Scott
11-16-2005, 01:38 PM
Taken from Here (http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_4242016,00.html)
MTV channel to broadcast in high-altitude high-def
By Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News
November 16, 2005
Vail is ready for its close-up, in high-def and above the timberline.
MTV Networks announced that it will base the production studio for its first foray into a high-definition channel, MHD, atop Vail Mountain's 10,350-foot-high Eagle's Nest restaurant complex. Vail will serve as MHD's headquarters from the channel's Jan. 16, 2006, debut through the end of ski season in April.
"It'll be like a mountaintop concert in your living room," Tony Dunaif, MTV networks senior vice president of business development, said at a news conference Tuesday at the Pepsi Center.
The cabin-style, glass-walled studio will be home to two new shows, MHD Top Ten and MHD Video Stew, hosted by Steamboat Springs native and current mtvU host George Oliphant. Jeremy Bloom, one of the world's best moguls skiers and a former University of Colorado wide receiver, will join Oliphant after he returns from the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Bloom said he'll make studio appearances on his days off from training for a second athletic career in the NFL.
The Vail-filmed shows will provide about three hours of daily content for the 24-hour channel, with the rest coming from a "robust" library of concerts and awards shows from Viacom's MTV, VHS and Country Music Television filmed in high-definition, Dunaif said.
MHD will be entirely music, meaning that viewers won't yet see MTV staples such as Pimp My Ride and Laguna Beach in peach-fuzz visual detail.
MHD is the latest channel in MTV's stable, which also includes MTV Overdrive and MTV International. MTV is still in negotiations with the major cable-television and satellite providers and isn't ready to announce who will carry the channel, Dunaif said.
MTV joins ESPN and HDNet in offering an exclusively high-definition channel.
Spurred by plummeting prices for the once pricey technology that debuted in 1998, about 17 percent of television-owning households will have at least one HDTV set by the end of this year, up from 0.6 percent in 2000, according to Kagan Research. More than 80 percent of U.S. households will have HDTVs by the end of 2010, the research firm said.
Vail operator Vail Resorts said MHD will showcase its scenic slopes and buzzing nightlife, helping to lure a new generation of skiers from MTV's youthful demographic. The resort, which is routinely rated among the top ski resorts in North America by Ski magazine, has lowered the average age of visitors to 36 years old from 41 five years ago, said Bill Jensen, Vail Resorts senior vice president and Vail Mountain's chief operating officer.
The under-35 market "is key to both Vail's future and the ski industry in general," Jensen said.
Dunaif declined to say what other ski resorts MHD considered for the studio headquarters.
After the ski season wraps, MHD and its five-person production crew might move to another, perhaps more tropical, locale.
"Right now, the commitment is through April. Then we'll reassess our other options," Dunaif said.
MTV channel to broadcast in high-altitude high-def
By Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News
November 16, 2005
Vail is ready for its close-up, in high-def and above the timberline.
MTV Networks announced that it will base the production studio for its first foray into a high-definition channel, MHD, atop Vail Mountain's 10,350-foot-high Eagle's Nest restaurant complex. Vail will serve as MHD's headquarters from the channel's Jan. 16, 2006, debut through the end of ski season in April.
"It'll be like a mountaintop concert in your living room," Tony Dunaif, MTV networks senior vice president of business development, said at a news conference Tuesday at the Pepsi Center.
The cabin-style, glass-walled studio will be home to two new shows, MHD Top Ten and MHD Video Stew, hosted by Steamboat Springs native and current mtvU host George Oliphant. Jeremy Bloom, one of the world's best moguls skiers and a former University of Colorado wide receiver, will join Oliphant after he returns from the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Bloom said he'll make studio appearances on his days off from training for a second athletic career in the NFL.
The Vail-filmed shows will provide about three hours of daily content for the 24-hour channel, with the rest coming from a "robust" library of concerts and awards shows from Viacom's MTV, VHS and Country Music Television filmed in high-definition, Dunaif said.
MHD will be entirely music, meaning that viewers won't yet see MTV staples such as Pimp My Ride and Laguna Beach in peach-fuzz visual detail.
MHD is the latest channel in MTV's stable, which also includes MTV Overdrive and MTV International. MTV is still in negotiations with the major cable-television and satellite providers and isn't ready to announce who will carry the channel, Dunaif said.
MTV joins ESPN and HDNet in offering an exclusively high-definition channel.
Spurred by plummeting prices for the once pricey technology that debuted in 1998, about 17 percent of television-owning households will have at least one HDTV set by the end of this year, up from 0.6 percent in 2000, according to Kagan Research. More than 80 percent of U.S. households will have HDTVs by the end of 2010, the research firm said.
Vail operator Vail Resorts said MHD will showcase its scenic slopes and buzzing nightlife, helping to lure a new generation of skiers from MTV's youthful demographic. The resort, which is routinely rated among the top ski resorts in North America by Ski magazine, has lowered the average age of visitors to 36 years old from 41 five years ago, said Bill Jensen, Vail Resorts senior vice president and Vail Mountain's chief operating officer.
The under-35 market "is key to both Vail's future and the ski industry in general," Jensen said.
Dunaif declined to say what other ski resorts MHD considered for the studio headquarters.
After the ski season wraps, MHD and its five-person production crew might move to another, perhaps more tropical, locale.
"Right now, the commitment is through April. Then we'll reassess our other options," Dunaif said.