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Cynthetiq · 05-26-2004, 07:58 AM

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May 26, 2004
ADVERTISING
MTV to Start First Network Aimed at Gays
By BILL CARTER and STUART ELLIOTT
link

MTV Networks announced yesterday that, after a long delay, it intended next February to start the first cable television channel directed at gay viewers. But beyond the typical challenges facing new cable networks of finding distribution and advertisers, the new channel, to be called Logo, will have one unusual obstacle: outrage from conservative groups.

The Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, the head of the Traditional Values Coalition, said Logo was "bad news for American families" that would lead to moral anarchy, and that he had called heads of other religious groups in an effort to mount a boycott of all advertisers who sponsor the channel.

"Madison Avenue has gone amok," Mr. Sheldon said. "They don't realize they've awakened the sleeping giant."

Tom Freston, the chairman of MTV Networks, the division of Viacom that will run Logo, said company executives understood that some people were uncomfortable with gay men and lesbians. But he cited polls that he said indicated increasing levels of tolerance and acceptability for gay people. "We don't expect any huge backlash," Mr. Freston said.

"We are very proud that we are launching this bold new network," which he said was aimed at "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender viewers." He emphasized that the channel would be based in entertainment and not "sex and sexuality."

The channel, in the works for more than two years, comes as both broadcast and cable networks have enjoyed success with gay-themed programming, ranging from "Will & Grace'' on NBC to "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'' on Bravo.

And it is intended to reach a segment of the population that is desirable to many advertisers because of its more than $400 billion in buying power, MTV executives said in a telephone news conference.

It was only a decade ago when the automaker Saab aimed ads at gay men and lesbians by buying space in the magazines Genre and Out, but many advertisers have been reluctant to enter the market. Still, mainstream marketers - including American Airlines, American Express, Anheuser-Busch, General Motors and Levi Strauss - increasingly seek ways to reach gay and lesbian consumers with product pitches.

"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," said Ted Deutsch, a spokesman for Avis Rent a Car in New York, part of the Cendant Corporation. Avis is one company that Viacom is in discussions with to become an advertiser on Logo, which Mr. Deutsch called "a very interesting initiative."

Orbitz, the online travel agency, has already made commitments to buy commercial time on Logo.

The group president of MTV Networks, Judy McGrath, said detailed program announcements for Logo would be made in July, but that original fare would initially make up 25 percent of the total with the rest being movies and reruns of series.

More than 100 movies have already been acquired, she said, including "Gods and Monsters," "Birdcage," "Love, Valor, Compassion" and "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"

Mr. Freston said the channel was not about politics and took pains to assure that MTV was not taking advantage of the current controversy about gay marriage.

"Truthfully, our timing is really just pure coincidence," Mr. Freston said, "and not part of a grand strategy to ride down the aisle with all these many happy couples."

Still, the same opposition trying to block gay marriage may mobilize against the channel. Mike Haley, a manager of gender issues with the Christian group Focus on the Family, said he worried that the network would encourage young people to think of themselves as gay, just as he said he did for 12 years.

"You have a kid who is looking to fit in, and here you have a network that looks very inviting, very accepting, and this young kid is going to get a false representation of what homosexuality has to offer," Mr. Haley said. "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.' "

MTV has shifted its original plan, announced in January 2002, which had been to make the channel a joint venture with the pay channel Showtime - like MTV Networks owned by Viacom - and to charge viewers a monthly subscription fee. Now the channel will be part of the basic cable lineup, though on the digital tier of channels.

"We're looking to be at 10 to 14 million homes by the end of the first year," said Nicole Browning, the president of affiliate sales for MTV Networks. The channel will charge cable systems an undisclosed fee for each subscriber, she said.

She noted that as much as a third of the channel's target audience was concentrated in the country's biggest cities. Logo has received orders from cable systems serving Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

Mr. Freston said the company would sell advertising packages across its cable properties and "cross-promote where appropriate" to help build the channel. And Ms. McGrath said certain programs from several other MTV channels could wind up being used on Logo. Among the ideas she mentioned were a history of gay television done by the channel TV Land, and the "Gay 100" music selections from VH-1.

She also said Logo expected to tap the resources of another sister unit under Viacom, CBS News, for documentary and other types of news programming.

While some advertisers have been reluctant to enter the market, fearful of the very sort of boycott conservative activists are now threatening, others are worried about the dearth of reliable data about the market. For instance, though MTV executives cited statistics about the gay population, estimates of the size and spending power of the market vary widely because many people are reluctant to identify themselves as gay to pollsters or researchers.

Orbitz, for example, wanted to reach large numbers of gay men and lesbians to tell them about gay-related content on its Web site, said Jeffrey Marsh, the company's advertising director, but was stymied because there has been no place to "get a million-plus targeted eyeballs."

Howard Buford, chief executive of Prime Access in New York, an agency that creates ads aimed at minority groups for marketers like J. P. Morgan Chase, Ford Motor and Merck, said: "If you go on a 'Will & Grace,' you have to pay the high Thursday-night prices to reach some gay men and lesbians along with a huge number of heterosexuals.''

The availability of Logo "will allow for many advertisers to now include TV media in their budgets," said Travis Pagel, managing director of Osmosis Medialab in New York, an agency specializing in marketing to gay men and lesbians. The agency numbers among its clients BMG, Casio and HBO.

But Logo will encounter some advertising challenges. John Nash, president of Moon City Productions in New York, the gay and lesbian agency of record for Subaru of America, said "if budgets remain the same, advertisers may end up borrowing from Peter to pay Paul" - in other words, shifting money to TV from print and online, where most gay-targeted advertising has been spent.

Those advertisers reluctant to do that may not make the foray onto Logo.

IMHO this took way too long to get together, but with the rumblings of a competitor about to make a similar launch MTV Networks needed to finally put this stuff down and make it happen.

While it may not be my niche to watch like WE, Lifetime, or Oxygen, I do find some programming on the 3 women channels interesting enough to tune in once in a while. Not to mention Tivo does a great job of harvesting even from other channels that I would never watch like Hallmark Channel.

Do any of you out there see any adverstiser backlash?

IMO MTV can afford to support this channel with little to no advertising for at least 1-2 years minimum until there is enough subscribers to truly warrant aggressive advertsing goals. But MTV Networks Ad Sales is also shrewd enough to help guide can coax advertisers to advertise on the fledgling network.