EMAP will continue its assault on MTV’s dominance in music television with a new channel to air on the BBC’s new terrestrial digital TV platform. The media group announced it had won the place on the BBC’s digital venture yesterday.
EMAP has already challenged MTV’s supremacy in music TV with its jukebox TV channels which air on digital cable and satellite services. Beginning life with The Box, there are now six of the jukebox channels where viewers can phone in to request songs off a genre specific playlist posted on teletext. All but the original service are based on one of EMAP’s magazine or radio brands (Smash Hits, Kiss, Kerrang, Q, Magic). The new channel will be called Big City, and will be based on the Big City formula used on the group’s Northern radio stations, like Key 103 in Manchester and Radio City in Liverpool.
EMAP was actually originally part of a rival bid for the terrestrial digital TV licence, but some hard lobbying won them apart in the successful BBC project. It is quite a victory for EMAP, especially as MTV enjoyed the status as the only music channel on the short lived ITV Digital platform. The channel also faces new competition on the satellite platform from Sky’s planned three music stations, rumoured to involve Pop Idol supremo Simon Fuller.