MTV Ukraine kicks off its first season, with lots of good shows in store
Just days after I previewed a number of new Ukrainian music channels a couple of weeks ago, I was able to find them all on my cable TV. However, as it often happens, despite all the variety, there was just one channel to deserve any attention from me.
Star TV, which replaced O-TV (at least on my channel listing), appeared very similar to the latter, playing mainly primitive pop, M2 is all about old videos and concert recordings of Soviet and foreign pop stars, and Biz-TV resurfaced with the very same logos, video inserts, and videos, known to its fans since the golden times of the channel. Yet another music channel Smash!TV was festively presented on Sept. 3, however, it’s clearly going to become nothing but an imitation of M1 and the newly appeared Star TV.
MTV Ukraine, on the other hand, looks really promising so far. Having started broadcasting in a test format Aug. 24, the channel has officially launched its first season Sept. 3., and now is widely available on satellite and cable. MTV UA already hired a team of VJ’s fronted by a known writer, Irena Karpa, hosting MTV News. The musical filling of the channel is so far represented by 30 percent Ukrainian and 70 percent foreign artists, and features videos which are now in active rotation on MTV Europe, as well as Ukrainian videos, mainly by bands like Okean Elzy, S.K.A.Y. and Esthetic Education. In terms of programs, the channel is already offering popular MTV shows such as “Bust-a-Move,” “TRL,” and “Beavis and Butthead.” We can also expect programs made in Ukraine – “Rock Ukraine” and “MTV Ukraine Top 20.”
However, what excites me most is that “South Park” is listed among the future shows on MTV. Indeed, I’ve already seen all the episodes of America’s most scandalous cartoon series – god bless the people who uploaded them on the internet – but to see it on television, dubbed in Ukrainian, would feel like turning a new page in Ukrainian TV history – if only for crazy fans like me.
