MHD BECOMES PALLADIA

MHD, the hi-def channel of MTV Networks, has been given a new name—Palladia—and a passel of new programming. Exclusive concerts will be aired on Saturday nights, with rock movies shown on Thursday nights.

Palladia, which officially changes its name on Labor Day (9/1), will kick things off with “Outdoor Music Week,” featuring recent and archival performances by Madonna, Usher, Dave Matthews Band, Eric Clapton, John Mayer, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, Green Day, Genesis, Jay-Z, Amy Winehouse, Foo Fighters, Kanye West, David Bowie, Snoop Dogg, Sugarland, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dierks Bentley, Hank Williams Jr., Queen, Will Smith and The Rolling Stones.

The subsequent weekly concert series will be telecast every Saturday at 9, while “seminal rock movies” will air Thursdays at 9.

Future programming will include a hip-hop weekend in October and a classic-rock movie week in November, with the main attractions being the first-ever HD airings of Led Zeppelin’s Song Remains The Same, Pink Floyd: The Wall and The Stones’ Let’s Spend The Night Together. In December, Palladia will spend a week looking back at 2008, including HD versions the VMAs, VH1's Hip Hop Honors and the CMT Music Awards 2008.

H1 EVP/GM Tom Calderone, who has also been in charge of MHD throughout its two-and-a-half-year existence, enthuses that the Palladia name is “bigger, more distinct” and “solidifies the channel’s position as the premier music channel in the growing high-def universe… We believe these changes will help our distributor partners as they continue to sell HD and strive for the best content.”

The channel is in about 12 million homes in the U.S. via major Comcast, Cox, Verizon FiOS, Time Warner Cable, Dish, DirecTV, Charter, AT&T u-Verse and Insight.