LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ovation TV programming executive Kris Slava believes he knows what plays in Peoria.It's the same entertainment that sells in New York, Chicago, San Antonio and the rest of America, said Slava. Ovation TV, a decade-old arts channel that has re-launched with national satellite distribution and an ambitious new schedule, wants to prove his argument.

Defying the conventional view of culture on TV as stuffy and obsessed with "plummy British accents", as Slava puts it, Ovation has assembled an eclectic array of performances, films, documentaries and more of both the fine arts and mainstream popular fare.

The revamped Ovation kicked off this week with "American Revolutionaries", a celebration of innovative artists airing through July 15. The something-for-everyone mix includes programmes on Jackson Pollock, Elvis Presley, John Coltrane, Marlon Brando, Frank Lloyd Wright and Kurt Cobain.

The regular line-up has been reworked as well, with each weeknight devoted to a specific genre. Monday's focus is performance, including dance and theatre; profiles and movies about artists air on Tuesday; the visual arts including architecture, painting and design are on Wednesday; Thursday is music night and Friday puts the spotlights on film.

Daytime fare focuses on classic performances and music.

The channel "has to be engaging," said Slava. "You have to know you're going to come here and you're going to find something that is going to be fun to watch, that is not going to be hard work to watch, that is going to speak to you in a really smart way."

An Illinois native, Slava grew up near Peoria, the fabled Hollywood benchmark for whether a movie could draw more than a big-city audience. There's no geographic differentiation anymore when it comes to passion for the arts, contend Slava and Charles D. Segars, Ovation's CEO.

An innovative generation of artists is creating work that "is much more contemporary and interesting" and is pulling new fans nationally into museums, to live theatre and to reinterpretations of opera, Segars said.

Ovation, which debuted in 1996 and was acquired by new owners last year, intends to follow suit.

"We're about demystifying art and the arts," Segars said. That means the channel will canvas the worlds of high art and pop culture and actively seek "all generations" from the more traditional arts-seekers to the very young who are savvy about the changing culture, he said.

Those passionate about art are underserved on TV, Segars said. While PBS remains a culture stalwart, Bravo and A&E have moved toward general entertainment.

"The exciting thing for us is the category is wide open," said Segars, who launched the Fine Living cable network (with Ovation TV Chairman Ken Solomon) and executive produced the film "National Treasure" and its upcoming sequel.

Ovation, delivered by Time Warner and several other cable carriers in major markets, went national via DirecTV last month and plans further expansion beyond its current subscriber base of about 15 million.

It has a shot at cultivating a niche audience with allure for sponsors, one industry analyst said.

"Is it going to have mass appeal? Probably not. Is it going to be targeted and be a specific opportunity for advertisers, probably upscale advertisers? Probably yes," said Bill Carroll of Katz TV.

To trumpet its makeover, Ovation's "American Revolutionaries" includes several programmes making their world or US debuts. The channel plans to air such special-programming "festivals" several times annually.

Among the "American Revolutionaries" programmes: "The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story" (10 p.m. Bermuda time tonight), about the famed Disney animator; "The Last 48 Hours of Kurt Cobain", about the pop star's final days (11 p.m. Bermuda time on Wednesday, July 11), and "Meet Marlon Brando" (9 p.m. Bermuda time on Friday, July 13), which joins 1966 footage of a Brando news conference shot by documentarians Albert and David Maysles with new commentary from Albert Maysles.

Ovation TV must have both an expansive view of the arts and a targeted reach, its executives said. To that end, a strategy of augmenting the channel with broadband and video-on-demand platforms is being launched in phases.

"If someone wants to see a Heart concert from the 1970s or someone else wants to see a (Margot) Fonteyn and (Rudolf) Nureyev pas de deux from 1966, they will be able to go online," Slava said.

The Web also will allow Ovation to link to arts events and educational organisations in specific cities, an advantage for cable operators seeking an edge with its customers, Segars said.

"This is a golden moment in time, where you can have a wide-ranging cable network that serves art in a broad way ... and at the same time have alternate platforms that present video and other kinds of material and achieves a measure of localisation over the Web," Slava said.