I'm not giving an ovation to this move

Perhaps you saw my tweet from a couple of days ago:

one world not on dvr. imf apparently does not air it at 3am pst any more. now when will i see-i mean hear-veronica maggio?

Background - at the time, there were only two shows that I regularly taped on my Dish Network DVR - the 10:00 pm Pacific showing of the Fox Soccer Report, and the 3:00 am Pacific showing of the International Music Feed (IMF) show One World, a half hour show that only showed videos from international artists, with some Swedish and Japanese singers and groups, plus performers from Germany, Taiwan, Finland, Latin America, and...well, the world. For examples of "One World" songs that I've previously blogged about, see my previous posts on:

• The aforementioned Veronica Maggio (Sweden, of Italian descent) and her video for "Dumpa Mig"


• Dala's (Canada) "Anywhere Under the Moon"


• Soulja's (Japan) video "Rain"

Anyway, this morning I figured that my task was go to IMF, figure out when they were showing "One World," and reprogram my DVR for the new time. Unfortunately, I couldn't find "One World." Then I realized that I couldn't find IMF. Before I started cussing Dish Network out, I researched and found out that they were not to blame - Universal sold IMF:

Ovation TV acquired Universal Music Group's International Music Feed, a cable channel available to more than 8 million subscribers, mainly through EchoStar Communications' Dish Network satellite-TV service....

Ovation, which relaunched last year, will take over the channel on Dish where IMF was as of Wednesday, raising Ovation's carriage to more than 25 million homes from 5 million about a year ago....

IMF is a 24-hour music network that covers a wide swath of genres, and Ovation hopes to use some of its programming on its schedule.

Unfortunately, Ovation seems to have cancelled most, if not all, of IMF's shows. And broadcastingcable.com readers are not happy:

i absolutely hate that imf is gone. ovation is so much different then it. i would understand that ovation took over if they had some sort of similar quality but instead it's a completely different music show, which i really don't like.

IMF was the last music video channel; the rest are all sitcom stations. I am so disappointed with the development.

I am EXTREMELY shocked and disappointed to know that IMF is off the air. It was the basically the only channel I watched and I could watch it for hours at a time. It was my favorite channel

Oh my goodness! I am so upset! IMF is my favourite channel, and it was playing all the time at my house! I loved it and I discovered so so many new bands from it! I am incredibly disappointed and I absolutely HATE the change. Ovation's programming is all old and terrible!! I can't stand it. I think this was the ABSOLTE worst choice they could have made for television. I think I am going to go cry now.

What a shame it is to throw the like of IMF to the garbage. IMF was what I used to relax, to unwind, to escape from my small place in the world for a little while. I cherished this station, for it is so hard to find a easily accesible station with a wider variety than whatever the american populous finds suitable. Ovation, comparatively, is a piece of crap, redundant in almost every way and reminiscent to The Tube Network. At least that was original. I am displeased with your desicion, naturally.

And there are reactions from other places, also, some of which I am actually able to print. From the g4 forums:

IMF is no longer on the air...
Posted: Jan 10, 2008 9:49 AM Reply

Son of a bitch. They replaced IMF with some crappy art channel called Ovation TV. For ***** sake. That channel played the best music.

Now I have to watch ****** FUSE which plays nothing but emo crap and mainstream hippidy hop. Son of a bitch.

And if you think that's strong, take a look at this one. (Again, Dish Network is not to blame.)

City Elf wrote a longer piece, a portion of which I have quoted below.

My favorite television channel ever has disappeared. The International Music Feed was purchased by Ovation TV (yeah, that stupid opera and ballet channel) and officially ceased programming today. I am so miserable right now I could just cry.

I know it sounds like a silly reason to be upset, but the International Music Feed played some of the most amazing videos from bands from around the world. Watching IMF made me more passionate about music than I've been since I was in high school....

One of the small pleasures in life recently has been coming home and turning on the tube to watch World's Best Videos, and now that's gone forever.

DAMN YOU TO HELL, OVATION TV!

(Read the rest here.)

As you can see, we're passionate about the loss.

I don't know if any of these people have contacted Ovation directly at http://www.ovationtv.com/forms/contact.aspx. I plan to contact them, or possibly put up a petition to reinstate "One World," or something.

Strangely enough the imfmusic Twitter account continues to crank out video names. However, there are no links on the page, and I'm not even sure of the relationship (if any) between the Twitter account and the former television station.

And I have found disagreement about the apparent conflict between Ovation and IMF programming. However, this disagreement came from Ovation:

Nick Henny, vice chairman and CFO of UMG [said] "Ovation TV is quickly emerging as an incredibly vibrant property with compelling programming. It's a perfect fit for IMF."

Did he just say "vibrant," the old Ludo Cremers word? Well, Henny may be talking about "vibrant," but they're certainly not talking "multicultural." Here's a sample of their schedule as of January 12 - all times are Eastern, by the way.

12:00 PM Music Express : Geri Halliwell
12:30 PM Music Express : The Cranberries
1:00 PM Music Express : Radiohead
1:30 PM Music Express : Morrissey
2:00 PM Music Express : Neville Brothers
3:00 PM Music Express : Simply Red
3:30 PM Music Express : Texas
4:00 PM Music Express : Alanis Morrissette
4:30 PM Music Express : Blondie
5:00 PM Music Express : Neville Brothers
6:00 PM Music Express : Simply Red
6:30 PM Music Express : Texas
7:00 PM Music Express : Alanis Morrissette
7:30 PM Music Express : Blondie
8:00 PM Nobody's Here But Me : Cindy Sherman
9:00 PM Grand Illusion
11:00 PM Nobody's Here But Me : Cindy Sherman
12:00 AM Grand Illusion
2:00 AM Grand Illusion

Somehow I have the sinking feeling that I won't be seeing artists such as Dala, Luvi De Andre, Johnossi, Veronica Maggio, Melissa Mars, Sohodolls, or Soulja on Ovation any time soon.

[11:53 AM PST - MORE ABOUT "ONE WORLD."]

[1:56 PM PST - I CONTACTED OVATION. YOU SHOULD TOO.]

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