MTV: Music Television

World Screen Weekly, July 27, 2006

CHANNEL NAME: MTV: Music Television, U.S.

LAUNCH DATE: August 1, 1981

OWNERSHIP: MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, operates 129 channels worldwide, covering the MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, Nickelodeon, Logo and Spike TV brands, among others. MTV Networks reaches more than 480 million homes in 179 territories.

NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS: MTV reaches 89.6 million households in the U.S.

DISTRIBUTION: Cable and satellite.

DESCRIPTION: Twenty-five years since launching with The Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star, MTV today bears little resemblance to the low-budget music video station that revolutionized the television landscape back in 1981. Today, the station promises to be the home of pop culture, delivering a slate of reality and entertainment series for a broad 12-to-34 demographic.

PRESIDENT: Christina Norman

PRESIDENT, ENTERTAINMENT,

MTV NETWORKS MUSIC GROUP: Brian Graden

EXECUTIVE VP, MTV MULTIPLATFORM PRODUCTION,

NEWS & MUSIC: Dave Sirulnick

EXECUTIVE VP, MTV SERIES ENTERTAINMENT

& PROGRAMMING: Lois Curren

EXECUTIVE VP, MULTIPLATFORM PROGRAMMING,

CONTENT STRATEGY & SCHEDULING, MTV: Paul A. DeBenedittis

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: “We want to be all things in the scope of pop culture,” asserts Paul A. DeBenedittis, MTV’s executive VP of multiplatform programming, content strategy and scheduling. For MTV, that has meant delivering music-based series like Making the Band 3, in which hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs forms a girl group; and reality/scripted hybrids like Laguna Beach, one of the network’s biggest hits. “It takes what MTV has done best with reality and goes to a place that is as real as real can be in a setting that is entertaining and exciting,” says DeBenedittis of the series that follows a group of teens in a California community. “We struck gold.”

Laguna Beach, with a new season launching next month, forms part of MTV’s The 10 Spot, a block of prime-time programming on weeknights that has also been home to, among others, The Hills and one of MTV’s longest-running hits, Real World, now in its 17th season. Daytime programming, meanwhile, is anchored by the flagship TRL, with music videos, a countdown and artist interviews from MTV’s Times Square studios; alongside a slate of younger-skewing reality and lifestyle offerings such as Date My Mom and Room Raiders.

Regardless of the day part, the bulk of MTV’s programming—95 percent, DeBenedittis says—is original productions. “We do very few acquisitions, primarily because we truly feel we have that secret sauce. And we’re such a strong brand; if something is coming off another network it was by and large developed and thought of for that network. We’ll do some DVD specials here and there, music-based specials. We love co-productions, we love to work with international partners. But our strategy is, we are a content machine.”

In terms of its original productions, MTV has relied on limited-series runs to keep its fickle teen and young adult viewers interested. “We do shorter flights than most networks,” DeBenedittis says. “Very few series on MTV will last 20 episodes. We’re in and out. We entice and then we move on to the next thing. We’re constantly in synch with who our demo is, what their lifestyle is like, what they’re looking for, what we think is the next greatest thing.”

MTV has also begun working more closely with its colleagues around the world, delivering formats that can be adapted locally for MTV channels worldwide, and picking up ideas developed internationally. “There’s nothing better than having a global perspective for the MTV brand,” DeBenedittis says.

WHAT’S NEW: DeBenedittis is particularly excited about the upcoming season three launch of Laguna Beach, now featuring a new cast of Californian teens, plus new seasons of Wild ‘N Out and Cribs. New productions include Two-A-Days, about a high school football team in Alabama; and the documentary series Juvies, on troubled teens. The network is also rolling out programming surrounding the Video Music Awards on August 31. All of these titles will be supported by a multiplatform strategy that delivers what DeBenedittis calls “the deep dive,” giving viewers extra content online, on the MTV Overdrive broadband site and on cell phones. “We’re creating so much content for multiplatform, but that’s what our viewers are demanding. It’s where they are, and that’s certainly where MTV is going to be.”

WEBSITE: www.mtv.com

— By Mansha Daswani