ITV

Tag: Brent Hansen

  • MTV Intl creative president Brent Hansen calls it a day

    MTV Intl creative president Brent Hansen calls it a day

    MUMBAI: MTV Intl creative president Brent Hansen who is also the chief editor has put in his papers.

    He spent 15 years at MTV, which was recently spun off from CBS. MTV Intl vice chairman Bill Roedy will fill in for Hansen on an interim basis.

    He said, “With nearly two decades at MTV Networks, I’ve decided this is the right time in the company’s history for me to resign and move on. I am proud to have played a key strategic and creative role in the growth of the company’s international business over that time.

    “I have led and challenged the company to further its core values. I’m particularly pleased to have helped encourage cultural exchange through music, which continues to be of huge personal and professional interest to me, in tapping into common interests and, hopefully, offering something new as well as the familiar.”

    As the head of MTV’s European operations, Hansen spearheaded the broadcaster’s growth in Europe for the past 15 years. He is recognised as the architect of MTV Europe’s localisation strategy, which began in the late 1980s and saw MTV launching dedicated operations in all key European markets.

  • MTV Intl announces 11 new shows

    MTV Intl announces 11 new shows

    MUMBAI: MTV’s international unit today unveiled a series of 11 new programmes, including a global version of its U.S. dating showDismissed.

    This happens to be the maiden series-announcement after the MTV Network International’s reorganisation in last July, informs a press release.

    A division of U.S. media conglomerate Viacom Inc., MTV Networks International manages and operates 42 MTV channels that reach more than 400 million households. It also runs 30 Nickelodeon channels and 13 VH1 channels, among others.

    By designing a single show that can be used in multiple markets, MTV International can save on development costs and leverage ad sales, though it says that it is not considering its channels to air any of the shows. 

    “It’s a matter of getting more bang for our buck,” said, MTV International Network president of creative and chief executive of the network’s European unit Brent Hansen.

    “Reinventing the wheel several times over across the world just isn’t cost-effective. And if we can get the ratings, it will help us to continue growth in ad sales.” he further added.

    The 12-episode Globally Dismissed dating show will bring romance-seeking individuals from 27 countries to the Dominican Republic to compete for a mate.
    The U.S. MTV series Cribs will also get a global extract with yet to-be-announced international celebrities showing off their homes to MTV’s camera crews.

    there is also Breaking Point,, a reality show that records three bands as they release their first singles and seek a record deal. Other than this there is Blag!, which takes a sneak look at crashing film premieres and rock star parties.

    Dirty Sanchez, from MTV UK and Ireland, will put the madcap exploits of four Welshmen into the workplace, as they serve stints at a hairdressing salon and a construction site in the show called Dirty Sanchez 2: Job for the Boyos.

    Three of the five series are scheduled to premiere in May, Globally Dismissed is slated for July and the Cribs premiere has not yet been set. Some the programmes will be produced internally and others by independent companies.

    Another six shows have been given approval to develop pilot episodes, including the animated Happy Tree Friends, about a hapless gang of creatures talking in their own language, the comedy game show, Dude, Where’s My Movie Quiz? and Meet & Eat, which gives fans a chance to cook for their music idols.

  • MTV Europe buries the hatchet with music labels

    MTV Europe buries the hatchet with music labels

    MUMBAI: The imbroglio over fee payment between MTV Europe and independent record labels has been settled. The two parties arrived at an agreement that allows bands like The Strokes and The White Stripes to remain on the air.

    In the end, it was the broadcaster that had to eat humble pie in the face of stiff resistance. A report in UPI stated that MTV signed an agreement with Video Performances limited, which represents 167 smaller labels to pay a fair value for the use of videos. Earlier MTV had asked that the royalty it pays be cut by 55 per cent. In retaliation the labels had threatened to boycott the broadcaster.

    Putting on a brave face was MTV Europe president Brent Hansen who said that MTV Networks Europe was always the home of independent music and artists. He also indicated that the broadcaster was happy with the terms of the new deal. The old contract was worth $3.5 million and the new contract is said to be close in value. “We hope and trust that the principle of collective licensing, dear to the independent community, is now respected and upheld” he added.

    MTV pays no royalties at all to independent labels in the US. Another report in the New York Times stated that to rectify the situation European trade groups would look to the US next. They plan to help local independent producers organise their efforts in order to force MTV and other music broadcasters pay royalties for using their music.

    The report further noted that the independent labels invested firstly out of passion rather than profit. Therefore a lot of cutting edge sound comes from there. MTV US as expected brushed off the issue saying that the business model was different.

  • British PM Tony Blair on MTV’s global forum

    British PM Tony Blair on MTV’s global forum

    LONDON: MTV’s global forum has chosen British prime minister Tony Blair to field questions from 40 young people hailing from Europe, the Middle East and the United States during the hour-long programme.

    MTV Networks Europe will produce the special titled “An MTV Forum with Tony Blair: Is war the answer?” It is scheduled to begin airing on MTV channels in Australia, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and the United States starting 7 March 2003. The forum will be hosted by Trevor Nelson of MTV Base.

    The forum will likely follow the same format and tone as last year’s “Be heard: an MTV global discussion with Colin Powell,” in which young people from around the world spoke with the US secretary of state Powell about the threat of terrorism and the United States’ military action in Afghanistan.

    A digitalsky report adds that Viacom, MTVNE’s parent company, says that the audience will reflect a “balanced cross-section” of MTV’s 16-24 target demographic.

    MTV Networks Europe president and CEO Brent Hansen says: “MTV Europe’s philosophy is to offer young people from all over Europe the opportunity for open dialogue on a number of issues, regardless of race, religion or political standpoint. This forum will not be a vehicle for any political message; instead, we wish to offer an open and unscripted dialogue between Prime Minister Tony Blair and young people in Europe. MTV’s European audience are particularly attuned to the issue of war and an MTV forum will offer a lively debate with a truly pan-European perspective.”

    Tony Blair: a profile

    At the age of 43 , Tony Blair became the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812. The son of a barrister and lecturer, Blair was born in Edinburgh, but spent most of his childhood in Durham. At the age of 14 he returned to Edinburgh to finish his education at Fettes School. He studied law at Oxford, and went on to become a barrister himself.

    After standing unsuccessfully for the Labour Party in a by-election, Blair went on to win the seat of Sedgefield in the 1983 General Election, aged 30.

    Blair made a speedy rise through the ranks, being promoted first to the shadow Treasury front bench in 1985. He subsequently served as a trade and industry spokesman, before being elected to the shadow cabinet in 1988 where he was made shadow secretary of state for Energy. In 1989 he moved to the employment brief.

    After the 1992 election Labour’s new leader, John Smith, promoted Blair to shadow home secretary. It was in this post that Blair made famous his pledge that Labour would be tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime.

    Blair immediately launched his campaign for the modernisation of the Labour Party, determined to complete the shift further towards the political centre which he saw as essential for victory. The debate over Clause 4 of the party’s constitution was considered the crucial test of whether its members would commit to Blair’s project. He removed the commitment to public ownership, and at this time coined the term New Labour.

    The Labour Party won the 1997 General Election by a landslide, after 18 years in Opposition.

    The government began to implement a far-reaching programme of constitutional change, putting the question of devolution to referendums in Scotland and Wales.

    An elected post of Mayor of London was established at the head of a new capital-wide authority, and all but 92 hereditary peers were removed from the House of Lords in the first stage of its reform. The government has also implemented an investment programme of ?42 billion in its priority areas of health and education.

    Blair was re-elected with another landslide majority in the 2001 General Election.

    Blair is married to the barrister Cherie Booth QC, and they have four children. Their youngest, Leo, was the first child born to a serving prime minister in over 150 years.

    One hopes that the Indian audiences will also get a chance to view the proceedings of the MTV Global Forum live from 10 Downing Street.