In some tech circles, Viacom is the symbol of botched digital strategies and old-media thinking.

There's little doubt that operating under Viacom's umbrella has hurt MTV's hipster cred with some tech-savvy music fans. MTV managers, however, are trying to dispel the notion that the company is technology backward, fearful of sharing its content online, and has missed out on the Internet age.

On Tuesday, Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks Music and Logo Group, and some of his top managers met with CNET News.com at San Francisco's Hotel Vitale to outline the company's digital strategy for the future. Indeed, this unit of Viacom appears more willing than any other part of the conglomerate to strike out into areas it has historically failed at or avoided, such as content syndication, social networking, and digital downloads.

"I'm impressed with how experimental they are being," said Charlene Li, an analyst with Forrester Research. "This is a company that is taking a lot of risks...really, more than any other big media company."

Viacom, parent company of MTV, Paramount Pictures, and BET, is perceived by many to jealously guard its content from users posting it on non-Viacom Web sites. Not MTV. The company now offers an embeddable video player that allows users to post every piece of MTV content to which the company owns the rights.

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