INHD's New Moniker: Mojo

“Mr. Mojo Risin', Gotta keep on risin' Risin', Risin'”— “LA Woman,” The Doors

By Mike Reynolds 3/19/2007

Executives at In Demand certainly believe that their Mojo will keep risin' as well.

After rolling out a primetime programming block under the Mojo banner last June, the cable industry's purveyor of movies, out-of-market sports packages and pay-per-view events on May 1 will affix that name to its high-definition channel, currently called INHD.

When Mojo debuts on May Day, the service will expand its original high-definition series in primetime, aimed principally at “active affluent” males, according to CEO Robert Jacobson.

The change will be supported by a multimillion-dollar marketing and advertising campaign, with TV commercials featuring music and the “Mr. Mojo Risin' ” lyric from The Doors' song “L.A. Woman.”

In Demand has been making headlines in recent weeks as the cable industry is engaged in a high-profile battle with DirecTV Inc. to retain “MLB Extra Innings,” Major League Baseball's out-of-market game package. (See story on page 8.)

Jacobson said the Mojo move has the backing of the cable industry and the company's owners: Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications. “The original programming block has been performing well,” he said.

The rise of Mojo essentially dates back to when INHD launched on Sept. 15, 2003, as a service presenting enhanced movies and music programming. As In Demand executives expected, the market for high-definition programming has grown, but there remains a relative dearth of dedicated channels. None, they said, are specifically aimed at affluent males ages 25 to 49 with a batch of original programs.

“Fortunately, we were right in our projections. We were confident that there would be strong appeal for exclusive content aimed at high-end males,” said Jacobson. “We get a lot of sampling and advertisers have responded to reach out to this sweet spot of consumers.”

Jacobson said that since the premiere of the Mojo programming block last June, INHD has achieved a 37% increase in ad revenue. INHD is available in about 6 million of the approximately 7 million cable households that now get high-definition service.

To tout Mojo's rise, In Demand senior vice president of marketing Stacie Gray said the network is bringing hosts from a number of its original series to Los Angeles this week. These include Bob Arnott from Dr. Danger, Zane Lamprey from Three Sheets and Dave Hill from the upcoming series, The King of Miami.

The March 23 shoot is expected to yield taggable 30-second spots that operators will run on cross-channel availabilities. Sixty-second spots and interstitials will also be created for In Demand and Mojo's own air, as well as stills for the print portion of the campaign.

Gray said the hosts' “Mojo personality” will shine through, with the Jim Morrison version of “L.A. Woman” in play.

“There was instant recognition for the song,” she said. The song will be slightly remixed and embedded in the commercials.

Featuring the tagline “Welcome to the Club,” the multimedia campaign, slated to begin in mid April and continue into June, will also feature online and outdoor elements, and some consumer events in select locations.

Mojo's primetime lineup features commissioned original programs and acquired first-run and U.S. exclusive series on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturday from 9 p.m. to midnight Eastern time. The block then repeats for the Pacific time zone. Sports (Tuesdays), movies (Thursdays) and music (Fridays) dominate the schedule the other nights.

Last Wednesday, Mojo premiered Uncorked with Billy Merritt, in which the comedian, who prefers beer, tries to get sophisticated about wines, and Three Sheets, featuring comedian Lamprey's travelogue/pub crawl. The month before, the second season of music showcase London Live hit the air.

On May 7, faux reality series King of Miami will find comedian Hill trying to become “the guy” in that city, while I Bet You showcases a pair of professional poker buddies trying to one up one another — whether getting more tips from tending bar or finding Danny DeVito's home via Hollywood maps. This summer, Mojo will follow six Arizona Diamondbacks Triple A prospects trying to find their way to The Show.

David Asch, senior VP of programming at In Demand, said Mojo has also given green-lit sophomore seasons of Dr. Danger and Wall Street Warriors.

http://multichannel.com/article/CA6425787.html

One can only hope all of there programming is as good as "Untold Stories Uncut: Strip Club Confessions". :rolleyes:

Only INHD (now MOJO) can have a show about strippers with absolutely no nudity in it. :confused:

Absolute waste of a :rolleyes: channel.

Absolute waste of a :rolleyes: channel.

They show NBAtv HD a few nights a weeks, plus the NFL Network HD games. I've found a few things worth watching, but for the most part, it is a worthless channel.

However, they always have HD content, if a fix is needed

They show...the NFL Network HD games.

That is a local Cable company option. They do not show them nationally.

That is a local Cable company option. They do not show them nationally.

Odd, it was advertised on their website last fall.

Does anyone really use the term "Mojo" anymore?

Odd, it was advertised on their website last fall.

I can assure you that none of the Cablevision or TWC subs saw NFL Network HD games on INHD. We got regular INHD programming during those games. If you went into the details of those listings under the sports section you would have seen they had no date or time associated with them. Also, the main schedule never listed the games.

Call me when it changes its name to "HDNet or HDNet Movies."

Where did I hear this before? Oh, I remember.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9359725&&#post9359725

Call me when it changes its name to "HDNet or HDNet Movies."Good one, but don't hold your breath.

Where did I hear this before? Oh, I remember.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9359725&&#post9359725

What took them so long. :)

Several comments: Does ANYONE (other than the suits who run the channel) think Mojo is a good name for a cable channel? What gives with the recent run of lame names such as My Network, Versus, and now Mojo?

Two, if the backers are trying to turn InHD into a viable HD channel rather than a HD placeholder / technology demo with no real identity that it has been, maybe they will offer it to Verizon Fios and the satellite companies at a reasonable price? Not that the channel will be of that much interest to me, beyond any sports they may provide, but it is an national HD channel, so I rather see Verizon add it.

they should rename it WOB....waste of bandwidth

I'm not “active affluent” so I guess I can't watch this thing :D

“Mr. Mojo Risin', Gotta keep on risin' Risin', Risin'”— “LA Woman,” The Doors

By Mike Reynolds 3/19/2007

The rise of Mojo essentially dates back to when INHD launched on Sept. 15, 2003, as a service presenting enhanced movies and music programming. As In Demand executives expected, the market for high-definition programming has grown, but there remains a relative dearth of dedicated channels. None, they said, are specifically aimed at affluent males ages 25 to 49 with a batch of original programs.

“Fortunately, we were right in our projections. We were confident that there would be strong appeal for exclusive content aimed at high-end males,” said Jacobson. “We get a lot of sampling and advertisers have responded to reach out to this sweet spot of consumers.”


Isn't this "affluent male age 25-49" the target demographic for every channel and network out there (perhaps with the exception of Lifetime, Oxygen and a few other niche channels)....? They're all competing for the eyeballs of rich, young dudes and everybody else doesn't exist. :rolleyes:

To say that demographic is somehow underserved is ridiculous. As anyone who keeps up with current movies and TV, that demo is graphically overserved relative to the population as a whole.

perfectly suited lame name for what's becoming a lame channel

no more NHL, DHDT and NGHD coming to CV this week and now no interest for me to watch INHD any longer

sorry I can't get my self to use the new name - perhaps one of their execs is stuck in a bad Austin Powers movie

just out right stupid

INHD has gone downhill since they shut down INHD2. Fewer good concerts, lame movies, loss of NHL games and very few good shows. I'd rather have HDNet.

The only thing I enjoy on the network is Three Sheets. Other than that, I rarely tune in to INHD/Mojo.

Will they even have movies at all anymore?

The bug is smaller than the INHD monstrosity but it is very distracting in the upper right corner. Do they do test studies to find the most annoying placement?

Call me when it changes its name to "HDNet or HDNet Movies."Agreed. My local cable company was taken over by Comcast and it dumped the HDNet channels for TNT.

Now I get movies that are edited for time and content, stretch-o-visioned, have commercials AND animated bugs.

And all this time I thought watching movies uncut, OAR and commercial free was what I enjoyed ...

They did show "Clockwork Orange" a few weeks ago :-) At 2:00 a.m. !!! :eek: so it's on my DVR :D

They Showed Star 80 uncut. They do show nudity. It's the T&A swimsuit shows that baffle me with their prudishness.

Also INHD's concerts are still a lot more fun to watch than MHD's tired old loops. At least INHD gets bigger stars. And INHD seems to have better video quality than MHD.

They Showed Star 80 uncut. They do show nudity. It's the T&A swimsuit shows that baffle me with their prudishness.

Also INHD's concerts are still a lot more fun to watch than MHD's tired old loops. At least INHD gets bigger stars. And INHD seems to have better video quality than MHD.

Mojo edits there concerts. I was interested in watching a Korn concert and INHD bleeped every other word. Very annoying. They edit strange things. They show movies uncut but they edit shows with titles like Stripper. The only reason for watching a show with Stripper in the title is to see a naked woman. Whey would I want to see some skank fully clothed talking about her day?

I don't watch this channel much now. I only watch the NBA-HD Broadcasts.. I would actually tune to see the I-MAX moves they showed.

Is there a reason why they are waiting till May 1st to officially change the name. Almost all on channel branding is already MOJO.

Q&A: Robert D. Jacobson, In Demand Networks

On the Demise of INHD2, and Rebranding of INHD Into Mojo

Earlier this week, In Demand Networks announced its 4-year-old general entertainment channel INHD was going to re-brand into a men's network called Mojo. The news came five months after In Demand folded its other channel, INHD2.
In Demand is owned by a consortium of cable operators, including Comcast, Cox and Time Warner. When INHD and INHD2 launched in 2003, some considered the networks to be "placeholders"—a way for cable operators to stock an HD tier until audience favorites such as USA, TNT and A&E launch their own HD channels.

By late last year, most major cable networks either had an HD channel or were making plans to launch one as part of DirecTV's push to carry 100 HD channels by the end of 2007. In this increasingly crowded field, In Demand's two channels were under increasing pressure to do more than simply fill space.

So INHD2 was quietly folded, while INHD will rebrand May 1 as Mojo, adopting the identity of the network's prime-time original programming block. Since debuting the block last summer, In Demand said it has seen a 37 percent increase in advertising revenue.

Mojo will feature original unscripted original programming such as "Uncorked With Billy Merritt," a "guy's guide to wine" where comedian Mr. Merritt travels to vineyards and restaurants; "I Bet You," with poker pros and longtime friends Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari traveling the country making bets on anything and everything; "The Show," about a group of baseball players attempting to transition to the big leagues; and "London Live," a concert series.

TVWeek spoke to Rob Jacobson, president and CEO of In Demand Networks, about the brand change, INHD2 and whether Mark Cuban is correct when he says Mojo is still just reserving a space.

TVWeek: How was the rebranding decision made?

Mr. Jacobson: We launched the channel back in September 2003, and we knew the time was going to come when it was no longer enough to be about technology, it was going to be about programming and having a brand that stood on its own.

TVWeek: So you're saying from the very beginning, INHD was planned to become something else?

Mr. Jacobson: No. From the beginning, INHD was developed to serve the needs of cable operators to satisfy people's desire for more HD programming. In order for the channel to stand for something other than high definition, we always had planned the channel would evolve and have an independent identity.
We didn't know what [identity], we only knew the channel lineup was going to get very cluttered with well-established brands.
At the same time, we were evaluating the programming landscape to make sure we had a programming landscape that was sustainable.

TVWeek: But you didn't just have INHD, you also launched INHD2.

Mr. Jacobson: We launched both at same time. In 2003, when the channels were conceived, there was very little in the way of HD programming. The channels were in part to meet that demand and appetite.
The second channel was to some degree a bandwidth-efficient response to what the cable operators were going to do locally. INHD2 was often preempted by regional sports networks. A lot of those regional sports networks are now stand-alone channels in HD.
We could take the best programming from INHD and INHD2 and meld them together into Mojo.

TVWeek: You're referring to being what some call a placeholder. I asked Mark Cuban about the Mojo rebranding. He said INHD and Mojo "were, and are, a placeholder for third-party programming, like the NBA, NHL and others." So is Mojo still a placeholder or are you here to stay?

Mr. Jacobson: Had we not done what we did, Mark might have been right.
He's going to confront some of the same challenges that we did—a channel nomenclature that is just about the technology. We need to be about something other than the technology, and that's what Mojo is.
As many men watch television, there are not many [channels] that speak to the active affluents—men making more than $100,000 a year and who are active. It's a sustainable channel option.
To some degree, Mark's comment might be wishful thinking: If we're a placeholder, then it could clear up some bandwidth for his channel.

TVWeek: Are upscale men really underserved? There's HBO, SpikeTV, G4, Comedy Central, ESPN and others.

Mr. Jacobson: Spike, to me, skews younger. Comedy Central isn't as male-centric as Mojo. We knew we wouldn't compete with ESPN on sports, or USA and TNT as general entertainment programming.

TVWeek: Why do original programming instead of acquired?

Mr. Jacobson: Ultimately, if you are going to be a branded destination, you are going to be about originals. Strategic acquisitions are always helpful. On HBO, people watch the movies, but [the network is] known for 'The Sopranos.'

TVWeek: HD programming tends to be movies, sports, nature, music and high drama. You're doing a lot of reality programming, which is usually the last type of programming to get upgraded to hi-def. Are these shows really the best fit for a pure-HD network? Or, at this point, since everybody is going HD, is the HD aspect sort of beside the point?

Mr. Jacobson: It's a really good point.
You have to look at the day when it's not about the technology anymore. It's about the programming.
One of the things cable operators really like it that it's 24/7 programming in HD and 5.1 surround sound.
But you have to look at the road ahead, three to five years from now, when all programming is in HD. You don't want to be the Color Television Channel.

http://www.tvweek.com/page.cms?pageId=648

I just checked out some of my recording of the film "Klute". This is a VERY good movie, it was presented 2.35:1 OAR, and the new "Mojo" bug is contained entirely within the black bar area! How unsucky of INHD/Mojo! It's nice to see them not do something entirely wrong, even if they're still batting only .0025. Not that I'm no longer pining for Comcast to pick up HDNet.

the new mojo delivers

the programming is very good IMO

I like it a lot

INHD has a commercial about going "100% Mojo" in May.

I just checked out some of my recording of the film "Klute". This is a VERY good movie, it was presented 2.35:1 OAR, and the new "Mojo" bug is contained entirely within the black bar area! How unsucky of INHD/Mojo! It's nice to see them not do something entirely wrong, even if they're still batting only .0025. Not that I'm no longer pining for Comcast to pick up HDNet.

Good things dont last long, do they. Mojo logo is now moved more toward the middle and half of it would be in picture even if content is 2.35:1. I hope they dont take back the increased bitrate too. Also they seem to use Mojo logo 24 hours now, used to be during the night only.

I still prefer old INHD though, better and more concerts. Do we really need same 2 episodes of London Live played 3 times a day?

Yeah. The people who run MOJO really piss me off. They always mess up a good thing. The old placement of the MOJO logo was WAY better. Whoever invented logos for channels needs to die of nut cancer. :mad:

If anyone needed to die of nut cancer, it was Tom Green.

In related news, NBC is changing its name to HooDoo.

R.I.P. INHD

No more INHD.com.

http://www.mojohd.com/

Weekly schedule:

http://www.mojohd.com/schedule/

In related news, NBC is changing its name to HooDoo.
I heard VH1 is changing its name to Ganja.

and HDNet movies is changing its name to Comcast movienet. :)