MTV has launched a new division called CAT or Celebrity content, Acquisitions, and Talent.

The CAT division will be headed by AVP Prakash Nair and will have 12 members that include talent managers, script writers, and promo producers.

MTV’s CAT plans to build the channel’s relationships with celebrities in movies, fashion and sports for content aimed at youngsters.

Dostana still

The first series that MTV’s CAT will air will showcase the upcoming flick Dostana, and its stars like Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Priyanka Chopra and Bobby Deol. The series, anchored by MTV VJ Cyrus Broacha, will run from November 2- 7, 2008.

The second 13-episode series, that will start from November 15, 2008, will adapt MTV’s Fabulous Lives to Indian celebrities from Bollywood, business, and sports.

The channel said that were a clear need gap in terms of interest in celebrities from films, cricket, and fashion. Earlier, MTV provided celebrity content lthrough programs like MTV Big Picture and MTV Style awards. They also had deals with movie producers to promote their films. But after the film’s launch, this content would have no shelf life.

“We wanted to see how we could use this gap in the market for celebrity news with the content that we had, in order to create engaging celebrity led content and use it to our advantage. There was a consumer/business objective and a content objective involved with launching CAT,” Ashish Patil, general manager, MTV India was quoted as saying.

MTV says that it plans to use some of its archives, interviews and spoofs to make the content more engaging.