Tune In on Saturday, August 1st for Three Never-Before-Seen MJ Tribute Shows Featuring Commentary From Diddy, Teddy Riley, Akon and More
NEW YORK-- (July 31, 2009) On Saturday, August 1st, MTV will celebrate its 28th birthday by giving Michael Jackson fans the ultimate present – three all-new tribute shows about the pop superstar. Viewers will see a mix of interviews, music videos and more about the artist throughout the day.
This historic event kicks off at noon ET/PT with the world premiere of "Michael Jackson's Human Nature." This half hour special will feature candid stories from the pop icon's friends and colleagues about Michael Jackson the human being, rather than the entertainer. Jackson touched many lives through his music and this show will tell the stories of the many people he impacted directly.
Every celebration needs some Michael Jackson hits, so MTV is giving viewers 90 minutes of MJ's most popular videos as decided by their number of streams on mtv.com. "Michael Jackson's Top 10 Video Countdown" (12:30PM ET/PT) will also feature facts and trivia about each video, as well as rare interview footage of Michael discussing his hit singles.
At 2PM, MTV will present the world premiere of "Michael Jackson's Influence on Music," an hour-long special featuring a collection of the top videos from the many artists who have been influenced by the King of Pop. From Justin Timberlake to Usher, MTV viewers will be treated to the hits inspired by Michael Jackson. As an added birthday bonus to viewers, MTV will also feature streaming messages from artists remembering Michael Jackson, along with exclusive interviews about the impact Jackson had on their music and their lives.
Michael's mark was left on the world of dance as well as music, so MTV is topping off the celebration with an encore presentation of "America's Best Dance Crew – Michael Jackson's Thriller" at 3PM. In this special episode of ABDC, dance crews choreographed their own moves to tracks from Jackson's "Thriller" album to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
About MTV
MTV is the dynamic, vibrant experiment at the intersection of music, creativity and youth culture. For over 27 years, MTV has evolved, challenged the norm, and detonated boundaries -- giving each new generation a creative outlet and voice that entertains, informs and unites on every platform and screen. On-air, MTV is the number one rated full-day ad-supported cable network for P12-24. Online, MTV.com grew a healthy +9% from 1Q09, averaging 23.6M unique visitors for the second quarter of 2009. The site continues to grow video content streams, up significantly from 1Q09 by +15%, generating a whopping 262.2M streams in Q209, a +7% increase from the same time period last year. And MTV's successful sibling networks MTV2, mtvU and MTV Tr3s each deliver unprecedented customized content, super-serving music fans, college students and young American Latinos like no one else. MTV is part of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Wanna know more? Come on in… www.mtvpress.com.
Contacts:
Tom Biro
MTV Press
862.485.0711
Tom.Biro@mtvstaff.com
