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MTV

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For other uses, see MTV (disambiguation).
MTV: Music Television
TypeCable network (Music/youth culture)
Country
United States
AvailabilityNational; affiliated services available internationally
OwnerMTV Networks (Viacom)
Key people
Tom Freston - President, MTV Networks
Launch date
August 1, 1981
Former names
Sight On Sound
Official website
http://www.mtv.com

MTV: Music Television is a young adult cable television network headquartered in New York City. Originally devoted to music videos, especially popular rock music, MTV later abandoned music, and became an outlet for a variety of different material aimed at adolescents and young adults.

File:DSC01026.JPG
MTV's famous Times Square studio in New York

The network was founded on March 3, 1981 as an operation of Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment Company, a joint venture of Warner Communications and American Express. WASAC, as it was known, consisted of two channels before the MTV launch: Nickelodeon, and The Movie Channel. In 1983, Warner and Amex spun off The Movie Channel to a company in parnership with Viacom, who contributed the pay TV channel Showtime. The new entity became known as Showtime/The Movie Channel.

In 1984, Warner and Amex attempted to take some cash out of their WASAC investment. WASAC was renamed MTV Networks Inc., and the parent companies registered for a stock IPO, which eventually went public at $15.00 per share. The same year saw the introduction of a sister channel, VH-1, short for Video Hits One. In 1986, MTV Networks Inc. was acquired by Viacom Inc., and was renamed MTV Networks, a division of Viacom. By 1987, Viacom itself was the target of a successful hostile takeover by National Amusements.

MTV's combination of music videos, youthful video jockeys, irreverent commentary, promotion of special rock concerts, and news and documentaries about bands and performers established the network's popularity with youthful viewers, and it became a leading promoter of new rock music and rock musicians. In the 90's, MTV was often considered to be the driving force in American musical pop culture, but this influence has dramatically declined.

History

Part of a series on
MTV
Programs on MTV
MTV personalities
Censorship on MTV
MTV Generation
MTV News
Steve Fiorilla's sculpture for the animated MTV logo "Guillotine"

MTV's roots can be traced back to 1977, when Warner-Amex Cable (a joint venture between Warner Communications and American Express) launched the first two-way interactive cable TV system, Qube, in Columbus, Ohio. The Qube system offered many specialized channels, including a children's channel called Pinwheel which would later become Nickelodeon. One of these specialized channels was Sight On Sound, a music channel that featured concert footage and music oriented TV programs; with the interactive Qube service, viewers could vote for their favorite songs and artists.

On August 1, 1981, MTV: Music Television launched with a programming format created by the visionary music producer, Bob Pittman (who later became president and chief executive officer, of MTV Networks [1]).

It went to air with the words (by original COO John Lack) "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll!" Appropriately, the first music video shown on MTV was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles (often wrongly attributed to one of their contemporaries with a similar name, The Bangles). (With similar tongue-in-cheek humor, the first video shown on MTV Europe was "Money for Nothing," by Dire Straits, which starts and finishes with repetition of the line "I want my MTV," voiced by Sting; on MTV Latino, the first video shown was "We Are Southamerican Rockers" by the Chilean band Los Prisioneros.)

The early format of the network was modeled after Top 40 radio. Fresh-faced young men and women were hired to host the show's programming, and to introduce videos that were being played. The term VJ (video jockey) was coined, a play on the acronym DJ (disc jockey.) Many VJs eventually became celebrities in their own right. The original five MTV VJs in 1981 were Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, J.J. Jackson and Martha Quinn. In 2005, this group (except for J.J. Jackson, who had passed away in 2004) was reunited as hosts on Sirius Satellite Radio. Numerous animation studios created MTV animated logos, featuring work by such artists and sculptors as Ken Brown and Steve Fiorilla.

The early music videos that made up the bulk of the network's programming in the '80s were often crude promotional or concert clips from whatever sources could be found; as the popularity of the network rose, and record companies recognized the potential of the medium as a tool to gain recognition and publicity, they began to create increasingly elaborate clips specifically for the network. Several noted film directors got their start creating music videos, including Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, and David Fincher.

A large number of rock stars of the 1980s and 1990s were made into household names by MTV. 1980s bands immediately identifiable with MTV include Eurythmics, RATT, Culture Club, Def Leppard, Duran Duran and Bon Jovi. Michael Jackson launched the second wave of his career as an MTV staple. Madonna rose to fame on MTV in the 1980s. Madonna is the most successful video performer in MTV history, and to this day she uses MTV to market her music.

In 1984 the network produced its first MTV Video Music Awards show. Seen as a fit of self-indulgence by a fledgling network at the time, the "VMAs" developed into a music-industry showcase marketed as a hip antidote to the Grammy awards. In 1992, the network would add a movie award show with similar success.

After MTV's programming shifted towards heavy metal and rap music, MTV Networks launched a second network, Video Hits 1 (VH-1), in 1985. VH1 featured more popular music than MTV. Today, MTV Networks also owns Nickelodeon, a cable channel airing children's and family programming.

File:Mtvmid90s.jpg
MTV in the mid-'90s, shortly before the transition to non-music programming

MTV started off showing music videos nearly full-time, but as time passed they introduced a variety of other shows, including animated cartoons such as Beavis and Butt-head and Daria; "reality" shows such as The Real World and Road Rules; prank/comedic shows such as The Tom Green Show, Jackass, and Punk'd; and soap operas such as Undressed. By the second half of the 1990s, MTV programming consisted primarily of non-music programming. In 2000, MTV's Fear became the first 'scary' reality show where contestants filmed themselves. The show ran for three seasons and spawned numerous imitations, including the currently running Fear Factor on NBC. In 2002, MTV aired the first episode of another reality show, The Osbournes, based on the everyday life of former, Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne, his wife Sharon, and two of their children, Jack and Kelly. The show went on to become one of the network's biggest ever success stories and kick-started a musical career for Kelly Osbourne, while Sharon Osbourne went on to host a talk show on U.S. television. In 2003, Newlyweds, another popular reality TV show that follows the lives of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, a music celebrity couple, began. It has run for three seasons. The success of Newlyweds was followed in June 2004 by The Ashlee Simpson Show, which documented the beginnings of the music career of Ashlee Simpson, Jessica Simpson's younger sister. In the fall of 2004, Ozzy Osbourne's reality show Battle for Ozzfest aired.

In 2004, MTV's parent company Viacom bought Germany's largest provider for music television Viva Media AG, thereby creating the largest company for music on the European mainland. In November 2004, MTV announced it would begin airing in February 2005 MTV Base in Africa, [2] thereby reaching the world's last major populated area previously not served by MTV.

In 2006, MTV plans to launch MTV Ukraine, to pursue the emerging music market.

See also: List of MTV Shows

Diversification

The advent of digital satellite and cable has also brought greater diversity including channels such as MTV2, which features the slogan "Where The Music's At." In the U.S., MTV2 initially focused on playing music videos and other music-related programming exclusively; in Europe, MTV2 plays specific genres of music (mainly alternative and rock). Viacom, parent company of the MTV Networks, is also behind VH1, which is aimed at celebrity and popular culture programming; and CMT, which targets the country music market. Robert Bartz is CEO of MTV enterprises. MTV recently broadcast a new Indian Pop Culture channel called MTV Desi and University-oriented channel mtvU.

See also: List of MTV diversification

International divisions

MTV Networks and Viacom have launched numerous native-language MTV-branded music channels to countries worldwide.

These channels include (but are not limited to): MTV Canada, formerly talktv; MTV UK and Ireland; MTV Spain; MTV France; MTV Germany; MTV Europe; MTV Portugal; MTV Adria; MTV Denmark; MTV Finland; MTV Italy; MTV Netherlands; MTV Norway; MTV Poland; MTV Romania; MTV Sweden; MTV Asia; MTV Japan; MTV China; MTV Korea; MTV Taiwan/Hong Kong; MTV India; MTV Latin America; MTV Brazil; MTV Australia and MTV Russia.


File:Music HD.jpg

MHD - Music: High Definition is a high definition channel that MTV Networks launched on January 16, 2006. Originating from a studio in Vail, CO, MHD features programming from all 3 music-themed channels owned by MTV Networks- MTV, VH1 & CMT. Thus far only Verizon's FiOS TV and Cox Cable have agreed to carry the channel. Cox systems carrying MHD as of March 2006 include Atlanta, New Orleans, Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Phoenix. Mitsubishi Electric Digital Televisions (http://www.mitsubishielectric.com/tv) is the exclusive sponsor of MHD.

Nipple

Political influence

Penis

Cartoons

MTV has a history of cartoons with mature themes, the most notable probably being Beavis and Butt-head, and its spin-off, Daria. Most of its other cartoons have lasted only for a single season, despite usually being original and creative.

Some of the cartoons MTV has produced:

Slogans

  • "I want my MTV"
  • "Too much is never enough"
  • "MTV... Proud as a Moon Man" ("Weird Al" Yankovic's spoof of NBC's 1979-1981 slogan Proud as a Peacock)
  • "MTV Lives In Your Music"
  • "Some People Just Don't Get It"
  • "Watch and Learn"
  • "M-m-m-m T-t-t-t V-v-v-v"
  • "MTV News: You Hear it First"
  • "MT-blah: Blah-blah Tele-blah"
  • "I love my MTV"
  • "The Number One Music Channel" (slogan used for MTV UK from 2000 to 2002 as the channel broadcasts on digital cable and digital satellite, the slogan was axed in 2003. The fact that since then MTV has played very little music may also add to why this slogan was dropped.)
  • "I Like..." (MTV Asia)
  • "Don't let Jerry Win. Best watch your MTV's"
  • "Think"
  • "Not on TV, on M-TV"
  • "Best Watch Your MTVs"
  • "Just See MTV"
  • "MTV Enjoy"
  • "Nongkrong di MTV" (Slogan in MTV Asia for MTV Indonesia before MTV Indonesia aired (1997-2001)
  • "MTV Gue Banget"(MTV indonesia,2001-present)
  • "MTV Ayos" (MTV Philippines)
  • "Habla Tu MTV"
  • "You Down Wit MTV ?!"
  • George Michael's "Freedom '90" makes reference to the pressures the network placed on visual image: "I went back home, got a brand new face / For the boys at MTV"
  • Lyrics to Manowar's "Blow Your Speakers" include "Wrote a letter to the MTV/What’s goin’ on now/Don’t ya care about me."
  • Lyrics to Avril Lavigne's "Skater Boi" include "she turns on tv/guess who she sees/skater boy rockin' up MTV."
  • Lyrics to Reel Big Fish's "Don't Start A Band" include "And even if you make it all the way to MTV/I don't think you could take it all the bullshit and the greed."
  • Lyrics to Becks "MTV Makes Me Wanna Smoke Crack" include "MTV makes me wanna burn flesh!/Having an orgy down in the satellite dish!"
  • Cartoon series Megas XLR frequently features the destruction of billboards and other paraphernilia for a group called "PoP TV", whose symbol is clearly based on the MTV Logo. XLR was directed by Chris Prynoski, a former MTV animator whose own show (Downtown) had been cancelled by MTV years ago.
  • The opening track on Pantera's "The Great Southern Trendkill" song with the same name include the lyrics, "Buy it at a store, From MTV to on the floor, You look just like a star, It's proof you dont know who you are."
  • In the Eminem song "Without Me": "The FCC wont let me be, let me be me/ so let me see they try to shut me down on MTV/ but it feels so empty without me"
  • The band Sublime made a song called "Don't Wanna Be No MTV Motherf***er". The lyrics to this song can be found here.
  • In Canadian singer Esthero's 2005 song, We R in Need of a Musical Revolution, as an introduction she sings, "I'm so sick and tired of the shit on the radio/And MTV they only play the same thing/No matter where I go I see Ashanti in the video/I want something more."

See also

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