Fuse is an American

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

channel launched in 1994 which was originally dedicated to music. After merging with the Latino-oriented

NuvoTV NuvoTV (formerly known as Sí TV) was an American cable television network. It was launched on February 25, 2004, and catered to the Latino community with exclusively English-language programming. It ended operations on September 30, 2015, when i ...

in 2015, Fuse shifted its focus to general entertainment and lifestyle programming targeting multicultural young adults. As of February 2015, Fuse was available to approximately 71,491,000 pay television households (61.4% of households with television) in the United States. With a number of cable operators, including major providers such as Verizon Fios, discontinuing their carriage since 2015, it currently has an availability of around 38 million pay television households.

History

As MuchMusic USA

The channel originally launched on July 1, 1994, as

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

USA; it was founded as a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between Rainbow Media (currently known as

AMC Networks AMC Networks Inc. is an American entertainment company headquartered in 11 Penn Plaza, New York. AMC Networks owns and operates the eponymous cable channel and its siblings, IFC, We TV, and Sundance TV; the art house movie theater IFC Cen ...

), a division of New York-based

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

-based

CHUM Limited CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1945 as York Broadcasters Limited when it launched CHUM-AM 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in 1954. CHU ...

. CHUM would later sell its 50% stake in the network to Cablevision in 2000, but allowed the continued use of the "MuchMusic" name under a

brand licensing Licensing means renting or leasing of an intangible asset. It is a process of creating and managing contracts between the owner of a brand and a company or individual who wants to use the brand in association with a product, for an agreed period ...

agreement. The channel suffered from a lack of carriage; outside of Cablevision's own systems and others (such as the now-defunct

PrimeStar PrimeStar was a U.S. direct broadcast satellite broadcasting company formed in 1991 by a consortium of cable television system operators ( TCI Satellite Entertainment Group, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Comcast and MediaOne) and GE A ...

), not many providers carried the network. Beginning in 1996, Rainbow began an effort to add U.S-produced original programming and music video blocks to the network. Certain Cablevision systems in major markets also experimented with locally oriented music countdown shows, typically produced in cooperation with a local radio station (such as Cablevision's Boston system producing the ''MuchMusic Boston Countdown'' together with radio station WFNX). In 1998, the network also began to be included in a sub-unit of Rainbow focused upon live pay-per-view events taking place at New York's world-famous

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...

and

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

(both also owned by Cablevision's founding Dolan family), ''Radio City Networks''. By 2001, MuchMusic USA began to diverge from its Canadian parent; it introduced a new logo identifying itself as MMUSA, and began to air its own original programming and music video blocks, often featuring user-submitted videos; the network's new direction centered around viewer interactivity via the Internet, with the "mmusa.tv" website being the focal point of the interaction. Carriage of the network began to expand with the rise of

digital cable Digital cable is the distribution of cable television using digital data and video compression. The technology was first developed by General Instrument. By 2000, most cable companies offered digital features, eventually replacing their previou ...

, with

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...

and

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

beginning to carry the channel around this time.

As Fuse

2003–2013

After CHUM revoked its licensing agreement for the U.S. channel to use the MuchMusic brand, Cablevision and Time Warner announced that it would relaunch MMUSA as Fuse in 2003; Fuse would officially relaunch on May 19, 2003. The channel indirectly bashed

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

with a slogan touting Fuse as the channel "where the music went." Fuse's advertising in this period, by New York-based

Amalgamated Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal **Pan ama ...

, generated controversy both through its more direct criticism of MTV, and through its parodies, particularly that of the iPod ad campaign.

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...

, corporate owner of MTV and, for a short while, the former owner of many of Fuse's current sister properties, protested when a Fuse billboard appeared across from its headquarters featuring

Sally Struthers Sally Anne Struthers (born July 28, 1947) is an American actress and activist. She played Gloria Stivic, the daughter of Archie and Edith Bunker (played by Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton) on ''All in the Family'', for which she won two Emm ...

' plea to "save the music video." In 2008, Fuse became the exclusive television partner for some major music events, including signing a three-year deal to air the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and the

Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an American annual four-day music festival developed and founded by Superfly Presents and AC Entertainment. Since its first year in 2002, it has been held at what is now Great Stage Park on a farm in ...

. In April 2010,

MSG Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is the sodium Salt (chemistry), salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese in this glutamic acid form. MSG is used in cooking as a fl ...

unit, including Fuse, was spun off as a separate publicly traded company,

The Madison Square Garden Company Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. (also known as MSG Sports) is an American sports holding company based in New York City. MSG Sports manages professional sports teams. These include the National Basketball Association's New York Knicks and t ...

. On June 20, 2010, Fuse simulcast the 2010 MuchMusic Video Awards, marking its first broadcast of MuchMusic programming since its relaunch. Other MuchMusic programming would return in 2011, including '' The Wedge'' and '' Video on Trial'' (which would also gain an American version).

Blink-182 Blink-182 (stylized as blink-182) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Poway, California in 1992. Their current lineup consists of bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though their ...

and former +44 singer/bassist

Mark Hoppus Mark Allan Hoppus (born March 15, 1972) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer best known as the bassist and co-lead vocalist for the rock band Blink-182, being the only constant member and the only one to appear on every album. ...

began hosting his own weekly television series on Fuse that year, titled '' Hoppus on Music''. On June 28, 2011,

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

and Fuse entered into a video syndication and content partnership. As part of the partnership, Fuse.tv syndicates Vevo's music video and entertainment programming, including exclusive music video premieres, live music events, and originally produced series. In the fall of 2012, Fuse refocused itself with a new on-air branding campaign created by design agency LoyalKaspar, with its website now featuring trending music news stories. That winter, Fuse launched a

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

for Android and

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

devices. In November 2012, Fuse announced the launch of ''Fuse News'', a daily news update program which debuted in February 2013.

2013–2019

In March 2013, anonymous sources leaked news that MSG was planning to sell all or part of Fuse, as the network had been struggling, and was facing growing competition from digital outlets. On April 4, 2014, MSG and SiTV Media, the parent company of the Latino-oriented entertainment network

, announced that SiTV would acquire Fuse for $226 million. SiTV outbid rival network Revolt, which had made a $200 million offer to acquire Fuse. As part of the deal, the Madison Square Garden Company would take a 15% stake in SiTV. Prior to the official announcement,

Benny Medina Benny Medina (born January 24, 1958) is an American record executive, talent manager, and television producer. Early life and education Medina was born in East Los Angeles, California, of Dominican parents into a poor family. The death of hi ...

(manager of

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...

, the network's chief creative officer) stated that if SiTV were to acquire Fuse, there were no immediate plans to make any major changes to the network's programming, emphasizing that Fuse and NuvoTV would be "two different companies with two different identities, audiences and goals." However, on May 1, ''Fuse News'' was cancelled with immediate effect, with the entire staff let go, along with other cuts throughout the network. The acquisition was completed on July 1, 2014. In March 2015, Fuse announced its would expand beyond music programming and merge with NuvoTV. A new programming slate was announced, including ''White Guy Talk Show'', a

late-night talk show A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show popular in the United States, where the format originated. It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest interviews, comedy sketches and music performances. It i ...

hosted by

Grace Parra Grace Parra Janney (born June 27, 1984) is an American screenwriter, presenter, and actress who was a contributor on ''The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore''. Career Born in Houston, Texas, she moved to New York City to attend Columbia Univers ...

and Saurin Choksi, which debuted on March 2, 2015; and, debuting on April 9, ''Skee TV'', hosted by

DJ Skee Scott Keeney (born 15 November 1983), better known by his stage name DJ Skee, is an American artist, television host, radio personality, and entrepreneur. Skee rose to fame as the first DJ to discover and play superstar artists on the radio incl ...

, featuring interviews and live performances. In addition, the newly rebranded parent company, Fuse Media, announced the launch of a new music channel focusing on "up-and-coming, young, diverse talent". The new channel, FM, would later launch on September 30, 2015, replacing NuvoTV. In April 2015, Fuse became the exclusive broadcaster of

Legends Football League The Extreme Football League (X League) is an American women's semi-professional tackle football league. The league was originally founded in 2009 as the Lingerie Football League (LFL), and later rebranded as the Legends Football League in 2013. ...

games in the United States. On July 31, 2015, Fuse announced they would relaunch with a new logo and branding on September 30, 2015. In addition to new series such as '' Transcendent'', which documents the lives of

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

women at AsiaSF Cabaret & Restaurant in San Francisco, and ''Revealed'', which features music videos, interviews, and behind-the-scenes footage of artists at work, Fuse announced a multi-year partnership with comedian

Gabriel Iglesias Gabriel Jesús Iglesias (born July 15, 1976), also known as Fluffy, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He has produced a number of stand-up specials for television outlets such as Comedy Central and Netflix, including ''I'm Not Fat… ...

for additional new programming and comedy specials. In November 2017, a partnership between

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

and Fuse was announced in which Fuse will air a block of Complex digital series under the ''Complex x Fuse'' banner. The block premiered on November 10, 2017. Towards the end of 2018, both

and

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...

announced that Fuse and FM would be dropped from

Xfinity Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications company and division of Comcast Corporation used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the com ...

and Fios on January 1, 2019, reasoning that the networks' lack of viewership and Fuse's

channel drift Channel drift or network decay is the gradual shift of a television network away from its original programming, to either target a newer and more profitable audience, or to broaden its viewership by including less niche programming. Often, this ...

towards a sitcom and film repeat-heavy lineup did not justify continued carriage of the networks. Then-Fuse Media CEO Michael Schwimmer made the claim the networks were being dropped as Comcast's

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

consent decree for their acquisition was relaxed regarding channel diversity and a commitment to independent channel operators, giving them an out from carrying the network. In reality, the decree remains in full effect and Fuse's ''de facto'' replacement, TV One sister network

Cleo TV Cleo TV (stylized as CLEOTV) is an American cable television network owned by Urban One. The network serves young millennial and Generation X African American women, and serves as a complement to TV One. The network officially launched on Janua ...

, launched broadly on Comcast systems on January 19 under the same decree. In April 2019, Fuse's parent company, Fuse Media, filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whet ...

, citing its lost coverage on Comcast and Verizon systems, as well as defaulting on a loan. On September 3, 2019, a Fuse-branded channel was launched on

Pluto TV Pluto TV is a free, ad-supported video streaming service owned and operated by the Paramount Streaming division of Paramount Global. Co-founded by Tom Ryan, Ilya Pozin and Nick Grouf in 2013 and based in Los Angeles, California, in the United Sta ...

2020–present

On November 19, 2020, current Fuse Media CEO Miguel Roggero and a "Latino-led management group" announced that they have acquired majority interest in the company. In March 2021, Fuse Media announced the launch of a new streaming division, merging the network's website, social media, and digital video outlets with new branded free ad-supported television (FAST) channels. That summer, Fuse Media launched a

subscription video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

(SVOD) service, "Fuse+", in beta. In December 2021, Comcast reached a renewed carriage agreement with Fuse Media, bringing Fuse and FM back to its cable service after 3 years, and also extending distribution of Fuse+ to its X1 and Flex

set-top box A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output to a television set and an external source of sign ...

es.

Programming

Original programming currently seen on Fuse consists of lifestyle, reality, and documentary programming. After merging with

and launching FM in September 2015, Fuse would slowly scale down its music-based programming. Through its ''Fuse Presents'' series, the network has previously hosted live concerts from various venues, primarily from those owned by MSG.

Former on-air staff

Music blocks

* Esteban Serrano – host of ''Top 20 Countdown'' * Katie van Buren – host of ''Top 20 Countdown'' * Timothy Dunn – host of ''Got Ur #'' * Yasmine Richard – host of ''Top 20 Countdown'' and ''Trending 10''

Entertainment and music shows

* ''Trending 10'', hosted by

Dan Brown Daniel Gerhard Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author best known for his Thriller (genre), thriller novels, including the Robert Langdon novels ''Angels & Demons'' (2000), ''The Da Vinci Code'' (2003), ''The Lost Symbol'' (2009), ''In ...

and

Zuri Hall Zuri Hall (born June 2, 1988) is an American entertainment reporter, television personality, actress and producer. Hall serves as a correspondent for ''Access Hollywood'' on NBC. She is also the sideline reporter for NBC's primetime summer comp ...

* ''Fuse Top 20 Countdown'', hosted by

Juliya Chernetsky Juliya Chernetsky Denning ( uk, Юлія Чернецька, ''Yulia Chernetska''; born July 10, 1982), is a television personality best known for her stage name Mistress Juliya and the popularity on the music-themed network Fuse. She also ho ...

and Allison Hagendorf * '' Cee Lo Green * Talking to Strangers'' * '' Hoppus on Music'', hosted by

* ''Hip Hop Shop'' and ''On the Record'', hosted by

Touré Touré is the French transcription of a West African surname (English transcriptions are '' Turay'' and '' Touray''). The name is probably derived from ''tùùré'', the word for 'elephant' in Soninké, the language of the Ghana Empire. The clan e ...

Fuse News

* Matte Babel – host of ''Fuse News'' *

Alexa Chung Alexa Chung (born 5 November 1983) is a British television presenter, model, internet personality, writer, and fashion designer. She wrote the book ''It'' (2013). Her fashion label Alexa Chung, stylized , launched in May 2017 and closed in 2022. ...

– host of ''Fuse News'' * Georgie Okell – host of ''Fuse News'' * Elaine Moran – host of ''Fuse News'' and ''Trending 10'' *

Jack Osbourne Jack Joseph Osbourne (born 8 November 1985) is an English media personality with dual American and British citizenship. The son of heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne, he starred on MTV's reality series '' The Osbournes'' (2002–2005), along w ...

– host of ''Fuse News''

Related services

AVOD channels

This is a list of free, ad-supported channels available on the Fuse website and several third-party AVOD services. *Fuse Sweat - Focuses on exercise videos from the 1980s and 1990s. Launched on March 25, 2021. *Fuse Backstage - Features documentaries focusing on musicians and entertainers. Launched on March 25, 2021. *Fuse Beat - Primarily features entertainment and lifestyle programming targeted towards an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

audience. Launched on May 11, 2021.Black-Culture Channel Fuse Beat To Launch with Twentyone14, Cinedigm , Broadcasting+Cable