Has Reality Killed the Video Star on Satellite TV?
Whatever happened to showing music videos? This seems to be the question heard more often than not when viewers tune into former music video favorites like VH1 and MTV. With line-ups jam-packed with reality dribble, it's hard to imagine that there is much need for pop artists to continue cranking out multi-million dollar music video productions, but it seems they do. Although there are places to go on the satellite TV dial to find pure music videos, it seems the classic days of wanting our MTV have gone to the dogs of reality television. However, it may just take adding a few extra channels to any standard satellite TV package to get a little music video action back into your life.
Of course as an alternative to the old standbys there are popular music television channel options like BET, Juice TV, MuchMusic, and Music Choice. However, in order to make room for its tween-based lineup of regularly featured programming, MTV has expanded horizontally to make room for music channels like MTV2, MTV Adria, Arabia, Asia, Australia, Base, Base Africa, Brasil, Central, Chi, Dance, Desi, Tr3s, Europe, Hits, Hungary, India, Italia, Jams, Japan, K, Latin American, Pakistan, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Spain, Turkey, and MTVU. For example, MTV Base covers digital music and entertainment including R&B, Hip-Hop, Soul and Urban, and broadcasts in MTV's European network. Then there is MTV Tr3s, or MTV tres which provides viewers with bi-cultural entertainment, rooted in Latin American and American musical fusion, with pop, urban and rock music fused across cultures, languages, and lifestyles. More widely known in North America, is MTV Hits, which is intended to represent pre-reality-revolution MTV days. With limited commercials and lots of videos it intends to fill the video void. MTV Jams plays American hip-hop and urban music videos, MTV K is aimed at Korean Americans, and MTVU at college and university students. It seems like by dividing and conquering, MTV aims to please nearly every musical audience. It's not that the video format has disappeared, it's just been swept under a veritable stack of rugs where it must be sought out and purchased by satellite TV viewers.
A similar approach has been taken by VH1 channels, splitting up into VH1 Classic, VH1 Country, VH1 Soul, VH1 Uno, and VH1 UK. For videos and concert classics, VH1 Classic is the place to head. Channels like VH1 Country and VH1 Soul are rather self-explanatory, featuring non-stop country music and R&B, funk, soul, and Motown music, respectively. VH1 Uno features Latin Pop, ballads, Tropical, Salsa & Merengue, and Urban Hip Hop artists, broadcast to an international audience, while VH1 UK, brought to us by MTV Networks Europe, is aimed at the 25-44 age bracket of viewers across the UK and parts of Europe.
At the end of the day, these music video television giants are all lying in the same bed. With VH1 a 1985-released sister channel of MTV, the idea is to cover the bases and keep a widely based viewing audience happy with music videos, shows, and programming. Fellow sister channel, CMT, even reaches out to the country music constituency of music-video viewing audiences. With that in mind, it is great to look back on the days of MTV's the Real World and Road Rules as the days before things went overboard, and breakdown and elect some satellite TV sister channels for true music television viewing enjoyment.
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Author: Oswald Melman