They likely will go down as among either the brightest or dumbest moves ever made by television executives.

Considering they involve one of my favorite TV shows, I'm desperately hoping for the former but knowing the television business as I do, I'm sadly expecting the latter.

I'm referring to the recent news that the third year of "Battlestar Galactica" won't start with the rest of the new SciFi Channel season in July, but instead will debut in October. Further, rumor is that that change in scheduling may signal a desire for the NBC-Universal suits who own SciFi Channel to switch BSG over to NBC.

Of course, given the best possible scenario, shifting "Battlestar" to debut on a major broadcast network like NBC in the fall at the traditional start of the TV season will draw millions of new fans to the series.

The problem wit that is that when it comes to television programming and war, things very rarely proceed according to the best possible scenario.

The reality is that if these changes come to pass--especially if the suits go ahead and decide to move BSG to NBC this fall--it could very well spell the end of the series.

Although its ratings have been off lately, SciFi Channel had built itself a solid block of programming on Friday nights: "Stargate SG-1," "Stargate Atlantis" and "Battlestar Galactica."

And while its bifurcated summer/winter TV season may be a little confusing, the cable outlet has carefully tried to counter-program its series to get new episodes on when the major broadcast networks were mostly airing reruns, presumably when interest in the new SciFi episodes would be strongest.

It's certainly the case that's not as true as it once was, with broadcast networks airing more new programming year-round. But the networks do still launch a lot of series in the fall, so BSG will face stiffer competition with an October premiere.

Further, it's not clear how separating "Battlestar" from its two "Stargate" lead-in would possibly help improve the ratings of the "Stargate" series--which have also slipped a bit of late--except, possibly, to make room on Friday night for a new original series the SciFi Network may be planning.

If "Battlestar" will face greater competition simply by shifting to a fall Season 3 debut, that increased pressure only would be magnified many times over if it is moved to NBC. On NBC, BSG might well find itself head-to-head in the ratings race against such powerhouses as "CSI," "Survivor," or "Desperate Housewives." Ouch.

Sure, a battlestar is one tough bird. So are the women of Wisteria Lane. Do you really want to bet the future of our favorite series on that kind of slugfest? No, I didn't think so.

Part of the supposed rationale for moving "Battlestar" to NBC seems to be is to take advantage of all the great press buzz the series is generating. The problem is that critical and media praise doesn't translate into massive viewership. Just ask the poor cast of "Arrested Development."

In fact, the entire argument that NBC would offer BSG a much wider audience makes no sense. NBC already tried airing a few episodes of the series, only to paltry number of folks tuning in. People say, "Well, those were hours that already had appeared on SciFi Channel."

But if what you are hoping for are new viewers, past appearance would be irrelevant because these would be fresh viewers to whom these would be totally new stories. And the fact is that BSG just seems to have failed to attract many new viewers on NBC beyond the established base on SciFi Channel.

Even though "Battlestar" has proven to be one of SciFi Channel's highest-rated series ever, those numbers are relative. BSG's ratings may be high for a cable network, but for a broadcast network like NBC, they are tiny indeed. If "Battlestar" were moved to NBC and found itself struggling, just how patient do you think the suits will be given that they could be losing that timeslot week in and week out? Not very.

If "Battlestar" found itself in trouble on a big network like NBC, panic could set in as the network hemorrhages ad revenue and the series might find itself off the air before the end of its third year.

No, there's precious little upside and way too much downside with tinkering with BSG's schedule as has been reported.

So, fellow "Battlestar" fans, be afraid. Be very afraid.

A former entertainment journalist, Scott Nance is a member of the USS Chesapeake, an independent science-fiction and Star Trek club in the Washington, DC, area. He is a columnist for Airlock Alpha, and can be reached at scottnance@airlockalpha.com.