I was happily suprised to open my hotmail box this morning and see this. While I have heard rumors about this I didn’t know it was this far in the works. I might just have to get cable agian. They say that it is due to launch February 17th. Just ignore the parts about the crazy consevatives.
~*~
MTV to Launch Nation’s First Gay TV Network
By Phyllis Furman, Daily News, New York
05.26.2004
May 26–Cable programming powerhouse MTV Networks said it’s launching the country’s first gay network — called LOGO — and conservative groups are already vowing to erase it.
Following yesterday’s big announcement of LOGO’s launch, scheduled for Feb. 17 of next year, conservative groups promptly threatened to identify and boycott advertisers who buy time on the gay channel.
“We will have to put together a master plan that will pull together tens of millions of pro-family people,” Traditional Values Coalition chairman Rev. Louis Sheldon told the Daily News.
Sheldon’s group opposes gay marriage and has led earlier boycotts of companies like retail chain 7-Eleven for carrying racy magazines on its shelves.
Concerned Women for America — which has boycotted Disney for its pro-gay policies — said it would publicize LOGO advertisers. “They should not promote homosexuality,” said Robert Knight, a leader of the right-leaning group.
Knight added that the net’s launch offers “a powerful new argument” to groups fighting on Capitol Hill to give consumers the right to choose what cable nets they want.
For now, though, MTV Networks chairman Tom Freston is shrugging off any protests from conservative groups, though MTV’s parent company Viacom, is being trashed for backing shock jock Howard Stern.
“We don’t anticipate a huge backlash,” Freston told reporters yesterday on a conference call.
“This isn’t going to have sex and sexuality,” Freston added, explaining that LOGO would meet the standards of any basic cable channel.
MTV Networks, the red-hot cable programming giant whose other nets include MTV, VH1, and Nickelodeon, sees mega-bucks in the big-spending gay population, which it claims is now underserved on the TV screen.
Freston’s boss, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone, has told investors the net would cost $30 million to launch — but could be worth $1 billion.
LOGO, which will likely be carried by cable systems on their higher-priced digital tier, is expected to be carried in 10 million to 14 million homes by the end of next year and turn a profit within three years, execs said yesterday.
Talks are under way with a range of cable systems. Time Warner Cable has already agreed to carry it in New York.
And advertisers like online travel agency Orbitz, which aggressively targets gay customers and was one of the early advertisers on Bravo hit “Queer Eye,” have already signed on.
MTV execs declined to be specific about programming yesterday but said the network would appeal to a wide range of gay and lesbian viewers with entertainment, news, talk shows, and movies like “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane” and “Gods and Monsters.”
LOGO will also partner with Viacom’s other units, like CBS News, and VH1 to create programming, execs said.
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MTV plans gay network
Facing opposition from conservatives
By PHYLLIS FURMAN
DAILY NEWS BUSINESS WRITER
Successful attempts by the television industry to reach the gay and lesbian community include ‘The L Word’…
…and ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.’
The logo for ‘Logo.’
Cable programing powerhouse MTV Networks said it’s launching the country’s first gay network - called LOGO - and conservative groups are already vowing to erase it.
Following yesterday’s big announcement of LOGO’s launch, scheduled for Feb. 17 of next year, conservative groups promptly threatened to identify and boycott advertisers who buy time on the gay channel.
“We will have to put together a master plan that will pull together tens of millions of pro-family people,” Traditional Values Coalition chairman Rev. Louis Sheldon told the Daily News.
Sheldon’s group opposes gay marriage and has led earlier boycotts of companies like retail chain 7-Eleven for carrying racy magazines on its shelves.
Concerned Women for America - which has boycotted Disney for its pro-gay policies - said it would publicize LOGO advertisers. “They should not promote homosexuality,” said Robert Knight, a leader of the right-leaning group.
Knight added that the net’s launch offers “a powerful new argument” to groups fighting on Capitol Hill to give consumers the right to choose what cable nets they want.
For now, though, MTV Networks chairman Tom Freston is shrugging off any protests from conservative groups, though MTV’s parent company Viacom, is being trashed for backing shock jock Howard Stern.
“We don’t anticipate a huge backlash,” Freston told reporters yesterday on a conference call. “This isn’t going to have sex and sexuality,” Freston added, explaining that LOGO would meet the standards of any basic cable channel.
MTV Networks, the red-hot cable programing giant whose other nets include MTV, VH1, and Nickelodeon, sees mega-bucks in the big-spending gay population, which it claims is now underserved on the TV screen.
Freston’s boss, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone, has told investors the net would cost $30 million to launch - but could be worth $1 billion.
LOGO, which will likely be carried by cable systems on their higher-priced digital tier, is expected to be carried in 10 million to 14 million homes by the end of next year and turn a profit within three years, execs said yesterday.
Talks are under way with a range of cable systems. Time Warner Cable has already agreed to carry it in New York.
And advertisers like online travel agency Orbitz, which aggressively targets gay customers and was one of the early advertisers on Bravo hit “Queer Eye,” have already signed on.
MTV execs declined to be specific about programing yesterday but said the network would appeal to a wide range of gay and lesbian viewers with entertainment, news, talk shows, and movies like “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane” and “Gods and Monsters.”
LOGO will also partner with Viacom’s other units, like CBS News, and VH1 to create programing, execs said.
Originally published on May 25, 2004
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MTV’s Gay Network Comes Out of the Development Closet
(Tuesday, May 25 03:02 PM)
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - After months of speculation, preparations and reconsidering MTV Networks announced Tuesday (May 25) that Logo, a new cable television network targeted at lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, will premiere on Feb. 17, 2005.
Logo will be a basic cable network, aimed at primarily gays and lesbians aged 25-49.
“Creating a network specifically for the LGBT community is something we’ve wanted to do for a long, long time, and it’s an idea we feel is overdue,” says MTV Networks Chairman Tom Freston. “Despite our nation’s progress on civil rights and the growing visibility of gay people in business, society and even in television programming — what has been missing is a full-time home for this important and influential audience on television. We have big plans and hopes for Logo and I’m thrilled to finally announce its arrival.”
Viacom has long been floating plans to develop a gay-themed network, but late last year, the company announced that those plans had been shelved. Earlier this year, the company announced that that the plans were back on again.
The MTV press release for the Logo left little doubt of the altruistic motives behind the station’s launch. The release notes that the gay and lesbian popular of the United States is around 15 million adults and that the group has a projected buying power of $485 billion.
Logo will begin programming with a mixture of acquired and original programming, with original content developed in association with other Viacom cable networks including Showtime, VH1, MTV, Comedy Central and TV Land. Logo will also offer a subscriber video on-demand service from among 100 movie titles.
“Logo is all about identity: the individual and collective identities present in the gay and lesbian community that are amazingly diverse, but are joined by similar points of view and sensibilities,” says Judy McGrath, president of the MTV Networks Music and Comedy Group. “MTV Networks has a great history of connecting deeply with its audiences and it’s our great hope that gay and lesbian audiences will connect with Logo like viewers connect with our other strong brands.”
The conservative Traditional Values Coalition has reportedly vowed to boycott any companies that advertise on Logo.
——————————————————————————–
Logo Network aimed toward gays, lesbians
The new network will go on the air next February.
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By David Bauder
AP Television Writer
Originally published May 26, 2004, 7:50 AM EDT
Logo, an MTV-backed basic cable network aimed at the gay and lesbian community and long in the planning stages, will go on the air next February.
In announcing a Feb. 17 launch date Tuesday, the Viacom-owned MTV Networks provided few specific programming plans, other than to say it will offer a mix of movies, reruns and reality-oriented shows.
Viacom had been discussing a gay cable network since at least 1994, but put it on the back burner because of a weak economy and other priorities. Now, an improved economic outlet has pushed the plans forward.
“We’re excited,” said Joan Garry, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. “Cable television is about niche programming and our niche has been conspicuously absent for a long, long time.”
However, the Traditional Values Coalition announced plans to boycott any Logo advertisers.
Logo will be available on cable systems in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta and San Francisco and is seeking other distribution. Its goal is to be in about 14 million homes by the end of next year.
Tom Freston, MTV Networks chairman and CEO, said offering Logo as a basic cable service would make it a more promising business, despite limitations on language and content that pay outlets like HBO and Showtime don’t face.
The main network geared to gays and lesbians now is Here TV, a pay service available only on satellite TV systems, although it has plans for cable distribution later this year.
Paul Colichman, president of Here TV, said he sees Logo more as a complementary service — and potential business partner — than a competitor.
“We’re very excited because it gives us another buyer for our old programming,” he said.
Logo’s greatest challenge will be appealing to a diverse gay and lesbian community that has high expectations, Garry said.
“The recipe for success for a gay channel is programming vision, access to distribution and a comfort with risk-taking,” she said. “MTV brings those things together. They’re a huge force in the cable industry, so their distribution is strong.”
With affiliated networks MTV, VH1, Spike, Nickelodeon and CBS, Viacom has muscle in the industry that startup companies can’t match. That’s a lesson that Pridevision TV, a gay channel in Canada that has unsuccessfully tried to expand in the United States, has learned.
Logo’s operators say they also want it to be a comfortable place for viewers who aren’t gay. Freston said the timing of Logo’s announcement had nothing to do with the current push toward homosexual marriages.
“This is a network that is not really about politics,” Freston said, adding that the channel’s primary emphasis would be on entertainment.
Logo is looking at working with CBS News for a monthly newsmagazine and perhaps MTV-styled news breaks, said Judy McGrath, president of the MTV Networks Music and Comedy Group. It has deals to acquire more than 100 movies.
The Traditional Values Coalition, with 43,000 member churches, started working on plans for a boycott within an hour of hearing about Logo’s launch, said the Rev. Louis Sheldon, its chairman.
“It doesn’t improve television,” Sheldon said. “It only continues to offer moral anarchy for a very seriously dysfunctional lifestyle.”
Freston, who said he expects the network to break even financially within two or three years, said he doubted there’d be much opposition to Logo. There’s been no resistance from advertisers so far, he said.
“We don’t think it’s indecent,” he said. “We’re not using profanity, we’re not using sex. This is going to be mainstream programming that you see everywhere else, except for the fact that it’s targeted to the gay and lesbian community.”
Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press
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