Channel Hop cleanup

Hello, there.

As many of us tropers know, the Channel Hop trope (also referred to by its redirect, Studio Hop) has been frequently used whenever a show, film or video game producing new installments is transferred to a new channel (i.e. Mystery Science Theater 3000 moving from Comedy Central to the Sci-Fi Channel, Muppets Tonight moving from ABC to the Disney Channel, Star Wars: The Clone Wars moving from Cartoon Network to Netflix to Disney+, etc.), studio/distributor/publisher (i.e. the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise moving distributors from Paramount to Disney, Fruits Basket moving from Studio DEEN to TMS Entertainment, etc.), developer (i.e. Mario Party moving development from Hudson Soft to NDcube, etc.) and so on.

This thread's purpose is to clean up any potential misuse and discuss what we should do with the scope of that particular trope. Any thoughts?

Edited by gjjones on Jan 17th 2024 at 8:09:35 AM

If it covers video games, it might be worth splitting off into a subtrope. Same with movies, though perhaps that might make Channel Hop too narrow.

I'll note, most scope issues go to TRS. We can't alter the definition outside there.

Ah, I see.

Anyway, I found this example on Trivia.Mystery Science Theater 3000:

• Channel Hop: Repeatedly.
  • The series originally aired on KTMA for the first season, then moved to the Comedy Channel for season 2. The latter channel then merged with Ha! to become CTV: The Comedy Network. Due to a naming conflict with the Canadian channel CTV, it was renamed to Comedy Central, with MST3K airing the first episode of its third season on the same day the name change took effect. It stayed there until the end of season 7, after which the Sci-Fi Channel picked it up for seasons 8-10, ending in fall 1999. A Kickstarter campaign eventually led to Netflix picking up the series for seasons 11 and 12, airing in 2017 and 2018. A second successful crowdfunding effort then allowed the series to relaunch in 2022, with its thirteenth season (along with older episodes) being released through Joel Hodgson's then-newly-launched site The Gizmoplex.
  • The DVD releases did this too. They were originally released through Rhino Records' home video division from 2000 to 2007, after which the license was transferred to Rhino's Spiritual Successor Shout! Factory from 2008 on.

The second example is commented out with the following question: "Do DVD releases actually count for this trope?"

Edited by gjjones on Jan 18th 2024 at 7:10:19 AM