MTV to Launch All-Gay Cable Network in 2005

By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
May 28, 2004

Viacom's MTV, which produced this year's controversial Super Bowl halftime show, announced plans this week to delve into the realm of gay and lesbian cable television by February 2005.

The new cable network was originally going to be called Outlet, but later the name was changed to LOGO. MTV is looking for advertisers to jump on board this new network for gays that will be available as part of the basic cable package.

"We want LOGO to be the first stop for gay and lesbian people," MTV President Judy McGrath expressed to reporters.

With the so-called popularity of gay shows such as Bravo and NBC's "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy" last summer, Showtime's "Queer As Folk" as well as the much-heralded NBC comedy "Will & Grace," MTV believes LOGO will meet a need that is not currently being fully met on television.

Although specific details about the programming are sketchy, MTV executives have revealed that nearly a fourth of the programming will be original shows and the rest will be other programming, including movies, reruns and reality shows.

MTV says there are already 20 original programs for LOGO shooting pilot episodes.

Interestingly, the network will work together with other Viacom-owned television entities, including MTV, CBS News and VH-1 for programming content.

CBS News will provide a monthly news magazine and provide news breaks a la MTV for LOGO, according to McGrath. In addition, more than 100 movies have been obtained by LOGO for broadcast, including "Gods and Monsters," "Love, Valor, Compassion," "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" and "The Birdcage."

A full line-up is expected to be announced by MTV in July.

This all-gay network, which will target homosexuals between the ages of 25 to 49 years old, has been talked about since 1994, but it has previously been unable to gain any traction.

Most American television networks have been hesitant about creating a gay cable network because they fear a backlash from conservative viewers.

Yet MTV's primary reason for pursuing the gay cable network has to do with money.

An estimated 15 million gays and lesbians spend nearly $500 billion per year according to an MTV conference call.

MTV is hoping to launch LOGO on February 17, 2005 in about 12 million homes. The network hopes to be in 14 million homes by the end of its first year on cable.

Time Warner Cable in New York and Adelphia Communications Corp. in Los Angeles have already committed to distributing the network, Reuters reports.

MTV executives also said cable giant Comcast Corp. is talking about joining the team as well.

So far, LOGO will be available as part of the basic cable package in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and San Francisco.

Although Viacom is currently facing indecency charges by the Federal Communications Commission because of The Howard Stern show, MTV Chairman and CEO Tom Freston says he does not believe there is anything "indecent" about an all-gay cable network.

"We're not using profanity, we're not using sex," Freston defended to Reuters. "This will be mainstream programming you're seeing everywhere else with the exception it will be targeting the lesbian and gay communities."

Freston said the sudden interest in bringing LOGO to cable has nothing to do with the debate surrounding gay marriage in America.

"Truthfully, our timing is really just pure coincidence, and not part of a grand strategy to ride down the aisle with all these many happy [gay] couples," Freston stated. "Creating a network specifically for the LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual] community is something we've wanted to do for a long time."

He continued, "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."

Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Executive Director Joan Garry said she is "excited" to find legitimacy for homosexuals with a new cable network devoted to them.

"Cable television is about niche programming, and our niche has been conspicuously absent for a long, long time," Garry told the Associated Press.

"The recipe for success for a gay channel is programming vision, access to distribution and a comfort with risk-taking," she continued to the AP. "MTV brings those things together."

Freston said he does not believe there will be much opposition to LOGO.

"We don't expect any huge backlash," Freston said.

But not everyone is pleased with the idea of an all-gay network.

Traditional Values Coalition Chairman Rev. Lou Sheldon said this is "bad news for American families" and he will encourage his network of 43,000 churches to boycott any advertisers who sponsor the LOGO network.

"It doesn't improve television," Sheldon explained to the AP. "It only continues to offer moral anarchy for a very seriously dysfunctional lifestyle."

Focus on the Family spokesman Mike Haley, who lived a gay lifestyle for 12 years, said the fact that MTV is involved in this all-gay network concerns him because of their powerful influence over youth in today's culture.

"You have a kid who is looking to fit in, and you have a network that looks very inviting," Haley told the New York Times. "This kid is going to get a false representation of what homosexuality has to offer."

He added, "I really am sad and fearful for these kids who are going to want to be as happy and as happy-go-lucky as Will is on 'Will & Grace.'"

Family Research Council Senior Director of Policy Studies Peter Sprigg said his group is "opposed but not surprised" by the announcement of the all-gay network.

"I think this will only add pressure to the call for an unbundling of cable TV so people can purchase what they want," Sprigg said. "I'm certain that a lot of families don't want their kids to have access to this channel."

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said the fact that this new channel will be available on basic cable is troubling.

"Rather than make it a premium channel that customers would have to specifically order, LOGO will be a basic cable channel that will automatically come into every cable subscriber's home alongside networks like CNN and FOX News," Perkins wrote in an e-mail to supporters.

"This new effort to normalize homosexuality through the media is one more reason to support legislation that would allow consumers to choose which cable channels they want rather than buying a pre-set package that pairs Nickelodeon with networks like LOGO," Perkins commented.

An all-gay network already exists on satellite television since August 2003 called Here TV, but the channel costs extra to subscribers.

However, Here TV President Paul Colichman says he plans to move to cable by the end of the year and welcomes LOGO to the fray.

"We're very excited because it gives us another buyer for our old programming," Colichman told the AP.

LOGO's promoters are trying to downplay the gay content in order to attract a more mainstream audience for the new network.

"There will be talk shows and documentaries," Freston explained. "A lot of the fare here straight people will find interesting."

Avis Rent a Car spokesman Ted Deutsch said his company is prepared to become an advertiser on LOGO because he sees it as "a very interesting initiative."

"We think the gay market's a large, brand-loyal and affluent market, and that's a good match for a high-end car-rental brand," Deutsch declared.

Internet travel company Orbitz is also committed to purchasing commercials on LOGO.

MTV is planning to begin marketing LOGO on the Internet in the coming months.