MTV2 Makes More Music

MTV2, which re-launched in February with a two-headed dog mascot and a promise to focus on music, is developing a reality/mockumentary series on the concert tour shenanigans of the band Sum 41.

No airdate yet for the show, Sum 41 Road to Ruin, as the network continues to target young male viewers.

The network will also sponsor Green Day’s 43-date summer tour, which begins in August, with the band shooting footage for promos and other programming.

It will also partner with the House of Blues to produce the "Sucker-Free Concert Series," a nationwide series of weekend hip-hop shows free to the public.

Viacom-owned MTV2, available in around 57 million homes, remade itself and upped the pace of its promos and programming to appeal to a young male demo, partially in response to similar efforts by scrappy rival music network, Cablevision-owned Fuse.

MTV2 has since introduced new specials and programs, recently picking up additional episodes of half-hour Playlistism, which will now air monthly; half-hour video show Discover and Download; and weekday 4 p.m. video mix program, Monster Mix.

The network also has several specials soon to bow, including MTV2’s Video Honeys Search, a week-long search this fall for a hip-hop video star.

First quarter 2005, MTV averaged 134,000 total viewers in prime.