MTV in HD Set to Broadcast from Vail Mountain

November 15, 2005

Denver, Colo.–Beginning January 16, 2006, MTV Networks Music Group will let the world in on a secret many skiers and snowboarders have known for countless winters.

Vail Rocks. It will also soon hip hop, country and soul.

In a November 15, announcement, MTV and Vail Resorts announced a partnership that will forever change the winter music landscape. This winter, Vail Mountain will become the inaugural headquarters of MTV’s new HDTV music channel, MHD. A custom-built studio located on top of Vail Mountain’s Eagles Nest at 10,350 feet above sea level will be the home to all original programming created specifically for the HDTV network.

“We are pleased to welcome MTV to Colorado and are excited to showcase our state’s unrivaled ski experience to a national and international audience, said Colorado Lieutenant Gov. Jane Norton.

MHD will feature original music-based programming as well as HDTV acquisitions and original content from MTV, VH1, and CMT family of services including MTV Unplugged, MTV2 $2 Bill concerts, VH1 Storytellers and CMT Crossroads as well as network specials including the MTV Video Music Awards and the CMT Music Awards. Distribution details and a full programming schedule will be announced closer to launch.

“Choice of location meant everything for this project, said MTV’s senior vice president business development and strategy Tony Dunaif. “We needed it to be dramatic and picturesque.

The state-of-the-art studio will showcase the Colorado mountain lifestyle with floor-to-ceiling glass and lodge-style construction. Skiers and snowboarders will be able to see myriad musician performances and celebrity appearances while they take pause from their day on the slopes.

“This is a long-term investment, said Vail Resorts COO Bill Jensen. “MTV’s target demographic of 18 — 34-year-olds is key to the success of Vail and the snowsports industry as a whole.

Besides television exposure, shots of skiing in Colorado, specifically at Vail, will soon be broadcast live in Times Square on MTV’s enormous HDTV screen.

[NEXT “”]George Oliphant, a lifelong devotee of skiing and snowboarding and current mtvU on-air personality, will host original shows such as “MHD Top Ten and “MHD Video Stew, live in-studio events and interviews with artists from the top of Vail Mountain as the VJ of MHD. Later in 2006, US Team freestyle skier, Warren Miller athlete and former University of Colorado wide receiver Jeremy Bloom will join George as an on-air VJ when he returns from the Winter Olympics in Italy.

Bloom says he is looking forward to the new challenge and will “find time between training for the Olympics, obtaining a spot on the Olympic competition team and preparing for the 2006 NFL draft.

While snowmakers are busy covering our slopes and Mother Nature adds her own downy flakes to the mix, skiers and snowboarders will be preparing their HDTVs for MHD’s January 16, 2006 launch, a date that may soon be remembered as the most significant development in ski country since snow.

Check out the Higher Ground trailer featuring Jeremy Bloom in HD