Music Channels and Institutions - by Josh

 Music channels play one of the most crucial roles in the distribution and promotion of music videos. Channels are generally classified into music genres to provide people with a choice with what genre they want to hear, as shown with MTV's many music channels:

• MTV Music
• MTV Rocks
• MTV Dance
• MTV Base
• MTV Hits
• MTV Classic

 MTV launched all these channels in an attempt to expand their viewership to audience's of different genres. Although MTV today does not feature 24 hours of music videos like it used to when it started back in 1981, it is still a major station for music videos. It features programs other than music such as 'Beavis and Butthead', 'Jersey Shore' and 'The Fresh Prince of Bel Air' in an attempt to differentiate itself with other rival music channels including: 4Music and Box.

 4music was set up in 2008 as part of Channel 4 to distribute chart music and music shows, however over the years it also hosts a number of other shows, particularly comedy shows such as '8 out of 10 cats' and 'Balls of Steel'. Their music shows include:

• UKHot40 - a music video chart based on UK sales
• Fresh Music Top 20 - a chart compiled by 4music of the biggest and best music videos of the week
• UK Airplay Top 20 - the top 20 most played songs on commercial radio this week

 As you can see, most of 4music shows are made up of chart music, making it different to MTV as it doesn't broadcast as many different genres, making it less diverse.

 Kerrang! TV was launched in 2005 as a way for the Kerrang! magazine to integrate itself onto television. The station is dedicated to Heavy Metal and Punk-Rock, making it the only music channel that plays this genre of music. It is also different from other stations in that it plays requested music videos, similar to requests on a radio station. Popular shows include:

• A-Z of Punk
• Today's 10 Most Rockin'
• Metal: 87-07