Addressing investors at the Harris Nesbitt Gerard Playtime conference, Freston said, the un-named service would launch in America during the first half of next year. The launch will mark yet another stab by MTV at courting its contingent of younger viewers with a music download offering.

MTV's parent company Viacom had considered offering music streaming and the ability to download songs as far back as 2000. But the collapse of the Internet boom forced Viacom to scale back lofty ambitions and shelve the public offering.

While MTV.com currently lets users download some music tracks, they expire after about a month and cannot be burned to a compact disc or uploaded to a portable digital player. MTV has a global presence through music video channels across the world.

Computing giant Apple launched their iTunes service in the US in May of this year.

Phil Leigh, senior analyst at Inside Digital Media, was quoted in reports as saying, "There's no doubt it's a strong brand, with a strong profile of viewers, but they can't rely solely on their brand come next year... After iTunes launched in April, MTV should have been like a hawk on a field mouse."

MTV will also be competing with a relaunched Napster and recently launched BuyMusic.com. Time Warner Inc.'s America Online is also bolstering its MusicNet service this year.