Kuruvilla, barely few weeks into the job, said he is looking forward to developing MTV as one of the strongest brands among the 15-34 years age group. "I want MTV to be such a strong youth-oriented brand that any product or service launch related to the youth should be compelled to come to us," said Kuruvilla.

For him what is paramount is to take up the challenge from where his predecessor, Sunil Lulla, left off. Kuruvilla, however, is of the opinion that MTV as a brand needs to be more holistic rather than be restricted to being the "dharkan of the youth".

"MTV has to truly reflect the lifestyle of the Indian youth," said Kuruvilla. For that to happen, the channel has to borrow from all genre of Indian music, he added.

Justifying the 65:35 content mix of MTV in favour of Indian music, he stated that for the channel it makes better business sense to show more and more Indian music. "The process of Indianisation is an on-going process," he added.

In this light, MTV's decision to make a foray into regional music assumes added significance. Though at a planning stage, Kuruvilla said MTV is looking forward to include regional music in its scheme of things. Also in the offing are regional feeds.

On the marketing strategy for the channel, Kuruvilla said, "we would look at big events and come up with something on them. MTV, for instance, is currently focussing on the forthcoming Cricket World Cup in a big way."

The channel would soon be starting contests, winners of which would have the privilege of watching the cricket matches with seven VJs on TV. The channel feels that this would be the best way to bring the matches closer to the people, Kuruvilla said.

Kuruvilla said the channel's revenue position in the first quarter of the current fiscal has been equivalent to what it had bagged in the whole of the last fiscal. He further said that the number of advertisers have also doubled to 150 from 75 between the last and the current financial year.

Kuruvilla, however, remained tight-lipped about the channel's turnover and how close or far away is it from the break-even point.

Significantly, MTV is continuing on the analogue free-to-air mode. Its competitor, Channel V, has gone in for digital encryption by virtue of which it has claimed to have cut transponder costs by two-third of its original cost.

On the subject, Kuruvilla said he is not against the idea of exploring new technologies. He reiterated that MTV does not have any immediate plans of going digital but will keep its options open on the issue.