MTV built itself into an entertainment powerhouse by keeping an ear tuned to pop-music trends. The channel probably doesn't like what it's hearing now: the footsteps of a competitor.
Since its debut seven months ago, Fuse has been steadily picking up music video viewers. Viacom Inc., which owns MTV, is playing hardball in response, industry sources say, exercising a provision in contracts with record labels that requires them to provide music videos for Viacom's exclusive use.
Executives at the five major record conglomerates won't talk publicly about the move. Privately, they're griping about what they say is MTV's bid to strong-arm them in order to keep its near-monopoly status in the music TV business.
The labels agreed to the exclusivity provisions in contracts signed years ago. But executives say those deals were signed back when MTV had little serious competition.
MTV has claimed exclusive rights to some eagerly awaited clips, including Radiohead's "There There," Beyonce Knowles' "Crazy in Love," Limp Bizkit's "Eat You Alive," Puddle of Mudd's "Away From Me," Blink-182's "Feeling This," and Linkin Park's "Numb."
Under the labels' contracts, the Viacom network can air a video exclusively for as long as six months, sources say.
MTV's position as the dominant force in music television has never before been seriously challenged. In 1994, major record companies launched plans to start their own 24-hour music channel but scrapped the idea in the face of a Justice Department antitrust inquiry.
Right now, Fuse's reach is limited. It is available through cable and satellite systems in about 34 million households, while MTV2 is in 50 million and MTV is in more than 86 million.
But Fuse has been winning points among music executives and media analysts.
"Fuse has been very successful in establishing a relevant brand in a very short period of time," said Jack Myers, a media analyst and publisher of the Jack Myers Report. "MTV is in a position of being forced to pay attention."
The upstart channel is emerging as an MTV rival at a time when the music industry is suffering from a three-year slide in CD sales.
"Given the current crisis in the music industry, it's a shame that anyone would seek to prevent the work of today's artists from getting to as many people as possible," said Marc Juris, president of Fuse Networks, which is owned by Cablevision Systems Corp.
