The Insider: MTV Flux.

MTV has set itself the bold ambition of reinvigorating music television as it prepares for the launch of its user-generated music channel MTV Flux.

The channel will roll out on September 6, along with a mobile community, allowing users to interact with both the channel and a Flux website by SMS text and WAP. The site itself will go live tomorrow (Tuesday).

MTV Networks UK & Ireland vice president of commercial strategy and digital media Angel Gambino says MTV Flux is aiming to go further with the idea of user-generated content sites such as MySpace. "In the UK, there are 27 music channels; I'm always staggered by that number," she says. "What we wanted to do was to reignite the genre and create something distinctive."

Gambino says music television has become an "in-the-background experience" and MTV Flux will be different because users - or "Fluxers"- can interact with the TV channel over the internet and mobile phones.

"You get to rate and vote for the particular tracks that will make it to the TV screen," she explains.

Some MTV Flux technology has been tested in other markets: Italy has a user-generated website, Japan has a mobile community and the US has a service providing user-generated content specifically for mobiles. However, the UK and Irish service will pull these together and add new elements.

The biggest development for the UK and Irish market is using a TV channel in a user-generated community. "Using the TV screen in ...