Vevo launches linear music channel

Music video website Vevo has launched a 24-hour linear music TV channel in the US and Canada.

Universal Music and Sony-backed Vevo has initially launched the channel on the web and via Xbox and Roku set-tops, as well as on iOS devices and Android and Windows Mobile handsets. However, italso has expressed an ambition to strike traditional carriage deals with cable operators.

Vevo TV will feature a constant stream ofvideos curated by VJs on the model pioneered by MTV in the 1980s. Vevo CEO Rio Caraeff told the Financial Times that the channel was “about a return to how it used to be” and that the company saw a demand for a “programmed, linear experience”. The channel will be supported by advertising.

Billboard cited Caraeff as saying that Vevo planned to launch Vevo TV channels in international markets including Europe and Latin America in the near future, and is currently working to add local programming capabilities.

Vevo is currently in negotiations with Google to renew its existing distribution deal with YouTube, which Caraeff said was “nearing completion”.