Teino Evans, Staff Reporter
MORTON
THE NEWEST MTV network, TEMPO, which will be airing only aspects of Caribbean music and culture, is about to become a reality as they seek to have a two-day launch in Jamaica. The launch event, dubbed Caribbean Rising, is scheduled to take place on Saturday, October 15, and Sunday, October 16, at the James Bond Beach in Oracabessa, St. Mary.
However, there appears to be some amount of wariness about the impending competition. The Gleaner understands that local television stations have decided not to run any advertisements relating to the TEMPO launch.
NO ADS
"Well, I understand that we have taken a decision not to run it and it (the ad) was being run on Hype TV, but we heard also that they have since withdrawn their ads," a source at RETV told The Gleaner. However, George Walker of Hype TV said "Hype TV's official word on the TEMPO issue is no comment!"
Another source at one of the local television stations said "if we are all on the same network, then we are in a sense competing for the same eyes; that is the reality. We have not had a collective decision with any other media house, but we were willing to air the event as an entertainment event".
There were no comments from TVJ and CVM, as representatives from their respective marketing departments did not get back to The Gleaner on the matter.
Among the artistes to be featured on the shows are Spragga Benz, Bounty Killer, TOK, Assassin, Vybz Kartel, Voice Mail, Elephant Man, Lady Saw, Wayne Marshall, Turbulence, Richie Spice, Morgan Heritage and Jimmy Cliff.
POLITICS
Bushman, who is also billed to appear on the show, says he is disappointed. "Bottom line, it's politics, cause a competition and competition will always bring about politics, but this (MTV Caribbean) is a next notch fi we local artistes move on to the international scene. Is like a gateway, another opportunity to expose local music and create opportunities fi di youts dem weh a do music," he said.
PROMOTING THE CARIBBEAN
"Based on what I know TEMPO is not only about Jamaica, is something promoting the entire Caribbean, so I don't really see a problem if TEMPO comes here. TEMPO can't take away the local audience. Personally I don't think TEMPO can hurt local channels, because Jamaican people going to always want dem local programming," TOK member Flexx said.
Bounty Killer had high praise for TEMPO and said he could see no negatives in the channel's move to the Caribbean. "It is exposure not only for our country but for the region. It's more coverage for the Caribbean music and culture," the deejay said.
The deejay said that he believes the channel will provide the opportunity for young local artistes to reach the international market but will also allow local artistes in general to be seen internationally without having to do 'crossover music'.
Frederick Morton, senior vice-president and deputy general counsel of MTV Networks (responsible for TEMPO) said "it is extremely short-sighted. TEMPO is going to be not only in Jamaica but also throughout the Caribbean and eventually the world and it can only help local media. For them to do something like that is again without a doubt inconsistent with elevating Caribbean and Jamaican artistes so that they get a platform to promote their music and their work".
"I think that there is some level of them feeling threatened by us, but they clearly didn't analyse the situation... It's unquestionably a concerted effort to undermine the launch, but no matter what they do, it's not going to stop it," Morton said.
A number of artistes on the VP roster are scheduled to perform and James Goring, senior products manager at VP, said "in the U.S for example, Channel 2 would not run stuff for Channel 4, so the main channels would not cross-promote, but this is an event and I don't see why they would want to stifle that. If they are intimidated by it (TEMPO) I can see where they are coming from, but that is not going to stop anything... But at the end of the day it's business, it is competition, so if they don't want to associate themselves then I can understand, but it's sad looking at it".
