Sean Combs plots musical Revolt with new cable channel

• Sean Combs is plotting a Revolt with new cable-music channel
• Says viewers seeking music programming are left %22homeless%22
• Channel set to launch in October in 25 million homes

Sean "Diddy" Combs is planning a Revolt on TV.

The hip-hop megastar is behind a new cable channel due to launch in late October that he hopes will reclaim the mantle of a music-dedicated outlet once held by MTV, before it succumbed to the lure of The Real World, Jersey Shore and other reality shows.

"If I was in that position, I probably would have bit at that apple too, to be more than just a music channel and be more of a youth culture network," he said Friday in Los Angeles. "But sometimes it's better to do one thing great. The most powerful thing that brings us together is music."

His goal with Revolt, initially available in at least 25 million homes, is to wean the "millennial" audience of young adults 18 to 34 away from the Internet. "My mission is to bring kids back to television" with live, "unpredictable" music news, performances and videos, he says.

"Even if I become your wallpaper in your dorm room…I'll have something on your screen that'll make you turn it up and listen to it."

Revolt won't limit itself to a single genre. "It isn't just hip hop, it isn't just an urban-based channel, it isn't just rock and roll," Combs says. (He'd even play Taylor Swift if she did something "funky.") "We're looking for greatness, we're looking for great stars, we're looking for people who have something to say. Our bar is extremely high; it's highly curated. There are other places artists will be able to get exposure, but when you make it to Revolt you will feel you've been authorized."

Previously aired documentaries and concerts will be part of the mix, but the channel will air music and cultural news live each half hour from a studio in Los Angeles. Video segments will blend musical styles and package them separately throughout the day, says programming chief Val Boreland.

While CNN and ESPN serve news and sports viewers, Combs says, if you want music, "You are homeless; you have nowhere to go." (Though in fairness, Fuse and BET air music programming).

He'll use social media to enable artists to engage with viewers and a companion web site, Revolt.tv, that's already online, where a web series, Making the Brand, will be among the first offerings. In that behind-the-scenes series, "You'll see me having meltdowns, and you see me being out of my element and being in this element where I'm not just a free-spirited entrepreneur, and I have to be accountable to the business and build a high-level corporate team, which is different for me."

He got some advice from Oprah Winfrey, who had a bumpy start with her own cable channel, and Combs says he learned a lesson. "I'm not going to be out there being flashy about it. I'm not going to be over-promoting it. I'm not over-promising anything. I'm just really going to be building credibility; my credibility will be my currency."

He says the project has been "the hardest and most stressful thing I've ever done in my life. I literally almost drove (myself) crazy two weeks ago." And though he says he's heavily involved in the channel's start-up, "My job is to stay the visionary for this; I'm more like a Steve Jobs." So he won't be a regular on-air fixture. "There will be times when it fits." But "I need to put things on that people want to see, and there's a lot more things that they want to see than me, to be honest." Adds Boreland: "He's not doing this just because he wants to be on TV."

Revolt, backed by Combs and private-equity funding, is one of several minority-owned channels that cable giant Comcast promised to distribute, along with others from Robert Rodriguez and Magic Johnson. Former MTV executive Andy Schuon is a top executive. The channel will initially be available in homes served by Comcast and Time Warner Cable, reaching portions of most major cities. Combs refused to discuss how much he's investing in the channel, but says "it's a lot of money." Which he has.

Says Boreland: "He is not footing the whole bill, but there's a lot he can cover."