VH1 takes soca into US homes.
T&T Guardian Reports.
VH1 Soul, a US cable channel, is set for a relaunch on February 2. And featured in the channel’s new line-up, for the first time, will be soca and calypso music videos.
The channel, which reaches 20 million homes in the US, will relaunch with a line-up of ten separate themed music video programme blocks, one of which is Island Soul.
That block will showcase reggae, dancehall, calypso and soca music videos.
Responding to the inclusion of soca and calypso in the VH1 Soul programming, Caribbean media producer and CEO of EZone Entertainment, Lisa Wickham, said it was a positive step.
“We welcome any opportunity for the work to be recognised internationally in a meaningful way and not in a patronising way,” she said.
“If a mainstream channel restructures to include Caribbean music it can only be for the better.”
MTV Tempo, VH1 Soul’s sister network, has yet to reach the US and is planning to do so later this year. The other video blocks on VH1 Soul are the Soul Player, Best in Soul, Soul Squared, Soul School and Sub Soul. VH1 Soul, launched in 1997, is a 24-hour network. (ES).
