GAY LESBIAN BISEXUAL TRANSGENDERED LOGO MTV MAKING BOLD MOVE WITH NEW CABLE CHANNEL.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

MTV Networks, which launched the music-video age, introduced reality television and linked America's youth with politics, faces its most daunting challenge to date: launching Logo, the first gay-themed cable channel in the United States.

After Logo's programming lineup is announced at the television critics tour in Los Angeles next month, MTV Networks will have the task of not only debuting the digital basic-cable service, but also making it thrive.

Key questions are whether Logo will be able to attract enough viewers to remain afloat, whether it can fill its schedule with interesting programming 24 hours a day seven days a week, and most importantly, whether it can attract enough advertisers to support the ambitious venture.

MTV Networks Chairman and CEO Tom Freston, recently promoted to co-president and co-CEO of MTV parent company Viacom Inc., thinks the answer is yes to all three.

``We have big plans and hopes for this network,'' Freston said when announcing plans for Logo, a vague reference to the ``identity of the gay and lesbian community.'' ``Given our company's strength and our track record and the great creative team that we are putting in place, we think we are going to produce something that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people will embrace.''

The channel will begin with a mix of 25 percent original and 75 percent acquired programming and will build toward a more original slate over the next 18 months. Forty projects are in development with 20 in the pilot stage, according to MTV Group President Judy McGrath.

There are also deals in place to acquire 100 movies and specials from the major movie studios and independent distributors. Among the titles are ``Gods and Monsters,'' ``Cabaret,'' ``Whatever Happened to Baby Jane'' and ``Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story.''

Logo will debut in February on Time Warner and Adelphia cable systems in Los Angeles. Other markets carrying Logo include New York, Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Atlanta.

Adelphia has so far committed to offering Logo only in Los Angeles. Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, has yet to jump on board but hasn't ruled it out, according to a company spokesman.

Joan Garry, executive director of Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, was part of the management team that launched MTV more than 20 years ago and said she believes that if any American cabler can make such a venture succeed, it is MTV Networks.

``There are unique attributes of a company that is able to pull this off. You need a really strong programming vision, you need access to distribution, you need a good-sized budget and you need comfort in risk-taking. And when you look at that list, MTV Networks really fits that bill.''

Its flagship MTV debuted in 1981 as a 24-hour music-video channel but has evolved into a youth-oriented channel with broad programming including ``The Real World,'' credited by many as the first reality-television series, and political activism through its Rock the Vote campaign.

``What makes good gay programming is what makes good programming, period: really compelling stories, well-acted, well-cast and well-written. The same recipe that makes a good program on any other channel,'' Garry said. ``They aren't going to be held to any greater or lesser standard there.''

Some analysts also have a positive outlook on the venture as they take into account MTV Networks' track record with its other niche channels including VH1, BET, TV Land and Comedy Central.

``I think it's impressive that they are doing it internally versus seeking something through an acquisition,'' said global media analyst Angela Kohler with Federated Investors in Pittsburgh. ``Viacom does a lot of research on its networks and (Viacom Chairman and CEO) Sumner Redstone has been talking about some kind of gay network for years.''

The closest thing to Logo could be Toronto-based PrideVision TV, which calls itself the world's first gay and lesbian television channel. But one of the major differences between Logo and PrideVision is that the Canadian channel can air racy shows unedited.

``It's not gay-lite, it's gay,'' said Jason Hughes, director of sales and marketing for PrideVision TV. ``We take risks in our programming. You get a station on a basic tier and you are really watering down the content.''

While shows such as ``Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'' and ``Will & Grace'' have been successful on basic cable's Bravo network and on NBC, respectively, program standards would prevent Logo from airing unedited versions of subscription-channel shows like ``The L Word'' and ``Queer as Folk.''

But some of the racier content could appear on a subscriber video on-demand service that Logo will offer. In the interim, the subscription channel's content will be 70 percent movies.

MTV believes the potential for viewership is big. Some estimates have more than 3 million same-sex households in the United States, couples with $485 billion in disposable income.

Freston said he does not expect a widespread backlash, although the Traditional Values Coalition, which has 43,000 member churches, almost immediately began protesting the new network.

``We know that some people are uncomfortable with the concept of the gay and lesbian community, period. However, it's fair to say that it has really reached a level in the last several years of being increasingly mainstream.''

Advertisers, Freston argues, are in fact looking for avenues to reach gay and lesbian communities, a claim backed up by advertising executive Howard Buford. Once Logo launches, Buford said, gay magazines and newspapers will no longer be the only major ways for advertisers to reach a national audience. Logo will appeal to gays and lesbians between the ages of 25 and 49, a key demographic age for advertisers.

``One thing that has held back (gay and lesbian) advertising is the ability to reach a significant number of people in a targeted way,'' said Buford, chief executive officer of Prime Access, a company specializing in ethnic and gay advertising. ``The highest reaching medium in the gay and lesbian market was the Internet but that is very limited as an advertising vehicle. I think this is going to increase spending in the gay and lesbian markets.''

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

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(color) Tom Freston