Now showing on VH1: Cross-promotional B.S.

One of my readers just texted me, "Flip over to VH1 when you get a chance. A part of my cable bill (albeit a small one) is being used for THAT?"

Yes, it is. The executives running MTV Networks (which includes MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, CMT, etc.) are so hard up for Nielsen ratings for the Video Music Awards that they are sabotaging the rating of one channel (VH1) to boost the rating of another channel.

Now my guess is, if you're tuning in VH1, it's to watch VH1. You missed the last episode of "I Love Money" or you want to watch the kids who want to work for Diddy or whatever they're showing on VH1 these days. You did not tune in to watch this -- what they call a "barker channel" in the industry.

It would be more understandable if VH1 were simulcasting MTV. But this is just odd. Forget about the cable bill -- I can't believe Taco Bell really allowed part of its advertising budget to be spent sponsoring this "live look-in." By the time someone realizes they're being flim-flammed into switching over to MTV, they're not even going to notice the Taco Bell logo.

Comments

[renton]

The worst part about it is that VH1 will probably repeat this programming six more times a week like it does everything else.

[Rob]

On your cable guide, this should have shown up as just "VH-1 Special" with no program information... I guess they didn't even want you to bother to tune in...

...so why didn't VH-1 just simulcast the VMAs with their own advertising? Wouldn't that have been easier to explain that this disaster?

[Nate]

Same thing is happening with MTV's digital channels, MTV Hits and Jams. Ironic, because all those two channels air is videos. And the show is being simulcasted on MTV2

The worst thing about the VH1 stunt? During MTV breaks, VH1 is airing regular commercials. I doubt that those advertisers paid Viacom to sandwich their ads between this stupid stunt.

[Mark Jeffries]

Now VH1 has run promos for the VMAs for years, as do the other MTVN channels (with the possible exception of CMT). But carrying the first hour (or whatever it was) and then saying go to MTV? Strange.

But the MTV/Logo group of MTVN channels is notorious for starting programs either early or late or making last-minute programming changes that don't get to the TiVo/DVR people--or even outright lying. It's common for VH1 to run shows announced to premiere in prime time earlier in the days first (in the days before they went to split-screen credits, they used that run to show the entire crawl and then only run the contractuals on all other airings), but most of the daytime first airings of "I Love the New Millennium" a few months ago had two whole segments dropped out of them so they could be billed as "sneak previews," with instructions to watch the whole thing that night. And what did they fill the ten minutes or so of missing programming with? Commercials (and I suspect make goods). How do advertisers put up with this, especially after MTVN says that it's trying to cut down on long breaks?