Gays get a home on TV

The company that convinced millions of music fans they want their MTV is now targeting a cable channel to gay and lesbian viewers.

Viacom Inc.’s MTV Networks on Tuesday announced a February launch for Logo, a channel that will follow in the trail blazed by such shows as “Will & Grace,” “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” and “The L Word.”

The channel, in development for years, is being sold to advertisers as a way to reach gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender viewers, but MTV Networks executives stressed that Logo would also appeal to a broader audience.

Logo will be “honest, smart and above all entertaining,” said Tom Freston, chairman and chief executive of MTV Networks. More edgy fare, such as Showtime’s “Queer as Folk,” would not fit the network’s format, which will follow basic cable standards without being edited, he said. Showtime is also owned by Viacom, but because it is a subscription channel, its shows can be more explicit.

At its launch, 75% of Logo’s programming will be acquired from outside sources, with the remainder comprised of original series and specials, Freston said. Plans are still being worked out for the full lineup of programming, including news shows. Freston and MTV Networks Group President Judy McGrath said they intended to unveil the full lineup in July.

Freston and McGrath did announce that Logo already has rights to 100 feature and television movies, including “Gods and Monsters,” “Serving in Silence” and “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?”

Viacom has been toying with launching a gay-and-lesbian-themed network for several years, but Freston said the timing was never right until now. He said Tuesday’s announcement was unrelated to the controversy surrounding gay marriages in Massachusetts, California and elsewhere.

“Despite national progress in civil rights and increasing visibility, what has been missing is a home on TV this audience can call their own,” Freston said. Using the motto “different together,” the network intends to reflect the diversity of perspectives and opinions within the audience and “the friends and family who love them.”

The networks’ research shows there are 15 million gays and lesbians in the U.S., with $485 billion in projected buying power and a strong brand loyalty.

The New York-based network will air initially in major urban markets and has so far received distribution commitments from cable operator Time Warner in New York, Freston said.

Because of the congestion of so many cable channels, Logo will run, at least at first, on digital cable systems, which have a much larger lineup capacity. The goal is ultimately to distribute everywhere, said Matt Farber, a consultant who led development of the network.

Farber said “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” got higher ratings in some parts of Middle America than in Los Angeles.

MTV is in negotiations with advertisers who have shown interest in the gay and lesbian community, such as IBM, General Motors and American Express. So far they have had no rejections, Logo officials said.

Freston said the network expected to have 14 million viewers by the end of next year. Usually advertisers don’t commit until a channel has at least 30 million viewers.

But Freston maintained that the targeted nature of Logo’s programming, and the buying power and brand loyalty of its audience, convinced advertisers to show an interest at a subscriber level much lower than they normally would.

The launch comes late in the game for new channels. With more than 300 channels available today, cable operators are not shopping for new ones and would rather devote their spectrum to advanced services such as video-on-demand and telephone service. Also, some rivals have a head start on Logo. here!TV, which launched in 2003 and is owned by Los Angeles-based Regent Entertainment, has 22 million subscribers on DirecTV and Dish Network.

However, MTV Networks has more market clout than Regent in the advertising, Hollywood and cable community by virtue of its huge stable of channels. MTV is the owner of Nickelodeon, the No. 1 kids’ network; MTV; VH1; Comedy Central; and SpikeTV. It brings more expertise in launching and running cable channels than most of its competitors, although has not launched a major channel from scratch since TV Land, in 1996. Viacom also has clout with pay TV distributors because of its ownership of CBS, the nation’s No. 1 broadcast network.

As expected, conservative groups weren’t welcoming the idea of MTV devoting a network to the gay community. “We do have concerns, not primarily because of the subject matter but primarily because of MTV,” said Melissa Caldwell, director of research for the Parents Television Council. “This is a network expressly targeting a very young demographic, mostly preteens. MTV has a tradition of being not very responsible in depictions of sexual activity of any kind.”

Caldwell was doubtful that adherence to basic cable standards would mean much. “MTV is a basic cable channel and comes into virtually every cable household if parents want it or not. They have the option of blocking, but they’re still paying for it.

“Even if they are advertiser supported, they still do feature very risque content.”

Joan Garry, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said Tuesday: “We’re excited. Cable television is about niche programming, and our niche has been conspicuously absent for a long, long time.”

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays issued a statement Tuesday applauding MTV Networks for launching Logo.

As a complement to the digital channel, Logo will offer subscribers a video-on-demand service that will be about 70% movies.

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Times staff writer Sallie Hofmeister contributed to this report.