1. What strategy did MTV Networks pursue when it initially started to expand internationally? What assumptions were managers at MTV making about foreign markets at the time?

2. What strategy does MTV pursue today? What are the benefits of this strategy? What are the costs?

3. What must MTV do, in term of its management and organization, to implement its current strategy?

MTV Networks: A Global Brand Goes Local

MTV Networks is one of the most successful businesses at globalization; it generates over $2 billion in revenues overseas annually and has some 300 million subscribers outside the U.S. In 1987, its first year of overseas operations, MTV managers naively assumed that Europeans would be interested in American pop stars and commentary. Soon, copycats began to offer local programming, spurring MTV to create separate regional channels, including thirty-one in Europe and ten in Asia. The programming and music videos feature local performers, and all of it is delivered by local VJs (video jockeys). Ratings are growing and there is much less of a threat from copycats. Even more importantly, advertising revenues are up, especially revenues from local advertisers.