|
BY RICHARD COLE
MTV'S U.S. OPERATION WILL CONTINUE ITS MTV 360 PROGRAM TO PUSH BROADBAND ADOPTION
When MTV Networks launches its 24-hour broadband channel in Europe it will be the first time such a prominent media brand has created a video service specifically aimed at personal computers.
The timing is propitious ? MTV.com is expected to replace severely curtailed Napster as the most-visited music Web site when the latest Net ratings are released.
MTV Live won't be Webcast on the open Net, however, but instead will be carried by Internet service providers and cable broadband networks hoping to push adoption of high-speed service in Europe. Three carriers are already signed, says Eric Kearley, content VP for MTV Northern Europe, although he could not disclose the names.
Additionally, MTV didn't want to cannibalize its own cable programming by transmitting the same feed, nor alienate cable operators by Webcasting video over the open Internet.
The MTV Live channel is now running in-house at the group's London headquarters, with the first customer transmission tentatively scheduled for July in France, likely followed shortly by Holland and Israel.
U.S. executives are carefully watching MTV Live, says Nicholas Butterworth, president and CEO of the MTVI Group. With an Internet visitor base ? 305 of which are broadband users ? MTV has a strategic relationship with Excite in the United States to provide exclusive content, but nothing along the lines of MTV Live.
?It's certainly an interesting experiment, and we'll be eager to see if it's successful in Europe,? says Butterworth.
In the meantime, MTV's U.S. operation will continue its MTV 360 program to push broadband adoption, and Butterworth says he expects to have more announcements at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association convention in Chicago next week.
Europe's MTV Live is an initiative of the misnamed Northern Europe division, which actually includes areas ranging from South Africa to Eastern Europe to Scandinavia, says Kearley. Many Internet and broadband service providers in the area are recently privatized former government-owned telephone companies eager to push high-speed service. Kearley met with executives from the eclectic mix of cultures but found a single theme, he said.
?Luckily their message to me was very consistent,? he says. ?They said, ?We don't believe that just always-on and fast Internet connectivity will drive enough subscriptions for us. We also think that we need unique and different content.??
That meant they didn't want simple retransmission of cable television programming or material available on narrow-band Web sites, Kearley says.
MTV Northern Europe took a look at its archives and found video and audio of live music performances, music performed at awards ceremonies, unplugged-style videos and other events. The video includes Madonna and other well-known U.S. and European groups.
?We realized we did have enough material to put together a very full-value channel,? he says. ?So instead of offering it as on-demand content, we put together MTV Live.?
Since MTV Live was to be transmitted to computers instead of television, the producers added interactive elements. One of these features allows subscribers to build their own music venues ? hotel lobbies, stages, concert halls and the like ? and the best are selected and used as background for the channel, with credit given to the creator. Viewers can also choose the background music for the channel's hosts and play games such as ?Trash Your Hotel Room.?
The group is already planning a second phase for the program, which will likely add more themed cable-style channels as well as new interactive elements, says Kearley.
Along with advertising revenue, payment for content is based on the European cable model, which includes everything from on-demand payments to subscription. The carriers will collect the fees and pay MTV, in the same way that cable companies have paid for TV programming in the past, with different cable systems using different payment methods.
While U.S. MTV officials are monitoring MTV Live, executives on both sides of the ocean stress that what works in Europe may not fly in the United States. Both cable subscribers and Internet users in Europe are accustomed to paying more for content. Ponying up more for MTV over a broadband connection won't strike Europeans as, well, un-American.
Back to this issue
|
