No Rock And Roll Fun

BLOWING A FUSE: While EMAP's stations (and, to a lesser extent, Sky's little trio of music channel) nipping at MTV's heels in the UK, MTV is now facing stiff competition on its home turf from upstart music network Fuse - and is playing dirty to try and squish the new competition. MTV is insisting on exclusives from some artists in a bid to try and choke off the supply from Fuse - Radiohead's There, There was one which MTV gathered up to is bosom screeching "mine" (we wonder how Thom felt about that?). At the moment, MTV is able to get away with this because of the squillions of dollars they pay to record companies in licensing deals, and because of their larger audience. But with Fuse being seen as the bright and edgy choice, it's only going to be a matter of time before artists who seek to pretend they're streety start to wonder if they might not be better off on the young network rather than the besuited Viacom behemoth.