Premium Goes Hip-Hop with HYPE

A new start-up cable channel is aiming to serve young viewers interested in hip-hop-themed programming.

HYPE TV, short for Hot Young People's Entertainment Television, plans to offer music, movies, fashion and lifestyle programming that is centered on hip-hop music and culture.

The channel, slated to launch next year, plans to be a premium service, rather than a digital network. That will allow HYPE to air content like videos and movies with racier language and subject matter.

The channel has signed up Blue Flame Marketing + Advertising -- a division of Sean "P. Diddy" Combs’ entertainment firm, Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group -- to facilitate marketing, promotions and talent deals.

Former Fox Family Channel (now ABC Family) general manager Tracy Lawrence is president of the channel.