Prevue Becomes TV Guide Channel - Feb. 1, 1999

Here it is - the last moments of Prevue Channel and the first minute or so of TV Guide Channel. As you can see, the changeover was quite subdued and happened at the stroke of midnight. The Prevue ident aired for the last time, then John Lithgow appeared to plug his TV Guide Insider profile.

Some tests of the new TV Guide imaging were in effect that last night, as you can see. The guide itself was updated the next day to replace the Prevue graphics with TV Guide ones. The initial graphics and presentation were produced by Pittard Sullivan, and were really nicely put together with a catchy theme. I prefer this warmer, but still hip, package to the somewhat dark and scary 1998 Prevue look.

This has a bit of Prevue's new 1998-era format, hipper imaging, and slightly updated guide. Instead of Prevue Tonight, numerous features would appear throughout the half-hour; news and weather at 5 minutes before, sports at 15 and 45, and so on. TV Guide initially kept this format more or less, adding in celebrity profiles and entertainment news.

Then the grid went yellow, hosts were added, and it all went to hell.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Prevue
• Channel
• TV
• Guide

[ariw2003net]

OK, so random question... Does anyone know what exactly "Prevue This" entailed? I'm making a Prevue channel simulator...

[HulkieG]

If I'm right, Prevue This was a profile of one TV show, similar to Prevue Revue and Prevue Family. That was the only segment that was replaced in the switch to TV Guide - the Insider profiles took its place.

[SuperAdventures]

Wow, great find man! I figured no one had recorded the moment in which the changeover occured, as subtle as it was.

It also reminded me that, in its last days, Prevue Channel wasn't too different from the early TVGC of 1999.

According to Wikipedia, the now-classic blue grid (the last remnant of Prevue) was replaced in December 1999/January 2000 with the yellow grid. That was around the time it was replaced here in NYC .

Oh, and I'm def trying to ID that ad music!

[HulkieG]

Yeah, I recorded the Family/Fox Family changeover, I figured I'd get the changeover of Prevue/TV Guide.

I'd wager that even if Prevue hadn't bought TV Guide, it would look quite similar to what we have now. The changeover amounted to little more than a new name and graphics - the real changes were made a year prior.

And that early TV Guide branding was certainly an improvement. The last Prevue look was reallllly dark and scary.

[mcydodge919]

Man, I would LOVE to see the changeover to Fox Family! I actually planned on watching it when it happened, but I remember having to leave that morning and it had already changed over when I turned it back on.

[HulkieG]

Happily, it's on one of the few tapes I have that was labeled as soon as I recorded the footage. So it's just a matter of locating it, and I'll hope to have it on soon.

That was a big amount of hoopla, and rightly so. TV Guide was/is a renamed Prevue. Fox Family was essentially an entirely new channel.

[Digatone]

I did not see Prevue Becomes TV Guide Channel cause I was in bed and had to go to work but I did see TV Guide Channel after I wake up moring before I had to work. Good thing I seen clip now I don't watch TV Guide Network anymore cause it sucks. Let me say RIP Pervue Channel

[PrevueGuide]

13 years today RIP Prevue!!

[woddfellow2]

The local ad music in this video was recently identified as "Mania", "Visual", and "Pulse", all from Killer Tracks.

[MarionetteKazuko]

Wow, this reminds me of Sega Channel, has almost the same menu music and look.

[NewYorkS4U]

I had the Time Warner Version of the Prevue Channel, and in the 90s, they did a stupid ass thing of combining Country Music Television with Prevue by having it swap on the top half of the screen. How dumb can you get??? It disgusted me that this was done.

[Xpk951]

what's the background music at 2:04?

[cameron20101000]

so prevue channel merged into tv guide channel in that time?

[ariw2003net]

@kstarpictures I don't really agree - for example, if you look at the Prevue Channel video from 1998 that was posted to YouTube in the past few days, you will see that they showed previews in a very similar manner than they did in the mid 90s. I understand there were some changes in the newer, post-1998 format, but they still did Tonight-style things.

[kstarpictures]

Insider was actually a little more like the pre-1998 segment "InterVue with Jim Ferguson," to be honest.

[kstarpictures]

@ariw2003net The idea of showing different promos had changed a bit by the switch to Prevue (which occured a little under a year prior in February 1998). They weren't showing series of promos in the manner they were in the mid 90's. I believe Prevue Family was a much more trimmed segment compared to its predecessor Family-Vue. Prevue This was a successor to "Tonight" only in that it featured primetime programming. I can't remember any exact details as its been over 12 years ago.

[ariw2003net]

@kstarpictures That doesn't sound too much like Prevue Tonight, which showed short previews for several programs that would be shown on a particular night. From what I understand, Prevue This was more like TV Guide Insider. I would say that Prevue TV was probably more of a replacement for Prevue Tonight?

Thanks though!