sci Fi Rebranding Under Wraps

The Sci Fi Channel is ditching its name in favor of the more trademarkable Syfy. And that solves a mystery for Michael Hinman, founder of Airlock Alpha, a science-fiction fan site that until last month was known as SyFy Portal.

Hinman, a staff writer for the Tampa Bay Business Journal, sold the decade-old site's original name in a deal that closed last month to a New York-based entity that identified itself only as New Fizz Corp. That name was evidently only a front for NBC Universal, which owns Sci Fi and wanted to keep its rebranding plans under wraps.

"We actually suspected it was NBCU as the deal closed because the lawyer they used in New York on their side was the same lawyer that has represented intellectual property issues with NBCU in the past, specifically with SciFi Channel," says Hinman. "However, we had no clue they were looking to use the brand as the name of its network."

Another tipoff, he says, it how much "New Fizz Corp." was willing to pay for the name. Hinman declines to say exactly how much it was. "All I can tell you is that the amount was far more substantial than anyone who was simply looking to get into the science-fiction news business would pay, even me," he says. "So we knew it was someone extremely well capitalized."