Fridae

MTV Networks said on Tuesday it would launch a cable network aimed primarily at gay and lesbian viewers. The 24-hour cable television network has been scheduled to start broadcasting on Feb. 17, 2005, in several big markets across the U.S. including Greater Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

LOGO will air a mix of original and acquired programming and will include series, specials, documentaries, and movies.

While there are no immediate plans to take it outside the US, a spokeswoman said the company hopes to see Logo expand internationally, as the Viacom-owned MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon have done.

"Despite our nation's progress in civil rights and the growing visibility of LGBT people in business, society and even television programming, what had been missing was a home, a home on television, that this audience can really call their own," said Tom Freston, MTV Networks chairman and CEO. "After a very thorough development and research process, we believe that with this new network we're going to start making that home."

LOGO will be a 24-hour channel offering a mix of original and acquired programming that's "honest, smart and, above all, entertaining," he said.

Freston had also told the media that the timing of the announcement was not linked to the date when same-sex marriages became legal in Massachusetts as the channel has been in development for a while.

Stephen Macias, a spokesman for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said his group is "delighted and excited." "Cable TV is about serving niche markets, but the LGBT community doesn't have a channel," he said. "It's long overdue."

The Human Rights Campaign also commended MTV's move, MTV has been an extraordinary leader in educating a new generation of Americans about equality and fairness. By introducing America to real GLBT people, MTV has helped stamp out discrimination, " said HRC President Cheryl Jacques.

Predictably, the announcement had met with opposition from conservative groups.

The Traditional Values Coalition, with 43,000 member churches, announced plans to boycott any Logo advertisers. The group started working on plans for a boycott within an hour of hearing about Logo's launch, said the Rev. Louis Sheldon, its chairman. He also called on heads of other religious groups in an effort to mount a boycott of all advertisers who sponsor the channel.

"It doesn't improve television," Sheldon said. "It only continues to offer moral anarchy for a very seriously dysfunctional lifestyle."

"Madison Avenue has gone amok," He said. "They don't realise they've awakened the sleeping giant."

MTV has however defended its move, "We don't think it's indecent," Freston said. "We're not using profanity, we're not using sex. This is going to be mainstream programming that you see everywhere else, except for the fact that it's targeted to the gay and lesbian community."