MTV to launch DIY music video site

By Steve Malone

Posted on 28 Jul 2006 at 10:59

MTV, the groundbreaking cable TV channel which is credited/blamed with popularising the pop video, is to take on the challenge of MySpace and the like. The brand is about to make its first foray into the social networking phenomenon that has become this year's biggest talking point on the Internet.

Combining what it sees as the best of MTV, YouTube and MySpace, Flux will be both a website and a TV channel. Viewers will be able to upload their own music videos, vote for the ones they want to see next and chat to each other live on TV.

Although currently in beta, the Flux website is slated for launch on 1 August. The TV channel, being developed by MTV in Britain and Ireland, will begin follow up broadcasts from the 6 September. Both the website and channel will carry ads, but viewers will not be charged for uploading videos

Realising that new music such as the Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen - currently heard from every window in the UK - have been broken through the social networking site MySpace, MTV is determined not to be left behind.

The MTV brand is suffering from the same problem that killed Britain's long running 'Top Of The Pops' music programme. Nowadays pop and rock fans find they can find the music they want on demand and not have it fed to them along with a bunch of stuff they do not want. By making Flux more interactive, MTV hopes to retain its core audience as more and more of their time is spent online rather than watching television.