• by Paul Gough , January 20, 2004

The trademark scroll will still be there, but there will be a lot more going on above it on the "new" TV Guide Channel.

The channel gets a makeover Monday as it makes the long-rumored move into long-form programming, including a daily one-hour show and two weeklies that leverage the TV Guide brand to make sense of the 1,000-channel universe. It also brings a new focus on advertising for the channel, which has grown from 17 national advertisers five years ago to 130 today.

TV Guide Channel made the announcement during a premiere Tuesday afternoon at a New York City nightclub, which was attended by top executives and trade journalists. It happened on the eve of another highlight, a deal with DirecTV that will push distribution for the channel from about 58 million to 70 million households beginning Friday.

The new show, "What's On," will be just that: An hour-long look at what's happening in television and entertainment, hosted by former TBS and Univision personality Lesley Ann Machado. Or, in the words of TV Guide Television Group Ian Aaron, "a video tour guide" to the best on television.

"What's On" will include daily coverage, interviews with celebrities about their favorite shows and channels, and recommendations for what TV Guide reporters and editors think is worth watching--not just on broadcast and cable but also pay-per-view and video on demand. "What's On" will air Sunday through Friday at 7 p.m., followed by updated shows at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Key to the show is "What's Next," which will point viewers to what's going to be on in the next hour.

"When we say 'what's on,' it's shorthand for what's new, what's hot, and what's not," said Aaron.

The two weekly programs, "TV Guide Closeup" and "TV Talk," will debut Saturday night, and will air throughout the week. They are also hour-longs--"Closeup" provides a perspective on the week ahead in TV, and "TV Talk" features celebrities and reveals what they think of TV. There will also be at least two hour-long specials per month; January's will be a preview of the Golden Globes and the Super Bowl.

The aim of the revamped channel is to "keep television fun," adding a dose of humor into TV Guide Channel's proceedings, said Danila Koverman, senior vice president-programming and production.

The changes are more than just cosmetic, representing a significant but undisclosed investment in programming, which includes hiring Machado and a reporting staff, moving production from Oklahoma to Hollywood, and building a new studio on Hollywood Boulevard, Gemstar-TV Guide International Chief Executive Jeff Shell said.

For fans of the scroll--and research from TV Guide shows that millions still depend on it to find out what to watch--there won't be any changes made to it. At least not yet, Aaron said.

"We realize in time that that [scroll] may end up shrinking," he said.

Advertisers and agencies will also be hearing from Bill Rosolie and his advertising sales staff, who will go out on sales calls armed with the "What's On" pilot, which was completed earlier on Tuesday.

Twenty-five new accounts have been added in the past four months, including Honda and eBay, along with an integrated advertising campaign with Verizon Wireless on the TV Guide Greatest Moments 2003 special.