MTV Desi, RIP

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Back in 2005, bloggers at Sepia Mutiny (and me, on my own small blog) announced with some excitement the advent of MTV Desi, a channel geared to NRIs and Second Gen South Asian youth. Now there are news reports that MTV Desi is getting axed, along with its sister diasporic channels MTV Chi and MTV K, as Viacom is undergoing a restructuring. Hollywood Reporter has an MTV executive making the following statement:

“Unfortunately, the premium distribution model for MTV World proved more challenging than we anticipated in this competitive environment,” the company said. “As a result, MTV has decided to shut down its linear MTV World operation. However, we remain steadfast in superserving multicultural youth, and we are continuing to investigate ways to integrate the MTV Desi, Chi and K brands online and on our other screens.” (link)

Well, duh, if it’s only available via Satellite TV, you can bet that “Cheap Ass Desis” (to rip off a former SM commenter’s moniker) aren’t about to shell out a hefty monthly fee for it. I believe I’m the only blogger here who actually subscribes to MTV Desi — and it’s only because my in-laws came to stay with us for a few months, and the channel came packaged with the channels they really wanted — Star One, Star Plus, Star News, and NDTV. Still, I’ve actually spent some hours watching the channel, so maybe I’m the best person to do a little mini-elegy. (By the way, it’s worth noting that the channel is still on the air as of today.)

First, the positive. The best thing I ever saw on MTV Desi was the following inspired rant by Parag Khanna.

There are some statements he makes that miss the mark (India isn’t the poorest country in the world by the indices I’ve seen), but I appreciate the energy. Instead of being the embarrassed, cautious ABCD — do we really know enough about India to comment on corruption? shouldn’t we stay “positive”? — he’s taking a strong stance. (Parag Khanna might make a good blogger.) If MTV Desi is really dead, it’s too bad we’ll get less stuff like this. But it should also be admitted that the channel currently plays far too much repetitious programming. The repetition factor can be especially bad when the old programs are tied in with a particular holiday — as of last week, you would still see the occasional VJ wishing you a “Happy Diwali!” That’s pretty lame, considering it’s February.

Second, while I love having a TV channel that plays both cool Bollywood and Bhangra tracks and bands like Jahcoozi and M.I.A., far too many videos on the regular playlist are crass booty-shaking exploitation. I have a kid at home now, and while he’s too young to understand why there are all these scantily clad blond women shaking their hips while a brown guy lip syncs about his adoration of “Paisa,” it’s still faintly embarrassing. In an ideal world, I would take the Kailash Khers and the sweet A.R. Rahman songs, and leave the Bollytrash out.

Third, MTV Desi has some pretty lame skits. The “F*#@ing with Eames” skit never made much sense to me — why is it Desi? Who cares? The parody “Deep Throat” commercial was funnier, and it’s too bad Viacom has had it pulled from Youtube.

Most of the music videos one finds on MTV Desi can readily be found on Youtube. And they aren’t likely to be pulled for copyright reasons, since most of them derive either from Indie bands like the brilliant King Khan and BBQ Show, who actually want the potential for free publicity online, or Indian music companies, who simply haven’t been putting very much effort into that sort of thing.

So really, at the current moment there isn’t truly a need for a channel like MTV Desi, especially if you have to pay for something a dedicated blogger/video podcaster could do in her basement for free. Most of the music content could be aggregated, and original content (like the Parag Khanna rant above) could be generated by enterprising college students with video cameras, again for free.

80 thoughts on “MTV Desi, RIP”

  2. Never heard of this channel. Too bad it will be gone before I start watching TV.

    India isnÂ’t the poorest country in the world by the indices IÂ’ve seen

    But it’s the country with the greatest number of poor people. About a quarter of the world’s poor live in India.

  4. i did watch MTV Desi from its inception, and its flop is not surprisingly as many doubted the quantity of India music and TV that it would carry. Afte the usual Raghav videos, Karsh Kale interviews, MIA plugs, and general Bollywood bukwas that was cut & pasted from MTV India, what else was left? While there are a great many talented South Asian artists, actors, musicians, etc. in the US/Canada, it seems very few want to qualify themselves as being “desi.” They seemed to have run out of content. Positioning was a key problem as yes, we “kunjoos” desis wouldn’t pay for the channel. It seemed like a college dorm experiment than a carefully thought out marketing channel by execs at Viacom.

  6. Well, duh, if it’s only available via Satellite TV, you can bet that “Cheap Ass Desis” (to rip off a former SM commenter’s moniker) aren’t about to shell out a hefty monthly fee for it.

    While the same desis subscribe to cricket matches which put PPV boxing stuff to shame. $300 for a 1 month cricket schedule isn’t unusual. The fob desis aren’t price sensitive when it comes to content that they want. Another example, there is a spike in getting subscriptions to desi sat channels during summer. Why? Because that’s when parents visit from desh and they get bored!

    MTV desi may not have marketed themselves well. I don’t think many desis even in the Bay Area have heard of them at all.

  7. The south asian population is about 2.5 millons. Which limits the amount of people that could order the channel, since very few non-desi would care about MTV Desi in the 1st place. I guess it a safe bet that less then 100,000 people would order the channel.

    How would MTV Desi decide which video’s to play. Did they play Queen with Freddie Mercury being from india.

    Did Soundgarden one of the biggest rock bands in 90’s with a desi-american born guitar player Kim Thayil get played on the channel at all.

  8. Here in Canada alot of desi who have satellites that are from the black market. They steal the signals and don’t pay for any of the channels they watch. They only pay the guy to fix the dish every time the signals crash’s when the satellite company’s scramble the signals to prevent signal theft.

  9. Many ABD’s only association with the mother land is a Dandiya night or a Bollywood film and now Russell Peter. Is it all there is to being desi. Obviously not. These are positive sides of desihood but as the VJ pointed out there are a lot of dark patches behind it. I dont agree completely when he says India is way far behind. If you look at economically it is doing better than ever before and India’s cultural impact in the subcontinent and beyond has been significant especially during the past few years. I think that is going to be the trump card in the years to come.

  10. “While the same desis subscribe to cricket matches which put PPV boxing stuff to shame. $300 for a 1 month cricket schedule isn’t unusual.”

    i’m surprised that this year’s world cup is $199.95 on dishnetwork. i remember it being more last time.

  11. What I thought was interesting is that he felt that ABDs had a role to play in India’s emergence. That’s remarkably nationalist, even though his CV indicates he’s entrenched in the American establishment. Its another demonstration of the way the globalization of borders creates hybrid personal realities.

  12. Second, while I love having a TV channel that plays both cool Bollywood and Bhangra tracks and bands like Jahcoozi and M.I.A., far too many videos on the regular playlist are crass booty-shaking exploitation

    Compared to what? I suppose, MTV and other music channels are even worse. I think you missed the point, The target audience for MTV and MTV Desi are most probably teenagers. Here is my free advice, stop watching MTV or similar music channels with your kid 😀

  13. This is terrible news. I want to go on record as saying that I am completely enamored by the VJ and am willing to open the bunker doors up to her if she needs a place to crash while she looks for another job. I’m working now and I am ready to settle down. Together we could build a happy home bunker with a killer music collection. If you know her then please get word to her.

  15. No wonder they were giving out free MTV Chi and MTV Desi T-shirts at the ECAASU conference this past weekend!!!

    Hey…at least I got my memorabilia while it lasted 😛

  16. My first time post, but here we go! I’m not sure if I’m the only one who feels this way, but I feel like the rant, while well-intentioned, was a little offensive. A few points:

    1) It presupposes that ABCDs can’t “speak Hindi or Urdu or Gujarati well, if at all… You’ve probably been to South Asia a few times, but you don’t know the back streets of Karachi or Bombay.” I’ve been living in New York for three years, and I still don’t know the back streets. Yet, if someone asked me where I was from, I wouldn’t hesitate to say that I was from here.

    2) I also disagree with the contention that “Indian bureaucracy is obscenely corrupt.” I mean, I agree: things need to change. But isn’t that true with bureaucracies nearly everywhere? See:
    http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi

    3) It also tends to conflate the media with the general Indian populace. I think that a lot of Indians understand that their country needs a lot of improvement, in the same way that a lot of Americans don’t agree with the sentiments expressed by the media.

    Don’t get me wrong: I think the clip makes some legitimate points about the fact that as ABCDs, we’re empowered to make a difference and should utilize the resources available to us. But at the same time, I can’t help but come away from that ad, feeling like his attitude was unnecessarily condescending, and perhaps without the vitriol, his message would resonate more strongly.

  17. Kurma, yes. But that makes India the country with the greatest number of poor people, not the poorest country per se.

    I know that’s what you said. And you know that I know. And I know that you know that I know…ad infinitum :-). Just saying we can forgive Parag khanna his little misstep.

  18. I wasn’t born in India and I can speak Hindi / Punjabi just fine and when I go to India I’m not treated like an outsider by most people. Whatever the case I don’t really see the point of his ‘rant’. Why such negativity? It is best people like him do not think of themselves as Indians as he suggests because its negativity like that which harms India. Every country has problems, of course, India’s are much worse than most – but also much better than others. I really don’t think that India’s just hype, also isn’t India’s economy overall the 4th largest (or somewhere in the top 10) in the world? How could that not make a difference at all if it just disappeared as he said. That guy really annoyed me.

  19. By GDP, India is ranked 153/229, according to the CIA Factbook.

    A minor quibble: that’s GDP per capita. In terms of GDP, India is #4.

  20. I saw MTV Desi listed as a new channel as of March 2007 on my last Time Warner bill…I guess it will be a subscription channel.

  22. It’s true, the repetition was awful. I don’t know why they didn’t just plop in more stuff from MTV India, at least it would have been fresher.

    But the b*tchiness of Roadies was a guilty pleasure when channel-surfing.

    PS – As of right now, the channel’s still broadcasting. Now I’m curious to see when it stops…

  23. momma and poppa bean have satellite for indian shows..so, when i was home a few months ago, i watched um.. 20 minutes of mtv desi… it was as bad as the real mtv (which sucks, with the repetition it has, and the pretty lame shows…i heard TRL got cancelled this week too and MTV in general is going through some pretty damn tumultuous times).. the roadies or wanna be road rules that mtv desi had was hilarious… i even callled my brother when it was on to give him a play by play because it was so horrible.. we could not stop laughing…

    i think it’s almost the end of the mtv era, unless they learn how to play music videos again (and amardeep, agreed with the crassy videos that mtv desi played… )

    so when ‘video killed the radio star’ the ‘internet/blog will kill the video channel’..

    🙂

  24. at the current moment there isnÂ’t truly a need for a channel like MTV Desi

    I totally agree.

    I’ve never watched this channel and from the descriptions above it seems like it was mostly filled with mindless tripe, like any other “music” channel (do any of them actually play music anymore?). The repetition is probably due to a lack of material, I remember that was the case in the early days of MTV.

  25. Does anyone know anyone who’s worked for the station? I tried sending them my music video, but got no response. My video got good response on youtube, but I guess if they were struggling just to stay afloat they had other things to worry about, I’d be interested to hear from someone who might’ve worked there. Thanks

  26. Well, that’s too bad. Count me in as one of those desis unwilling to pay for extra channels. Hell, I can’t even afford HBO. I wouldn’t have had the Fox Soccer News Channel if Time Warner hadn’t left it on by mistake.

    The other problem is MTV’s anti-Apple attitude. I couldn’t even log on to MTV Desi’s online stuff!

  27. I, for one, am saddened at the loss of not only MTV Desi but the other channels that went with it. And, like many others, I never saw them either because I didn’t have satellite. So, while I can’t judge the actual content on the channel as it came across(though many others seem to feel okay judging it based on what others said, hm…) I still feel like its one more Asian American voice that was silenced. I did watch a lot of its videos online, though.

    Think about it: MTV was finally acknowledging the Asian-American population. They were finally saying “okay, this is a market that has a voice and needs a voice.” As for MTV Desi, they had Indian-American artists…whether you like Raghav or hate him like most people who enjoy music, it wasn’t JUST Raghav. There were a lot of other unknowns, or other bands that had desi guitarists. They had shows like Mouthpiece, which I watched on YouTube pre-Viacom-chopping, where Muslim-Americans had a conversation about their religion. It really wasn’t all vapid and, besides that, it was in its infancy.

    Personally, I’m worried that now that MTV tried this experiment with reaching out to AA populations once, they’re not going to try again. And that would be a shame. Both for them financially (untapped market!) and for us for content.

    (PS I think it would’ve been more successful if they could’ve been picked up by Comcast. I wrote a couple of letters via their website cause I wanted by MTVDesi =) )

  29. the ‘internet/blog will kill the video channel’..

    As chick pea says, it seems that there’s a major crisis within MTV as a whole, from the extent of the layoffs. A friend of a friend got axed from VH1 after 13 years… can’t be much fun.

  30. So the MTV empire is going down. I can only say a heartfelt MUHAHAHAHA to that. What kind of sick mind takes away music videos from children? Kill those crappy reality shows. Put the M back in TV and all will be forgiven.

    PS. MTV2 doesnÂ’t count. As for VH1, IÂ’m old but not senile.

  32. I said this from the beginning– putting the channel on satellite/dish only is a total misread of the MTV Desi target market. As Amardeep mentions, he only got the package when the in-laws came to visit… most GenX and Y desis don’t have dish programming, we have cable. Dish is for Aunties, so obviously nobody on dish service will sign up for MTV Desi. They want Ekta Kapoor Serials and shit like that. It was doomed to fail from the beginning, simply because they didn’t make the product available through channels that their target audience uses. Duh.

  33. Neal, I see what youÂ’re saying, but the screen is too small and the speed is too slow. IÂ’m sure some bright Desi kid will soon come up w/ YouTubesque TV. Search function, whistles and bells.

  34. A minor quibble: that’s GDP per capita. In terms of GDP, India is #4.

    You call that a minor quibble?

    In per capita income and other human development indices, which is the measure of national prosperity and success, the only region of the world that is as poor and backward as India or South Asia is subsaharan Africa. But even subsaharan Africa manages to feed its children better than India.

    The guy on the video is certainly on the right track. The idiotically delusional “India Shining” crowd are not.

  35. So really, at the current moment there isnÂ’t truly a need for a channel like MTV Desi, especially if you have to pay for something a dedicated blogger/video podcaster could do in her basement for free.

    really? i would have thought that more people would be behind the idea of having more non-stereotypical desis faces in the media. i, for one, was elated when a media giant like mtv recognized asian americans as a distinct audience/market and though it was a giant blow to have them go back on their word like that.

    i’m really surprised at the lack of anger. perhaps the next generation will get sufficiently angry when there is still no major asian-american representation on television in 10 more years.

  36. i would have thought that more people would be behind the idea of having more non-stereotypical desis faces in the media. i, for one, was elated when a media giant like mtv recognized asian americans as a distinct audience/market

    I agree. I had watched MTVDesi a few times while at someone’s house who had dish(an Auntie who wanted Star, Zee, etc). Yes, the repition was awful and the roadies show was embarassingly funny (but then again, shows on regular MTV are like that too–hello, have you seen Next?). I have to say though, at least there was a medium for it. At least there were VJs who recognized not all of us are entrenched in Bollywood USA and friends with only desis and interested in only desi things. It’s not whether you agree with Parag’s rant or not, it’s the fact that he was able to rant and have it shown on TV—let’s face it, at this stage in Asian American development we need to foster a little controversy in order to get the attention we deserve, right? I’m not saying that he’s right or wrong, but it’s nice to see the opinion being aired. Despite the Internet’s power, TV is still has a strong hold on people. Maybe with a tweaking of their vision and some more advertising MTVDesi will make a comeback?

  37. i’m really surprised at the lack of anger. perhaps the next generation will get sufficiently angry when there is still no major asian-american representation on television in 10 more years.

    I don’t see this as something to get angry about. MTV offered a product. For a number of reasons, the market they expected to see wasn’t there. Why get angry about that? I have no doubt that someone else will try to tap the American Desi entertainment market eventually.

    btw, Shodan I agree with you regarding YouTube’s limitations. I was just trying to say that YouTube (and other dedicated video sites) is about the only place where you can actually see a string of music videos uninterrupted by asinine “cultural programming” these days.

  38. prof, do you ever post anything good/positive on india? p.s. in the news section of this blog, someone has posted a story on fratricide in punjab….any takers?

  39. I post on what interests me.

    If you’re not happy about it, try go reading Good News India. I hear they have lots of good news over there. While you’re there, please say hello to my good friend, Dr. Pangloss.

  40. “maybe IÂ’m the best person to do a little mini-elegy”

    An elegy generally refers to poetic verse. I think you meant a eulogy, which is prosaic. Yeah, I’m that dorky. Grillz!

  41. I’m kind of bummed, only because I never got a chance to watch MTVDesi and I would have wanted to see what it was like. But, I have to admit, I didn’t have high hopes. I used to love MTV and VH1 when they played music videos and other music related stuff, but I saw them both become overrun with reruns and reality programs and it just wasn’t the same as before. Maybe some other hip and current desi theme channel will pop up somewhere. I would love to be able to have one.

  43. I post on what interests me. If you’re not happy about it, try go reading Good News India. I hear they have lots of good news over there. While you’re there, please say hello to my good friend, Dr. Pangloss.

    I have posted on what interests me here, apprehensive of this kind of outright bad behavior.

    Thanks to Professor Martin.

  44. Hey H1Biyatch, who you calling an Auntie? 🙂

    Some of us get satellite ‘cos it’s all that’s available where we live…and I have yet to succumb to the soaps, though I grew up on telenovelas, so I do feel the pull sometimes….

  45. “maybe IÂ’m the best person to do a little mini-elegy”
    An elegy generally refers to poetic verse. I think you meant a eulogy, which is prosaic. Yeah, I’m that dorky. Grillz!

    Wow, this is rich. Getting didactic with a literature prof! Don’t think you’re a troll, so I’ll bite. Not sure why Amardeep hasn’t clarified, maybe it’s too obvious. A eulogy is exactly that, and need neither be prosaic nor be in prose, nor be specifically about the demise of someone or something, usage has developed this as only one of the many senses of the word. An elegy is specifically a reflection on the passing of something or someone, and need not be in the poetic metre, though most famous elegies have been.

    I’ve never watched MTV Desi, for that matter I’ve only watched MTV itself for only a few minutes in all – I think the death of MTV Desi has less to do with the supposed small size of the market than that it is already being served by alternative channels.

    Peace.

  46. A eulogy is exactly that, and need neither be prosaic nor be in prose, nor be specifically about the demise of someone or something, usage has developed this as only one of the many senses of the word. An elegy is specifically a reflection on the passing of something or someone, and need not be in the poetic metre, though most famous elegies have been.

    Maybe its time for the literature prof to weigh in. My impression was that elegies have to be poetic or musical compositions.

  48. this dude is a straight d-bag and an embarrassment to legit desis everywhere. lame shirt too, on the real.

  49. i find it ironic that a guy who writes books on the theme of secularism is accused of communalistic rhetoric.

    by the way, i love evil abhi.

  50. I am an Indian, a desi if you will, no As, Bs, or Cs. No hyphens either in front of my identity.

    I found the clip a little offensive. India the poorest country in the world ? India obscenely corrupt ? India has to have nuclear weapons because ‘uncles and babus’ say so ? Indians treat him like an American when he goes back (which, judging from his tone, is something terrible)

    I wonder if the dude find anything nice at all with India. Lastly there was that pedagogic, dont be proud of India because of its economy or what ‘they’ tell you..

    I grew up in India, spent the first 25 years of my life there, not just in the backstreets of bombay but other smaller towns and cities as well. Places you would not have heard the names of.. and I have seen the changes.. where there were two good schools, one for girls and one for boys, there are ten and a couple that are Co-ed, where there was one engineering college, there are several.. where there was just one or two kinds of jobs to choose from, today there are no limits.. where a mother would get worried if her daughter was not back home by 6 in the evening, girls choose their own partners..

    There are warts, sure.. we need better public hospitals, better roads, more schools and colleges, a better police, a better polity.. but what has been done and what has been achieved is not negligible either. Excuse my verbosity, but there is no other way to say this.. 17 years ago, I saw the flower of Indias youth immolate itself, such was the despondence and such the despotism.. And I see my younger cousins today, full of hope, irreverance and a lot of hormones 😉

    Sure.. its not the same everywhere, We have a ways to go.. but please dont insult us by telling us, what little we have is nothing to be proud of.

    I am an Indian, and I am proud of how far we have come from the days of my adolescence.. I know we have far to go, but that wont stop me from looking back and being thankful for where we are.