MTV has a channel for Chinese Americans?

[ChinaLama]

I never realized MTV has a channel specifically for Chinese Americans. What do you think? Is this a good sign, that Asian Americans are receiving more recognition in the media? OR do you think this may be more along the lines of exoticizing or fetishizing Asian American cilture? I don't think the two are mutually exclusive but I don't know anything about this, so I'll plead ignorance to withhold from stating an opinion. :)

All I know about this is from this e-mail I received:

---------- Forwarded message ----------

MTV World needs your Asian Flava!

We are Seeking people who think there are just not enough Asians
representin' on TV.

Here's an opportunity to be the fresh new on-air personality of MTV
Chi -- MTV's new channel that gives viewers the complete low-down on
the young Chinese American pop-culture scene.

If you appear to be 18-24 years old and you think you've got the
golden personality, send your headshot and VHS reel (5 min. max) to:

MTV WORLD
770 BROADWAY
10TH FLOOR
NEW YORK, NY 10003
ATTN: MTV CHI VJ SEARCH


ALL TAPES & HEADSHOT SUBMISSIONS WILL BE THE PROPERTY OF MTV NETWORKS
AND WILL NOT BE RETURNED

(previous on air experience and conversational Mandarin & Cantonese a
plus!)

[Arex]

They ought to be more inclusive. No point in making it for Chinese Americans only. I guess "MTV APIA" or "MTV Azn" doesn't have the same ring as "MTV Chi?"

[SunWuKong]

damn i'm too old.

[Arex]

damn i'm too old.It's okay. I'm too old too, too unattractive and I lack personality.

[VV o n g B a]

u're only too old if u appear to be too old. there's plenty of asians that don't look their age...

[moJo]

i could try to "appear to be 18-24 years old".

[bluemonq]

previous on air experience and conversational Mandarin & Cantonese a
plus!)
i think that's an interesting line right there...

[VV o n g B a]

They ought to be more inclusive. No point in making it for Chinese Americans only. I guess "MTV APIA" or "MTV Azn" doesn't have the same ring as "MTV Chi?"not sure if u're already aware of this, but they already have mtv desi and they're ramping up mtv k after mtv chi.

[Arex]

u're only too old if u appear to be too old. there's plenty of asians that don't look their age...This is true. They'll be in for a surprise when they get all these 18 year olds who look 15 and all these 24 year olds that look 19. But I guess that's their demographic, and who better to judge the age of Asians than other Asians.

not sure if u're already aware of this, but they already have mtv desi and they're ramping up mtv k after mtv chi.I didn't know this. Interesting. Will they also be doing MTV V at some point?

[rice cracker]

What, no MTV Hapa? How racist.

[VV o n g B a]

I didn't know this. Interesting. Will they also be doing MTV V at some point?i have no idea. i do find it interesting that they lumped all south asians into one channel but split the east asians. why didn't they do mtv indi and mtv p? or a combined mtv ea? i wouldn't really have minded a combined channel for chinese and koreans b/c then they could include japanese. i think a lot of asian americans that are really into asian music already know artists from all 3 languages.

i don't know if an mtv v would have much of a chance alone. i don't think they're pop music is caught up enuf w/ the west to make it broadly appealing.

[SunWuKong]

This is true. They'll be in for a surprise when they get all these 18 year olds who look 15 and all these 24 year olds that look 19. But I guess that's their demographic, and who better to judge the age of Asians than other Asians.

yeah but if they normalise the age-appearance deviance for the Asian audience, they wouldn't have this problem.

[abc!]

Ripped from Angryasianman website:


10.14.05
Lately, we've seen the emergence of Asian American television networks like AZN and ImaginAsian. I think this is a pretty exciting time, and it's going to be interesting to see what happens once these endeavors really get off the ground and hopefully break through. I haven't seen enough airtime to have an informed opinion, but what I've seen so far has been... okay. You have to understand that these efforts are in their baby stages, and need to time to really develop, gain an audience, and take off. It's progress.

That said, I hear ImaginAsian needs some community support. On October 31, the network is going off the air in San Francisco. It appears that Comcast will be dropping them at the end of the month. This, despite the fact that Asians are the largest minority group in San Francisco. The size of the San Francisco Asian population is two times the Latino and four times the African American populations ...yet there are only two Asian American TV networks (KTSF & AZN) left. Comcast has declined to carry iaTV in San Francisco—even at no cost to them. However, the community has the power to change this. San Francisco Asian Americans, don't you want a choice? iaTV recommends some actions you can take:

1. Call Comcast SF toll free at 1-800-945-2288 to request ImaginAsian TV as part of their channel lineup.

2. Write a letter of support for iaTV and send it to Comcast: http://www.comcast.com/ContactUs/CustomerService.asp. You can use our sample letter (http://www.iatv.tv/getiatv/sample_letter.php) or write your own.

3. Send us a copy of your letter with our online form: http://www.iatv.tv/getiatv/form_letter.php. We will present all amassed letters to Comcast.

4. Spread the word and pass this email on - http://www.iatv.tv/getiatv/tellafriend.php

For more info about the campaign and how you can help, visit http://www.iatv.tv/getiatv/inthebay.php.

[haplesshobo]

Instead of a MTV for asians, they should refocus the brand on showing music videos. Whenever I flip through that channel, I never see any music videos. Doesn't the acronym MTV mean music television. Well, I don't see anymore music videos. They even came out with another channel, MTV2 which was ostenibly a return to the music video format. However, all I see are reruns of MTV's original programming.

[SunWuKong]

Ripped from Angryasianman website:It appears that Comcast will be dropping them at the end of the month. This, despite the fact that Asians are the largest minority group in San Francisco. The size of the San Francisco Asian population is two times the Latino and four times the African American populations ...yet there are only two Asian American TV networks (KTSF & AZN) left.

this tells me that ImaginAsion network is not very interesting to watch. plus, i'll bet that many of the Chinese Americans in San Fran has satelite dishes that pick up Chinese channels. my parents have one and they live in Orlando where there isn't even a big Chinese American community.

[applehead]

Instead of a MTV for asians, they should refocus the brand on showing music videos. Whenever I flip through that channel, I never see any music videos. Doesn't the acronym MTV mean music television. Well, I don't see anymore music videos. They even came out with another channel, MTV2 which was ostenibly a return to the music video format. However, all I see are reruns of MTV's original programming.


it's been years since MTV's stopped
concentrating on music videos.
much music is a better channel for you to tune
into if you're into music videos.

i have aol music video on demand as
part of my cable package.
you should too.

[abc!]

this tells me that ImaginAsion network is not very interesting to watch. plus, i'll bet that many of the Chinese Americans in San Fran has satelite dishes that pick up Chinese channels. my parents have one and they live in Orlando where there isn't even a big Chinese American community.

Or maybe people don't know about it. I sure didn't until I saw this on the Angryasianman website a few days ago. Also, when I first told my friends about AZN channel they had no idea what I was talking about. It's a shame though, if it's true that Comcast could keep the channel on at no cost to themselves. Looking on the iaTV.tv website it seems that there's interesting stuff on there.