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Viacom's Mtv To Launch Gay Cable Network
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| tennessee_raver |
Any thoughts?
By Kenneth Li
NEW YORK (Reuters) - MTV Networks on Tuesday said it plans to launch a new entertainment cable channel catering to gay viewers, in a bid to snatch a piece of the action from successful gay-themed shows such as "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and "The L Word."
The music television network, a unit of Viacom Inc., plans to launch the channel, called LOGO, on basic cable by February 2005.
"We want LOGO to be the first stop for gay and lesbian people," Judy McGrath, MTV Networks President told reporters.
The announcement caps off months of deliberations over launching a separate channel, as marketers salivate over the growing and potentially lucrative group with a disposable income worth up to $500 billion.
MTV executives said programming will be comprised of about 25 percent originally developed shows, with the remainder coming from outside sources.
The network will also collaborate with other Viacom units including CBS News, MTV and VH1 for programming.
Executives declined to elaborate on its slate of shows, which it plans to do this summer at the annual television critics summer tour.
MTV executives said they expect to launch the network in about 10 to 14 million homes in February, and has already received a distribution commitments from Time Warner Cable in the New York area and Adelphia Communications Corp in Los Angeles.
Comcast Corp ., the largest U.S. cable operator, is also in discussions to possibly carry the network, MTV executives said.
Any thoughts?
A Comcast spokesman was not immediately reachable for comment.
The launch could complicate matters for parent company Viacom as it defends against indecency charges by the Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) related to radio broadcasts of the Howard Stern show.
"We don't think it's indecent," said Tom Freston, MTV Networks Chairman and CEO, regarding the new network. "We're not using profanity, we're not using sex. This will be mainstream programming you're seeing everywhere else with the exception it will be targeting the lesbian and gay communities."
He added, "We think it's a legitimate and growing community." |
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| 3xx3r7 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Shakka
Totally gay.:p |
Punny :D |
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| Ondrayce |
| This is a secret plan made by the Bush administration. They saw how MTV destroyed music as we know it, and now they're hoping that MTV can do the same for gays. |
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| igottaknow |
| SEACREST... OUT of the closet and into the gay channel. ;) |
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| Yoepus |
| but I always thought Bravo was the Gay channel....:conf: |
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| Q5echo |
serious question.
Do any of you Europeans have anything like this? |
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| Sand Leaper |
| quote: | Originally posted by Q5echo
serious question.
Do any of you Europeans have anything like this? |
Not that I know of, no. Then again we don't have people starting up sites like godhatesfags.com either as far as I know.. |
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| occrider |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sand Leaper
Not that I know of, no. Then again we don't have people starting up sites like godhatesfags.com either as far as I know.. |
But then again you guys have far stricter restrictions on free speech ...
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,56294,00.html |
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| Sand Leaper |
That's true. But since it stops people from creating sites like godhatesfags.com I'm willing to let it slide. I guess free speech and restriction thereof has both pros and cons, just like anything else in this world. |
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| occrider |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sand Leaper
That's true. But since it stops people from creating sites like godhatesfags.com I'm willing to let it slide. I guess free speech and restriction thereof has both pros and cons, just like anything else in this world. |
It stops free speech. One should not let anything slide when it comes to that. Why should pro-gay speech be protected while speech from advocates against such a lifestyle be prohibited? It would seem hypcocritical to me for someone to accept all speech claiming that God would accept homosexuals, whilst prohibiting all speech makng asertations that homosexual behaviour goes against God's wishes. THe mere notion of such arbitrary, selective behaviour goes against the very tenents of the concept of free speech. It's one of the major beefs I have with Canada and Europe. |
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