• New York Times via International Herald Tribune, Tuesday, February 20, 2007 11:16 AM

MTV has long prospered because it looked like what a network would be if a 16-year-old were doing the programming. But the channel is now trying to make its way in a multiplatform world and the velocity of change has left it "occasionally looking as if were being programmed by an 83-year-old - namely Sumner Redstone."

At 25 years, MTV is suffering a decline in both ratings and cachet; finding the edge was easier before competition from video games, social-networking Web sites and amateur online video clips. Being the coolest thing on television is a feat, but not one with a lot of future when most of the coolest things no longer live there.

So MTV has been trying on screens of all sizes to engage consumers. "It's true that our viewers are telling us that they want an experience beyond linear television," says Christina Norman, MTV's president. "We can deliver on a two-way relationship with our audience."

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