Opinion BY Armin

TVA Embraces Gradients

Established in 1971, TVA is a communications company with two main businesses: (1) television, where it operates the most viewed network in Quebec that includes the namesake channel as well as eight other specialty channels, and (2) publishing, where they produce over 75 magazines, making it the largest publisher of French-language magazines in Quebec. Last week TVA introduced a new logo for its parent company, TVA Groupe, its television channel, and it will continue into the rest of its properties in the coming months. The identity was designed by global agency Sid Lee.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Logo Gigante!

With a history dating back to a single television station in 1955 in San Antonio, TX, Univision (as it was named in 1986) today is the leading Spanish-language television network and media company for Hispanics in the United States. With programming that covers everything from the storied telenovelas (soap operas) to sports to the juggernaut that is Sabado Gigante, Univision is mostly known as a television channel but it also owns radio stations and websites. Yesterday, they unveiled a new logo designed by Wolff Olins.

Continue reading this entry

A B-Side BY Armin

HGTV Canada

Launched in 1997, HGTV (short for Home & Garden Television) is a Canadian (and American) channel that is described by itself as “the hottest address for the most compelling and entertaining stories about the connections people have with the places they call home.” Hottest. Yeah! Basically you just watch it to see if you paid too much for your house or if you are the only tool (as in dumbass not the physical thing in a shed or box) that gets screwed (no pun intended) by their contractors. The Canadian version redesigned its logo in July to match the American version and also introduced a new on-air graphics package designed by Toronto-based Tendril. On-air video below (or after the jump). For an in-depth look at the typography see this Fonts In Use post.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

SF = Syfy = Sci Fi = Science Fiction

Launched in 2006, Sci Fi Channel is the Australian version of Syfy… although at the time, it was simply the Australian version of the channel by the same name. Now, however, three-plus years after the name (and logo) change — funny how the grammar police has moved on to other things needing their devoted attention and Syfy has grown into being most excellent these days — the Australian version, which is owned not by NBCUniversal but by Australian media conglomerate Foxtel is changing its name not to Syfy, because that would be way too many letters, but to SF. Try to pronounce it. Suuhhfffhhn. Rolls off deep of your sternum, no? Shut up, I know it’s pronounced S [breathe] F. Anyway. With the new name, SF has introduced a new logo and on-air package designed by Sydney-based Ink Project that will begin rollout at the end of August.

Continue reading this entry

A B-Side BY Armin

OLN

Launched in 1997, OLN (originally Outdoor Life Network) is a Canadian television channel owned by Rogers Media “offering viewers a one-stop destination for adrenaline pumping action and adventure entertainment” with original reality, adventure, and travel series, and sporting events. A new logo was introduced recently. No design credit given and no press release issued.

Thanks to Shawn for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Style Finally Looks Stylish

Launched in 1999, the Style Network is a television channel owned by NBCUniversal targeted to “women 18-49 with a passion for the best in relatable, inspiring and transformational lifestyle programming.” Style counts with 75 million cable and satellite subscribers, tuning in to shows like Jerseylicious, Chicagolicious, and How Do I Look? In June, Style introduced a new logo and on-air identity designed by New York, NY-based Gretel.

Continue reading this entry

Friday Likes BY Armin

Friday Likes 10

This week, quite serendipitously, all three Likes are about the number 7. Perhaps not all as drool-inducing as past Friday Likes but I couldn’t resist the hepta trifecta.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Telenovela-Red is the New Fire-Engine-Red

Launched in 1954, Telemundo, a division of NBCUniversal, is a Spanish-language media company revolving around its television network that features “original productions, theatrical motion pictures, news, and sports events, reaching U.S. Hispanic viewers in 210 markets through its 14 owned stations and its broadcast and cable affiliates.” At the upfronts this month, among announcements of more new original telenovelas than you can count unbuttoned men shirts, Telemundo introduced a new logo that will be implemented starting in Fall with the launch of the new TV season. No design credit given.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

TV Land: Time to Let Go

As a refresher, from this January’s post on TV Land: “Launched in 1996 and originally part of a Nickelodeon programming block called Nick at Nite, TV Land is a cable television channel aimed (according to owner MTV Networks) at the 40- to 50-year-old with a blend of original programming, classic and contemporary television series acquisitions, and movies.” What has changed in the last five months since I last wrote about the on-air look of TV Land is the development of more original programming, bringing their total to five shows, and they also seem to be gunning for a slightly younger audience. Last week, TV Land introduced a new logo and on-air package designed by sixth-year collaborator Trollback + Company and new mnemonic and theme by CORD Worldwide.

Continue reading this entry

A B-Side BY Armin

Bravo (Canada)

Launched in 1995, Bravo in Canada is a cable channel owned by Bell Media, who licensed the name from NBCUniversal. Bravo shows a range of programs from other channels like TNT and USA, along with some minor original content. A new logo was introduced recently. If the type were any tighter the letters would need to get a room.

Thanks to Shawn for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

E! Entertainment

Launched in 1990, E! Entertainment Television is the cable channel “destination for all things entertainment and celebrity.” A revised logo and tagline were introduced last week. Story here.

Opinion BY Armin

It’s Mama Logo Time

Launched in 1984, Lifetime Television is a channel generally devoted and targeted to women. Its most current positioning is being “committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming, and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and their families.” Long an outlet for bad, made for TV movies, Lifetime has gathered a little bit of steam in the last year or so with shows like Project Runway, Army Wives, and Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Cleavage The Client List, which have yielded actual viewership growth. Lifetime last redesigned their logo in 2008, covered here, which replaced a short-lived logo designed in 2006, so it’s evident that they haven’t landed in a place worth staying a long time for. Last week, Lifetime introduced a completely new look led by Tim Nolan, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Lifetime Networks in collaboration with New York, NY-based Leroy + Clarkson.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Gradients? Czech. Boring? Czech.

Established in 1992 but with origins as far back as 1953, Česká Televize (Czech Television, CT for short) is the public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic with four channels: CT1, for general purpose programming from movies to series to news; CT2, for documentaries and history programming; CT4, now CT Sports; and CT24, a dedicated news channel. Earlier this month, CT introduced a revised identity designed by Prague-based Studio Najbrt that will roll out in September.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

It’s a Gradient-Covered World After All

Founded in 1953, Rede Record is, in terms of reach and coverage, the second largest television network in Brazil with varied programming that covers everything from soaps to sitcoms to reality TV to variety shows to news and this year they are the official network for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. This past February, they introduced an evolution to their logo, which has featured a globe surrounded by metal-like plates since 1994.

[The ADC Young Guns X imposing “X” will be on the site for 24 hours only. We are happy to be their media partners.]

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Premium Effects to the nth Degree

Launched in 2006, n — yup, just “n” — is a DTH (direct to home) satellite television platform, a lá DirecTV, in Poland, offering nearly 100 channels from around the world, over 20 Polish language channels and a new range of premium channels called nPremium HD. The package includes four channels covering the latest Hollywood movies, sporting events, documentaries, and more, as well as a fifth on-demand channel. Warsaw, Poland-based mamastudio designed the nPremium HD on- and off-air look, building on top of the existing n logo.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Extreme Standardization: Finnish Edition

Established in 1926 (radio) and 1958 (television), YLE is the public broadcast company of Finland, owned by the Finnish state. YLE runs four television channels, six radio stations, and has a strong online presence. Last year it announced it would be adopting a new logo and this past week the changes took effect in the on-air graphics. The identity was designed in-house with lettering of the logo provided by Saku Heinänen.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

TFO Rules

Originally launched in 1985 as La Chaîne Française, TFO (Télé-Française d’Ontario), as it was renamed in 1995, is a Canadian French-language educational and cultural public service television channel owned by the Government of Ontario. TFO has a dual focus on children programming as well as documentaries and other cultural programming for adults. The channel is now one component of the larger Groupe Média TFO, which produces web series and content for other partners. This February, TFO introduced a new identity designed by Toronto-based Lowe Roche.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Twisted Swisster

Established in 1931 SRG SSR is the Swiss public broadcasting responsible for overseeing the public service broadcast in radio, television, and online in all four official languages of Switzerland (German, French, Italian, and Romansh). Its French broadcaster, originally two separate entities — Radio Suisse Somande (RSR) and Télévision Suisse Romande (TSR) — have just merged into a single entity, Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), and have introduced a new family of logos for its different channels across mediums, designed in-house.

Continue reading this entry

A B-Side BY Armin

SoHo Channel

Launched in 2011, SoHo is a premium entertainment channel in New Zealand available on SKY Network Television. The channel was branded by Sydney-based (and now defunct) Tactic. See some applications of the identity below (or after the jump).

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY John J Custer

Life OK is Okay

Life OK is the new youth-oriented channel that is joining the STAR India network. It replaces the network’s previous youth channel, STAR One, as of December 2011. The new identity was designed by London-based venturethree.

Continue reading this entry

A B-Side BY Armin

Star TV (Turkey)

Launched in 1989, Star TV was the first private television channel in Turkey, showing original programming as well as international shows. Recently a new logo was introduced.

Thanks to Günes Ülker for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

Audience Network

Launched in 1999 as the 101 Network and renamed Audience Network this past June, this DirecTV channel has original programming like Damages as well as the beloved, NBC-dumped, now done Friday Night Lights. The new logo and on-air look were designed by Trollbäck + Company. Montage of animation work here. Press release here [PDF].

Opinion BY Armin

Cinemax’s New Angle

Launched in 1980, Cinemax is best known for its roster of action movies and after-dark softcore porn movies and series with really bad plots, which have earned it the nickname of “Skinemax”. Originally a single channel, Cinemax, owned by HBO Inc., is now a premium (meaning you have to pay extra to get it) network of eight channels and it counts with more than 12 million subscribers — by comparison, HBO has more than 28 million. Within the last few months a new logo has been popping up here and there and last week, to coincide with the launch of Cinemax’s app, MAX GO, the channel has fully implemented its new logo and look, rolling out across all channels. There is no press release or credits.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

GNT: Bouncier and Blurrier

Originally launched in 1991 as a news network, GNT: Globosat News Television is part of the 34-channel line-up of the Brazilian television network Globosat. Two reinventions later, the channel dropped the meaning of its acronym, going solely with GNT and changing its scope to cater to a female audience since 2003, showing original programming as well as American imports like The Oprah Winfrey Show, Weeds, Nigella, and Late Show with David Letterman. Back in March — sorry for the delay — GNT revised its logo and introduced a new on-air identity designed in-house.

Continue reading this entry

Follow-Up BY Armin

Follow-Up: Travel Channel

Television identity follow-up Friday continues. In March we reported on the new logo for the Travel Channel. At the time the applications of the logo were limited and there was no information about the redesign. New York-based loyalkaspar was in charge of the whole package, from the logo to the custom hand-drawn typeface to the on-air look. Some stills available here and you can see the motion work here.

Continue reading this entry

Follow-Up BY Armin

Follow-Up: Science Channel

In April we reported on the new logo for Discovery’s Science channel, nicknamed Morph and sporting some killer animations. Well, the animations just got killer-er as Imaginary Forces (IF), in a project led by director Ronnie Koff, has taken on the on-air look for Science creating themed promos, network IDs, and logo bugs (almost literally). Based on the logo, designed in-house by Discovery Communications, IF was tasked with capturing “its personality and maintain a sense of surprise,” as well as “creating an authentic, emotional set of characters for the network. To make it unexpected, unique and systematic at the same time.”

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Zee TV Sees Swooshes

Established in 1992 Zee TV is one of the leading television channels in India, and since 1995 has been both exporting Zee TV to other countries and expanding its roster of channels to include Zee Cinema, Zee Sports, Zee Business, Zee Cafe, among a line-up of 25 channels, all now under the corporate umbrella of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited. Earlier this month Zee TV introduced a new identity to roll out across all of its channels (except the Ten Sports brand) designed in-house with additional muscle provided by global agency Draftfcb.

Continue reading this entry

A B-Side BY Armin

FOX Soccer

Launched in 2005, FOX Soccer, as its name implies, is a channel all about soccer operated by News Corporation’s Fox Entertainment Group. Earlier this month it introduced a new logo with “FOX attitude”. Press release here. More logo variations here.

Thanks to Gabe Shultz for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

ESPN Monday Night Football

ESPN Monday Night Football needs little introduction: It’s the NFL on Monday nights on ESPN. Designed in-house by ESPN Creative Services the new look “was designed with a sculpted framework that adds strength. The color red dominates the palette, and the stadium lights around ESPN illuminate the badge and exemplify that MNF is in primetime. Metal, rubber and pigskin textures also add tactility.” Bigger view below (or after the jump). More story here.

Continue reading this entry

A B-Side BY Armin

Big Ten Network

Established in 2006, the Big Ten Network — now BTN — is a partnership between th Big Ten Conference and Fox Networks for a channel covering over 600 events featuring the schools of the Big Ten Conference. Press release here. There is also customized color versions of the logo for each of the 12 schools that make up the Big Ten.

Thanks to John Coburn for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Current Lets its Bold Flag Fly

Launched in 2005 by former Vice President Al Gore (before An Inconvenient Truth fame) and entrepreneur Joel Hyatt, Current TV was originally a pretty drastic model of programming, featuring user-generated “pods” reflecting a broad range of topics and opinions that lasted anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes. You could tune in at any time of day and just jump right in into whatever was going on and not have to worry about following typically scheduled programming. This was the same year YouTube launched and before it went as big as it is now, so the concept was fairly ahead of the curve. Current gathered some initial attention but then it just kind of disappeared as the novelty wore off and despite hiring former MTV Networks’ President Mark Rosenthal, toying with the idea of going public, and transitioning into 30- and 60-minute programming Current felt anything but. Enter Keith Olbermann, the love-him-or-hate-him, ex-ESPN anchor turned political commentator. In February Current announced that Olbermann would be taking his show, Countdown With Keith Olbermann, from MSNBC to their cable channel starting June 20. Reminiscent of when Howard Stern announced he would be leaving the broader air waves for SiriusXM, Olbermann’s move to Current gave it instant relevance. Last week, Current quietly introduced a new look, launched the website for Olbermann’s show, Countdown, and over the Summer will be implementing the new look. The identity has been designed by Wolff Olins with motion assistance by Ghava, the on-air look is by loyalkaspar, and web design by Code and Theory.

Continue reading this entry

A B-Side BY Armin

Azteca 7

Launched in 1983 TV Azteca is the second largest television network in Mexico with two main channels Azteca 13 and Azteca 7, with the latter being the “funner” channel, mainly by carrying The Simpsons. This past February, Azteca 7 launched a new logo and look. A few color variations and speech bubble configurations are shown here.

Thanks to José Héctor Gálvez for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

The Logo Less Traveled

One of my guilty pleasures is watching Man Vs. Food, where host Adam Richman travels the U.S. to find the most local of local restaurants that also happen to serve either the biggest, the spiciest, the sweetest, or a combination thereof of any number of restaurant staples from tacos to burgers to chicken wings. He sweats and suffers. It’s a useless show, but it’s a heck of fun. That’s about the only thing (perhaps some Anthony Bourdain too) I’ve ever watched on the Travel Channel, but that’s more a reflection of my viewing habits than the channel’s fault, which has a great range of original programming. Launched in 1987, the Travel Channel has gone through many owners, including Discovery Communications until 2010 when it was bought by Scripps Networks Interactive. Starting in January a new logo for the channel had been popping up in some promos and now it’s officially on the website. No word yet on who designed it, tip welcome.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

With a Great Tagline Comes Great Responsibility

Launched in 1994, the Independent Film Channel (IFC) has grown remarkably from a weird little runt of a channel that was a spin-off from Bravo (before Bravo was all Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Housewives of…, and Top This or That — into one of the most progressive and rewarding cable channels through original programming (Portlandia), fantastic re-runs (Freaks and Geeks), and movies where the endings aren’t always happy. Today the IFC universe consists of the cable channel, a feature film production company, a distributor of independent and foreign films, and a theater in New York City. For the better part of 2010, IFC has been using a new logo and tagline created by Portland, OR-based Feel Good Anyway and they recently put up a great case study of their ongoing project with IFC.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

The NBC Peacock is Gone and Rightfully So

In 2004 General Electric, the parent company of American television network NBC, purchased 80% of Vivendi Universal Entertainment, the parent company of Universal Pictures, cable channels like USA Network and Syfy (then Sci-Fi Channel), and the Universal Studios theme parks. NBC Universal was born. A powerful entertainment company with major real estate on television: NBC, Telemundo, Bravo, Syfy, USA Network, A&E, MSNBC, and CNBC among others. In 2009, cable operator Comcast announced its plans to purchase a stake in NBC Universal and as of last week, with approval of the Federal Communications Commission and U.S. Department of Justice, Comcast now owns 51% of NBC Universal, while General Electric owns 49%. On Friday, at an employee town hall meeting, Steve Burke, COO of Comcast and CEO of the new company, announced a new name, NBCUniversal (no space, thank you), and a new logo designed by Wolff Olins.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Mega Amount of Triangles

Originally launched as Red Televisiva Megavisión in 1990, Mega is a popular TV channel in Chile, specifically in the capital city of Santiago where it airs, with a mix of news, reality, and sitcoms like a remake of Married%hellip; with Children (the Bundys are replaced by the Larraíns). In October, Mega introduced a new logo, reportedly designed by local agency Hambre, who were also in charge of the recent Chilean government identity. (They don’t have a website I know of, so it’s hard to corroborate 100%).

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Christian Palino

The Virgin Left Behind

On July of this year, British Sky Broadcasting (BskyB) bought Virgin Media Television for £160m and in doing so acquired Virgin1, a channel offering programming like That 70s Show, I want to Work for Diddy, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (which achieved their highest viewing ratings). To help complete BskyB’s acquisition, they have rebranded Virgin1 to be Channel One.

Continue reading this entry

INTL. REVIEW BY Simon Wennberg POSTED BY Brand New

Who Let the Butterflies Out?

European broadcasters tend to place much focus on the brand of their respective parent corporation, which usually acts as an umbrella brand for all their outlets. This is very different from the American broadcasters where every network seems to be its own operation with loose branding ties within corporations (think MTV, VH1, etc. within Viacom). One weird aspect of the European model is that every once in a while the corporation makes a change in its identity which is then implemented on all its services. This means a sudden burst of rebrands of several television channels that either happen at once or over the course of a limited time-period. One recent example of this is Rai — short for Radiotelevisione Italiana, a state-owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance — which suddenly decided to give all its 13 channels new looks on May 18.

Continue reading this entry