Video Channels To Add New Outlets

11/25/1997 3:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Bruce Haring

(11/25/97) - MTV and VH1 are splitting up.

The cable channels are expected to unveil a new service early next week called "The Suite From MTV and VH1." Like MTV's satellite-dish-only offshoot station, M2-- which on any given day might air rarely-seen clips by Atari Teenage Riot, Pavement, Chopper One, Pulp and even Kraftwerk--the "Suite" service will have separate programming from regular old MTV and VH1 and is expected to offer videos from acts currently banished from the main channels (in other words, anyone besides Alanis Morissette and Janet Jackson).

The new channels will reportedly be called MTV Rocks, for rock and heavy metal; MTV Indie, for those rap, techno and rock labels who haven't sold out to the majors; and MTV Ritmo, a Spanish-language outlet specializing in Tejano, Cuban and dance-pop music.

From VH1, look for VH1 Soul, an R&B slot; VH1 Country, for those who prefer big hats and tight jeans; and VH1 Smooth, a jazz, new age and adult contemporary home for lotus-eaters.

Last week, The Box, an interactive cable music video outlet, announced that it will add four new channels specializing in alternative rock, pop, oldies and R&B. The channels, to be dubbed Pulse, Edge, Classic and Urban, will bow early next year on cable systems owned by giant Tele-Communications Inc.

To receive the new channels, users will have to be a customer of a cable system capable of receiving digital transmissions. They will also have to pay for a digital set-top box to convert the signals, a feature likely to add roughly $10 per month to their cable bill. The digital signal allows stations to split a single analog signal into up to six new channels.