Ready. Set. Logo! Will MTV-backed basic cable channel Logo change the world for gays and lesbians? You'll have to wait until February to find out.

Matt Farber looks exhausted. Along with Brian Graden, president of MTV/VH1 Entertainment, Farber has just given television critics and journalists the first look at what's in store for Logo, basic cable's first channel devoted exclusively to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender content. For three years Farber has worked tirelessly with MTV Net works and its corporate parent Viacom to make Logo a reality, and as he plunks himself down at a table at last July's Television Critics Association Press Tour to speak with The Advocate, it's easy to see both relief and fatigue on Farber's face now that the channel is finally a reality. Well, some relief, anyway.

"One weight is off, and a new weight is on," Farber says with a knowing chuckle. He isn't kidding. Logo is set to debut February 17, 2005, with an incredibly ambitious slate of programming for a start-up basic cable channel. Viacom has acquired over 150 films, made-for-TV movies, and documentaries for Logo, including The Birdcage, Gods and Monsters, Kissing Jessica Stein, An Early Frost, Go Fish, and Edge of Seventeen. Ten original series are currently in serious development for the network (see sidebar), as well as a slate of one-time programs like the countdown special The Big Gay 100 and the first television broadcast of the GLAAD Media Awards. Meanwhile, Logo News will be produced by corporate siblings MTV News and CBS News. At press time The Advocate was in negotiations to join the Logo team as well.

Logo has passed from the front to the back burner so often over the past few years that many were surprised by the initial announcement of its official launch plans in May. So why now? "When you looked at what was going on in the world, suddenly it made sense from every side," explains Graden, alluding to the lightning-fast rise in visibility of gay issues and pop culture over the last year.

While Farber estimates that the digital channel will initially appear in 10 to 15 million homes in mostly urban markets, he is committed to getting Logo on televisions in rural red states as well. "What's so exciting for us," he says, "is that there's almost more of a pent-up demand [for the channel] in the middle of the country."

Both Farber and Graden are adamant as well that Logo will work to serve all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered viewers. "We're 'also conscious that you can't satisfy everyone all the time," says Farber. "So if you're showing an African-American lesbian documentary, not everyone is going to want that. And that's OK."

Works in progress

Some upcoming shows In development for Logo

* Cher and Chastity Bono will executive-produce a series based on Chastity's best selling book Family Outing, detailing coming-out stories and their impact on family and friends.

* Engaged gay couples will face Scott Thompson's challenge to put on the wedding of their dreams.

* Alan Cumming will emcee a "downtown cabaret" variety show.

* Out writer Dennis Hensley will host a talk show featuring gay entertainers and an audience of their biggest fans.

* MTV News will produce Logo Lens, a series of first-person documentaries on subjects like athletes training for the 2006 Gay Games and the pre- and post-op process for a transgendered man.

* Margaret Cho, Sandra Bernhard, and Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are all in discussions to develop their own shows for the network as well.-A.B.V.

Vary also writes for Entertainment Weekly.