Record Firms Reportedly Shelve Plans for MTV Rival

Five of the world’s biggest record companies have reportedly dropped plans to launch a U.S. competitor to music video channel MTV.

The companies had disclosed a year ago that they were considering creating a rival to MTV that would be carried on cable TV systems in the United States and Puerto Rico.

The Wall Street Journal reported in Friday’s editions that the plan has been shelved. It cited knowledgeable executives it did not identify.

Spokesmen for the five companies involved in the proposed new channel either declined to comment or failed to return calls.

The companies are Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Music Group, Sony Corp., Thorn EMI, Bertelsmann’s BMG Entertainment and PolyGram.

The Justice Department has reportedly been looking into the potential antitrust implications of record companies forming their own music video channel.

MTV owner Viacom Inc. has expressed concern over whether a channel owned by record companies would give MTV the same access to videos as their own channel would have enjoyed.

The Journal said the backers of the rival service also face an uphill battle to get cable TV systems to free a channel for another music video network because of channel capacity constraints.