Millennium Live
Encyclopedia
Millennium Live: Humanity's Broadcast was an unsuccessful attempt to broadcast an international television special
celebrating the beginning of the Year 2000, or the so-called Millennium
. Reports claimed that the show was to have involved broadcasters in up to 130 nations.
American producer Hal Uplinger to prepare and conduct the broadcast. Early planning among international representatives reportedly occurred in Cannes
on October 1998. Millennium Live was planned as a 24 or 25 hour broadcast from 11:00 UTC 31 December 1999. Pax TV (now known as ION Television) had the exclusive United States
rights to broadcast the show which they billed as Pax Millennium Live: A New World's Eve.
Millennium Live was competing against the 2000 Today
international broadcast that was supported by PBS
and ABC
in the United States
, and led by BBC
in the UK
.
Reported musical guests were to have included Aerosmith
, Bee Gees
, Blondie
, Chicago
, Phil Collins
, Roger Daltrey
, Jean Michel Jarre
from Egypt
, Ricky Martin
, 'N Sync
, Maxi Priest
, Mike Oldfield
, The Pretenders
, Sting, Santana
, and 10,000 Maniacs
. Bryan Adams
, Simply Red
and the Spice Girls
were also sought as featured artists.
New Year's Eve
celebrations from various worldwide locations were to have been seen on the show. Carmen Electra
was also scheduled as a program host. The special was to have been hosted in Los Angeles
on a set contained in a 90 foot geodesic dome
.
The program was cancelled on 29 December 1999 with an announcement that MTN failed to obtain sufficient financing for the broadcast. MTN reportedly was not paying production and satellite companies for their services prior to the cancellation. Pax aired a series of movies in Millennium Live's place. Efforts to establish a global broadcast for the following New Year's Eve on the real Millennium
(2001) were reported, but these plans never materialised.
Television special
A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular...
celebrating the beginning of the Year 2000, or the so-called Millennium
Millennium
A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years —from the Latin phrase , thousand, and , year—often but not necessarily related numerically to a particular dating system....
. Reports claimed that the show was to have involved broadcasters in up to 130 nations.
History
Millennium Television Network (MTN) was formed by Live Aid'sLive Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
American producer Hal Uplinger to prepare and conduct the broadcast. Early planning among international representatives reportedly occurred in Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
on October 1998. Millennium Live was planned as a 24 or 25 hour broadcast from 11:00 UTC 31 December 1999. Pax TV (now known as ION Television) had the exclusive United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rights to broadcast the show which they billed as Pax Millennium Live: A New World's Eve.
Millennium Live was competing against the 2000 Today
2000 Today
The Millennium Event - 2000 Today was an internationally-broadcast television special commemorating the beginning of the Year 2000. This program included New Year's Eve celebrations, musical performances, and other features from participating nations....
international broadcast that was supported by PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
and ABC
ABC 2000 Today
ABC 2000 Today was ABC News's coverage of the turn of the millennium from December 31, 1999 into January 1, 2000. Part of the 2000 Today programming in the United States, Peter Jennings anchored the 23 hours and 10 minutes of broadcast in Times Square Studios in Manhattan, New York...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and led by BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Reported musical guests were to have included Aerosmith
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...
, Bee Gees
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees are a musical group that originally comprised three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a...
, Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
, Chicago
Chicago (band)
Chicago is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. The self-described "rock and roll band with horns" began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental, rock band and later moved to a predominantly softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads. They had...
, Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
, Roger Daltrey
Roger Daltrey
Roger Harry Daltrey, CBE , is an English singer and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who. He has maintained a musical career as a solo artist and has also worked in the film industry, acting in a large number of films, theatre and television roles and also...
, Jean Michel Jarre
Jean Michel Jarre
Jean Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and New Age genres, and known as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music featuring lights, laser displays, and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon by his mother and...
from Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Ricky Martin
Ricky Martin
Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales , better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanish pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide...
, 'N Sync
'N Sync
N Sync was an American boy band formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich, *NSYNC consisted of JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick...
, Maxi Priest
Maxi Priest
Max Alfred "Maxi" Priest is a British reggae vocalist of Jamaican descent. He is best known for singing reggae music with a R&B influence, otherwise known as reggae fusion, and became one of the first international successes who regularly dabbled in the genre as well as being one of the most...
, Mike Oldfield
Mike Oldfield
Michael Gordon Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...
, The Pretenders
The Pretenders
The Pretenders are an English rock band formed in Hereford, England in March 1978. The original band consisted of initiator and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde , James Honeyman-Scott , Pete Farndon , and Martin Chambers...
, Sting, Santana
Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
, and 10,000 Maniacs
10,000 Maniacs
10,000 Maniacs is a United States-based alternative rock band, which formed in 1981 and continues to be active with various line-ups.-1981–1993:...
. Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams, is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, producer, actor and photographer. Adams has won dozens of awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations. He has also received 15 Grammy Award nominations including a win for Best Song Written...
, Simply Red
Simply Red
Simply Red were a British soul band that sold more than 50 million albums over a 25-year career. Their style drew influences from blue-eyed soul, new romantic, rock, reggae and jazz...
and the Spice Girls
Spice Girls
The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30...
were also sought as featured artists.
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
celebrations from various worldwide locations were to have been seen on the show. Carmen Electra
Carmen Electra
Tara Leigh Patrick , professionally known as Carmen Electra, is an American glamour model, actress, television personality, singer, and dancer...
was also scheduled as a program host. The special was to have been hosted in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
on a set contained in a 90 foot geodesic dome
Geodesic dome
A geodesic dome is a spherical or partial-spherical shell structure or lattice shell based on a network of great circles on the surface of a sphere. The geodesics intersect to form triangular elements that have local triangular rigidity and also distribute the stress across the structure. When...
.
The program was cancelled on 29 December 1999 with an announcement that MTN failed to obtain sufficient financing for the broadcast. MTN reportedly was not paying production and satellite companies for their services prior to the cancellation. Pax aired a series of movies in Millennium Live's place. Efforts to establish a global broadcast for the following New Year's Eve on the real Millennium
Millennium
A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years —from the Latin phrase , thousand, and , year—often but not necessarily related numerically to a particular dating system....
(2001) were reported, but these plans never materialised.
Broadcasters
The following broadcasters were reported as participants in Millennium Live:- AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
: Nine NetworkNine NetworkThe Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia... - BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
: Rede BandeirantesRede BandeirantesRede Bandeirantes , officially nicknamed Band or Band Network, is a television network from Brazil, based in São Paulo. Part of the Grupo Bandeirantes de Comunicação , it aired for the first time in 1967... - CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
: MuchMusicMuchMusicMuchMusic is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media. MuchMusic is dedicated to music-related programs, pop and youth culture.-History:... - ChileChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
: ChilevisiónChilevisiónCHV, also known as Chilevisión, is the third oldest television station in Chile. Formerly called Teleonce and RTU , this TV station was owned by University of Chile, a Chilean state university... - EstoniaEstoniaEstonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
: TV 1 (now bankrupt, went off air in 2001) - FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
: Televisio - GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
: Sat.1Sat.1Sat.1 is a privately owned German television broadcasting station. Sat.1 was the first privately owned television broadcasting station in Germany, having started one day before RTL Television.... - IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
: Zee TVZee TVZee TV is an India-based satellite television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, which broadcasts various programmes in Hindi and other regional languages of India. Broadcasting is also present in various nations of South Asia, Europe, the Middle East,... - ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
: Rai 1,Rai 2,Rai 3,Italia1,Rete 4Rete 4Rete 4 is an Italian television station belonging to the Mediaset network. It is an Italian private commercial TV channel. Rete 4's main news programme is TG4, whose editor-in-chief is Emilio Fede since 1992.-TV Series:...
,Canale5 - IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n :TVRITVRITelevisi Republik Indonesia Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI) Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI) (formerly known as Televisi Indonesia (Indonesian Television in English) and Radio Indonesia (Indonesian Radio in English) is a state-owned television station, the oldest television station in...
, RCTIRCTIRCTI is Indonesia's first privately owned television network and is based in West Jakarta. RCTI broadcasts Indonesian Idol as well as sinetron , films, news and current affairs, reality shows and religious programs...
, SCTV (Indonesia)SCTV (Indonesia)Surya Citra Televisi is an Indonesian television station. Its headquarters are in South Jakarta. It began broadcasting on 24 August 1990 in Surabaya, East Java, broadcasting only to the city and surrounding area. At this point the programming was similar to that of RCTI and used some of their news...
, TPITPITPI may refer to:* The Ted Petty Invitational, an annual wrestling tournament held by IWA:Mid-South to honor the late Ted Petty * TPI , private television station in Indonesia...
, ANTVAntvantv is an Indonesian television network based in South Jakarta. It is owned by PT Visi Media Asia,Tbk.-History:antv was launched on 1 March 1993 as a local television station in Lampung province. In the same month it was awarded a government license for nationwide broadcasting, and moved its...
, IndosiarIndosiarIndosiar is a publicly owned national television station in Indonesia, and has been operating from West Jakarta since 1994. It was listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange in 2004. Citibank Singapore has an 8.5 percent shareholding... - JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
: Vibe TV (which became MTVMTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
Japan) - SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
: TelecincoTelecincoTelecinco is a Spanish commercial television channel operated by Mediaset España. Launched in 1990 as Tele 5, it was the fifth of the national terrestrial television channels. In 1997, Tele 5 was rebranded as Telecinco, dropping the flower logo seen in other Mediaset channel... - United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
: PaxI (TV network)Ion Television is a United States broadcast television network. Owned by ION Media Networks, the networked commenced broadcasting on August 31, 1998 as PAX TV, a named it used until July 1, 2005, when it became i: Independent Television; the network was rechristened Ion on January 29, 2007...
(Now known as Ion Television) - VenezuelaVenezuelaVenezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
: VenevisiónVenevisiónVenevisión is one of Venezuela's largest television networks and a Venezuelan cable and terrestrial television network, which is owned and presided over by Gustavo Cisneros...
External links
- Everything 2000 - New Year's Eve Broadcast Plans 26 January 1999
- Everything 2000 - Pax TV To Broadcast 24-hour Millennium Show 21 May 1999
- Everything 2000 - Headliners Named For MTN Broadcast 7 October 1999
- Corpus Christi Caller-Times - TV rings in New Year 26 December 1999
- Everything 2000 - Millennium Live Worldwide Broadcast Cancelled 29 December 1999
- Kansas City Star - Y2K: The TV takeover 29 December 2001
- Kansas City Star - Funding glitch shuts down Pax's millennium special (via TV Barn) 30 December 1999
- San Francisco Chronicle - Producers Cancel Global Millennium Telecast 30 December 1999
- Millennium Hell - Pax Backs Hacks. Lacks Facts. Backtracks. Sacks Millennium Quacks to the Max
- Egypt2000.com - The Twelve Dreams of the Sun - Jean-Michel Jarre performance