MTV India drops 'Music Television' baseline

Come Saturday and MTV India will drop the 'Music Television' baseline that has been around since the channel's inception in 1981 in the US. In India, it has sported it since the last 13 years.

This change has already happened in some countries that include the US and Canada. India now joins the club, as the broadcaster transforms itself into a destination thats "beyond music, beyond television". The channel will now have a simple black and white logo.

The channel began downsizing music content two years ago in a major repositioning exercise, that focused on more shows about careers, fashion, lifestyle and reality TV. Currently music contributes about 40 per cent of the channel's programming and it will go down to about 25 per cent by the end of the year, said Ashish Patil, general manager - MTV India and senior vice president - creative and content.

"Dropping the ‘Music Television’ from under the logo is a big symbolic statement and finally closes the loop on the repositioning exercise MTV kicked off two years back. We were born of music, inspired by music, driven by music – but not limited by music. MTV is about new ideas, new formats, new ways of reaching people in new places they choose to live in. We're catering to a TG which is changing constantly and hence MTV now goes beyond music, beyond television," he said.

Backing this move is the launch of four new shows, of which only one is on television. The rest are on the web, mobile and a voice-portal. "As a channel, MTV is no longer competing with other television channels," he said. "The 'viewer' is dying, long live the 'user'."

So there's MTV What The Hack - a show that's available only on the web, starting with MTV India's website. It features Ankit Fadia, India's most well known ethical hacker who will tell netizens how to protect their email account, block someone on Facebook, provide cheat codes to make life on the web simpler.

MTV Rant premieres only on cellphones and will allow users to rant about any issue that matters to him/her.

MTV Acting Classes stays on a voice portal (5056882), wherein MTV VJs will teach callers to deliver the best dialogues in a variety of emotions.

The only show that's on TV is Nuon MTV Making the Cut, a new reality series that will hunt for the best in fashion. Judged by eight fashion designers, it'll put 16 models through the grind every Saturday evening.