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She wants her own MTV.
Former MTV Networks chief Judy McGrath — who transformed MTV from a music-channel into a youth cultural touchstone — is joining forces with Sony Music to form an entertainment production division inside the music major.
Just as she did in her glory days at MTV, McGrath is hoping to grab the attention of a younger generation of viewers by feeding their growing appetite for digital content distributed by the likes of YouTube.
And in keeping with her reputation as a media maverick, McGrath has dubbed her new venture Astronauts Wanted: No Experience Necessary.
While her division will be part of a major record company, she said the content will go beyond music.
“There’s so much great content out there,” McGrath told The Post. “We will need to find some new ways to reflect the creativity of a new generation.”
Her efforts potentially put her in competition with her former employer. Beyond cable, MTV is also chasing after “millennials” by ramping up short-form programming and setting up an in-house “incubator” for digital content.
“Good ideas and hits are going to drive engagement with the consumer, and Judy knows how to do that,” said Courtney Holt, a former digital chief of MTV Networks who is COO of Maker Studios, which funnels programming to YouTube.
McGrath rose from a copy editor at MTV to become one of the most powerful women in television. Starting in 2004, she oversaw Viacom’s dominant cable lineup of MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.
Despite a passion for music, she pioneered a reality TV boom that began with “The Real World” and culminated with “Jersey Shore.” In May 2011, she exited on a high note with “Jersey Shore” drawing 8 million viewers a night.
Her departure after 30 years marked the end of an era at MTV and allowed Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman to solidify control.
Since then McGrath has been pursued by big cable programmers and private-equity firms for her media expertise, as well as courted for a top role at Oprah Winfrey’s OWN.
The venture “could have been funded by an investment company, but here I have a lot of autonomy,” she said of Sony Music.
The hire is a coup for Sony Music boss CEO Doug Morris, who helped create Web music video platform Vevo while at Universal Music.
McGrath had been working at the Sony Music headquarters for several months but didn’t sign a formal contract until last weekend.
McGrath has quietly been advising Balcony TV, a Web destination for music and TV that has backing from Polaris, Lerer Ventures and Greycroft Partners. She also became an adviser to NowThisNews last year, a youth-oriented news site backed by Ken Lerer.