Cable Serves Up Fuel and Lights Fuse for Youth

Cable World, April 14, 2003

Byline: JON LAFAYETTE

Youth will be served, and two newly named cable networks aim to do just that.

Fox Cable Network Group last week named its new extreme action sports network Fuel, while Cablevision's Rainbow Media is renaming next month its MuchMusic USA music video channel Fuse.

Both networks are aimed at the hard-to-reach young viewers marketers crave. "We feel very confident the programming and promotion strategy will enable us to reach a viewer in the teenage demo that is not being served anywhere else in sports television or in television generally," said David Sternberg, GM of Fuel.

Sternberg is SVP of emerging networks for Fox Cable Networks Group as well as GM of both Fox Sports World and Fox Sports en Espanol, but Fuel will do its best to keep its connection to Fox a secret, even though Fox is usually thought of as a relatively young-skewing television brand.

CJ Olivares, VP of programming and marketing for Fuel, said having a non-Fox name is designed to help the channel develop an independent identity. "It was very consciously an effort on our part not to be seen as another offshoot of the Fox empire, but seen as a start-up project that has its own personality, position and isn't being seen as overly corporate," he said.

With a schedule filled with skateboarding, surfing, BMX, motocross and wakeboarding, plus a helping of music videos, concerts and other shows featuring musicians, Fuel is targeting 12-to-24 males. The network may have a few shows designed to appeal to female viewers, but "we will not spend a great deal of our programming time on them," Olivares said.

Fuel plans to launch July 1. The network last week announced a distribution agreement with Cable One and has previous deals with DirecTV and Time Warner Cable. At this point, the network expects to have about 2 million households at launch, but is working to bring more affiliates on board, Sternberg said.

Fuel plans to try some unconventional tactics to attract advertisers. Sternberg said some advertisers are questioning the effectiveness of 30-second spots, particularly on digital channels. "They're kind of expressing a desire to get out of the breaks and into the shows," he said.

Consequently, Fuel is looking for ways to integrate sponsors into shows. For example, in a show about skateboarders looking for cool places to ride, they could be driving around in a sponsor's car.

The network is also looking to sell longer commercials - as much as two minutes in length - or, as an alternative, present shows without commercial interruptions by having sponsors identified at the beginning and end of the program, Sternberg said.

Fuel will be working with its Fox siblings on programming and promotion. It may bid on some events with Fox Sports Net, and there are some shows on Fox Sports Net that may be appropriate for Fuel, including an extreme sports news show. Promotion on Fox-owned networks such as Fox Sports Net, FX and Fox Broadcasting would be invaluable as well, Sternberg said.

In its MuchMusic incarnation, the other newly named network, Fuse, has been derided by executives at MTV as the lowest-rated network tracked by Nielsen.

That's true, but not important, said Mark Juris, president of Fuse. "Size does not matter - it's the quality of our audience," Juris said. "We have the best concentration of 12-to-24-year-olds of any network."

In addition to a new name, Juris last week opened a new $12 million studio and production facility near Madison Square Garden. Fuse will also offer a new video-on-demand service.

Unlike MuchMusic, Fuse will feature 100% American programming. MuchMusic USA was launched under a licensing agreement between Rainbow Media and Canada's Chum Ltd. Chum sold its interest in the channel in 2000, and the licensing agreement expires at the end of May.

Fuse will be involved in some unusual marketing efforts, beginning with a logo that will constantly change and a variety of slogans such as "more music than the leading brand" and "saving the music video one day at a time."

The slogans appear to be designed to tweak MTV. Juris said music is "an underserved niche with only one name in it, and it just feels like a lot of people want this to succeed, from viewers to advertisers and affiliates."

The network will also be using WTF as an identifier. Juris said that to affiliates, it will mean "Watch the Fuse." But to viewers under 17 it will mean "What the F***."

MuchMusic was reportedly being offered for sale by Rainbow and Cablevision earlier this year. Juris wouldn't comment on those reports, but said, "A lot of companies would like to own a music/culture brand. There's nothing better than someone wanting to buy you. I only hope those calls keep coming."

THE NEXT QUESTION:

*Will parents buy digital cable so their youngsters can watch Fuel and Fuse?