TM and the Digital Age: Does SciFi need to be SyFy?

NBC Universal has announced that as of July 2009 the SciFi channel will be changing its name... to the SyFy channel. Phonetically there is no difference between the names, but SyFy represents a chance to trademark the company name, whereas SciFi was too generic and common to receive trademark protection. The channel (lovingly referred to as Skiffy - another phonetic pronunciation, that will need to be rethought - by its fans) is hoping that owning the trademark on the channel name will help it to market and gain some brand distinction. Considering the outlets for digital media, this seems to make some sense. While there may be some ground-level dissonance about the switch, will people really stop watching a channel because it changes its name (and really only its spelling)? I do not believe so. However, from a legal perspective, this change represents a great opportunity for SyFy to brand, market, trademark, and protect its intellectual property. The importance of the TM and circled R should not be underestimated. Considering the amount of traffic sites like YouTube generate, protecting your intellectual property must be a priority in this digital era.