Bill Roedy

October 2007

“I want my MTV!” was the slogan that was heard around the world as young viewers clamored for the service that was changing the language of television. MTV: Music Television introduced the TV audience to music videos, those short clips with completely innovative shooting, editing and storytelling techniques. It created the figure of the VJ, and played an extremely important role in the careers of such artists as Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince, U2 and Duran Duran.

With international expansion that started 20 years ago in Europe, MTV evolved into MTV Networks International (MTVNI), which today encompasses the brands MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and many more, reaching a global audience of 506.7 million households in 160 countries through 141 channels. Bill Roedy, the vice chairman of MTV Networks, talks about the early days, the turning points and future of his company.

WS: What have been some of the most important moments for you in the last two decades of MTVNI?

ROEDY: Well, there’s a bunch of them. November ’89 being in East Berlin when the wall came down, and hooking up MTV before West Berlin did. We have a picture of East German soldiers dancing on the wall with an MTV umbrella. Then coming back five years later right in the same location where the wall once was at the Brandenburg Gate. We started our first Europe Music Awards ever, at a venue designed from scratch at the Brandenburg Gate—with George Michael singing “Freedom” surrounded by supermodels in the geographical heart of Europe symbolizing the coming together [of east and west].

Being in Leningrad before it changed its name to St. Petersburg and being toasted by the deputy mayor as the latter day Peter the Great—we were bringing MTV Europe into Russia as Peter the Great opened up Russia to Europe 300 years earlier. That was probably the greatest toast I’ve ever had. Having Rafik Harreri, the prime minister of Lebanon who was later assassinated, launch us in Beirut 15 years ago at the war’s conclusion and uniting the Shiites and Sunnis and Christian Maronites. At a meeting with Jiang Zemin, the premier of China, the first words out of his mouth were about MTV. Launching in Pakistan last November. Having call to prayer on the channel in Indonesia. Launching in Cuba oh, the list goes on.

WS: Back in the ’80s, when other American media companies were launching pan-regional services across Europe by taking U.S, feeds and dropping them into Europe, MTV Networks was one of the first companies to pioneer the strategy of reflecting local cultures. What was the thinking behind that, because it was pretty revolutionary at the time?

ROEDY: Absolutely. At the time it was quite revolutionary because primarily [localizing the channels represented] a larger investment. As opposed to having one feed globally, which is cost-efficient, we thought very early on that in the long term it wasn’t the sustainable way to go. And a telling moment was when I was in one of the Nordic countries back in the late ’80s and tuned in to the The Beverly Hillbillies—a great show but why is it here in Finland?

Our model required setting up an infrastructure and decentralizing, which was a real strong part of our culture, with local general managers. That took a long time, but we built this operation. We have wonderfully talented people in 160 countries and some 40 offices, and we have more than 140 channels and more than 300 digital services. So it took a bit of a leap of faith, there’s no question. I like to say we were local before local was cool because everyone now seems to buy into that premise, but if you look at it from the long term it was really the only sustainable way to go.

One of the advantages of [our local approach] is that it enables us to have this array of diversity which we can tap into worldwide. I call them sources of cool. When I first started [in the business] music was pretty much Anglo-American dominated. But MTV helped develop the music scene in Germany, and in many parts of Europe, and take [music from one European country] not only throughout Europe but also to Latin America and Asia. In Latin America, in the mid ’90s we took music and promoted it to make it more global, including in Asia. We’ve done that with new technology, as with Flux, the first mobile entertainment community in Japan and the U.K. This reflection of diversity gives us a much richer source of ideas and programming.

WS: MTV does a lot of research. What have you learned about your audience today? Are there more similarities or differences among kids and young adults nowadays?

ROEDY: It was quite common early on for many people to conclude that there were similarities between young people around the world and that was the dominant theme. It is true, particularly as the world has become more connected. You see ideas exported around the world that young people tap into, whether it’s food, fashion, or music.

But the overall theme from my perspective is the world is very different. And you have to really tap into those differences, even for young people. Yes, there may be common themes about how they travel and are curious about life, but it’s really the differences that we celebrate.

We’re launching MTV Arabiya this month. We’re very visible in the Islamic world. In Indonesia several years ago we had call to prayer on the channel. Last November we launched MTV Pakistan using Urdu music. We have a long track record of being culturally sensitive, but particularly in a region as diverse as the Middle East—we’ll be in Dubai but we’ll also be going into Kuwait, which is very conservative, and Saudi Arabia—it takes a lot of local sensitivity and local expertise. At the same time it takes a global perspective that’s willing to empower not only our people but most importantly, our audiences.

WS: MTV Networks is more than just music and programming, it has been involved in some very important pro-social initiatives. How did that desire to offer your viewers that kind of service as well come about?

ROEDY: As we have become this premiere global operation, we realized that we’re a guest in other countries, and that necessitated really good global citizenship. And as we’ve grown, the magnitude of the audiences that we reach also really drove home how important it was for us to be good global citizens. Our audience has reached out to be vertically connected on important issues for them—some are specific to certain areas and others are global issues. A combination of all those factors has made it really important for us to embrace [these issues]. Internally there has been a great new source of pride for our employees to know that they have an opportunity to make a difference because we’ve reached so many people and we’re so trusted by our audiences.

We’ve been involved in dozens of initiatives—everything from violence to employment to the environment. Our current focus at the global level is on HIV/AIDS, which we’ve been actively involved in for many years, not only in as part of our company but also externally we’ve worked very closely with the UN. We continue to do that because AIDS, particularly outside the U.S., continues to be not only a really tragic circumstance in certain parts of the world, but also one that is top of mind with our audience.

Climate has reached the tipping point of awareness and interest, particularly among young people, and we’ve launched our own campaign. And then very importantly on the Nick side we have been involved for a long time for healthy-living for kids, by encouraging activity, getting out and playing, but also eating well and nutrition. So all this is not only on MTV, it’s not only AIDS, it’s also a host of other issues that are very important to us and to our audiences.

WS: Across programming, pro-social initiatives and new channels, what’s next for MTV Networks?

ROEDY: We can’t rest on our laurels. We have to continuously take risks and always change, and not only reflect what’s happening musically or with kids’ ideas and programming, but also finding new ways to lead the audience, if we can.

We are a multiplatform company and have been for many years. And we have more digital products than we have linear products, but as you look to the future this is going to be much more seamless. It’s not about digital versus analog. It’s not about traditional versus new media; it’s all one. I don’t think there is a program that we do now that we don’t consider in a multiplatform format—not only broadband but also mobile because mobile is very strong in certain parts of the world.

MTV has an audience now of potentially 1.5 billion, we have around 40 channels. But our growth is still very much ahead of us in many ways. 96 percent of the population is outside the U.S. and many markets are still developing. India is just booming and really reaching the tipping point now in media. Emerging markets, because of the political changes in the last 15 years, are coming on board now, in Eastern Europe, but also in the former Soviet republics. So there’s still a tremendous amount of growth ahead of us. It’s not just about channels; it’s all about multiplatform.

WS: I’d be remiss if looking back on the 20 years of MTV Networks I didn’t mention Tom Freston. He was your partner in all of this.

ROEDY: Our partner in crime, yeah. He was a great leader and a great visionary and we still are very close to Tom. We see him a lot and his heart and soul are in the operation.

Philippe [Dauman, the current president and CEO of Viacom, MTVNI’s parent company] has been a terrific addition. He’s been with us since day one because he was on the board earlier on. And he’s the true internationalist, so we haven’t missed a beat at all from moving from Tom to Philippe. He’s always been with us everywhere—India, Germany, France—he’s been very active on the international side. Sumner [Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Viacom] of course, the original visionary of the global, international channel, remains extremely committed to international. He was in Germany a couple months ago. He’s coming to the Middle East in the fall, so we have a really, really strong international commitment from the leadership at Viacom.