Entertainment Weekly Overview Piece on Pivot Programming

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Pivot: New cable channel launches Thursday with ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’
by Mandi Bierly on Jul 31, 2013 at 7:19PM @ewmandibierly

The fact that Pivot, a new network for millennials, is launching Aug. 1, the date MTV hit television in 1981, is purely coincidental. But here’s something that isn’t: The first thing Pivot will air at 6 a.m. ET on Thursday is a video for “Video Killed the Radio Star.”

You may recall that the Buggles’ video was the first one played on MTV 32 years ago. For its update, which celebrates a new generation’s creative power, Pivot recorded independent artists live all over Los Angeles, including Run River North, Goldspot, London Thor, Far and Away, Musical Mammal and Rainbow Jackson. Watch it below. Then, read what Pivot president Evan Shapiro, formerly of IFC TV and the Sundance Channel, has to say about what’s to come on the network — starting with the imported Australian comedy Please Like Me and Friday Night Lights Fridays (thank his millennial daughter for that).

First, the basics: Pivot is a network targeting viewers 18-34 from Participant Media, a company focusing on entertainment that sparks conversations and inspires change (its films include Lincoln, An Inconvenient Truth, and The Help). Pivot — which will be available in about 40 million homes to start, and integrate a live and on demand streaming option via its Pivot APP — will program original series and acquired programming, along with documentaries and films that will not be edited for time or content. Here’s just a tease of what’s on tap: