NEW YORK: MTV's social conscience regarding the Aids menace saw it host a series of concerts, documentaries, specials and fund rasing events across the globe last year. This effort has now been recognised at the second annual Cable Positive POP (Positively Outstanding Programming) awards.
At the show presented by TV Guide in New York last week, MTV was named Network of the Year for most effectively promoting HIV/AIDS awareness, education and prevention through original programming. The award was accepted by President of Entertainment for MTV and VH1 Brian Graden.
At the New York ceremony MTV's show First National Sex Quiz, won the special programming award while its MTV News Now: Sex, School and Scandal was felicitated in the documentary section. In addition, the channel's Staying Alive Concert iwon a special Jury POP award, for exceptional original HIV/AIDS-related cable network programming. In collaboration with MTV International, the concert aired on MTV networks around the world on 1 December.
Closer home, for the first time Doordarshan aired an MTV concert which was the MTV Music Summit for AIDS on 15 December. The concert took place at the MMRDA grounds in Mumbai on 1 December. With the DD telecast, the awareness penetrated over 70 million homes. Among the artistes who performed included Alisha, Bombay Vikings, KK, Mehnaz, Shaan.
In addition, the channel also organised a fund raising event on 20 December in Mumbai to help fight mother-to-child HIV transmission in India. Actor Richard Gere had come down and the channel conducted an exclusive interview with him. The channel also sponsored the musical stage at the event
Fight For Your Rights: Protect Yourself is the latest campaign in MTV's Emmy award- winning Fight For Your Rights pro-social initiative. MTV's First National Sex Quiz kicked off the Protect Yourself campaign in April 2002 in the US. Almost 15 million viewers tuned in for the special, and over 700,000 young people took the quiz online, spending as much as an hour exploring the resources the quiz provided. The documentary Sex, School and Scandal examined the social forces that led to four people being diagnosed HIV positive after hundreds of those potentially infected were tested in a small, rural community in South Dakota.
Founded in 1992 Cable Positive is a US non-profit organisation with the mission of organising cable's resources in the fight against AIDS.