For fans who want to see more of Beyonce or Ludacris at next week’s Video Music Awards, MTV is offering a trip backstage at Radio City Music Hall. Not physically, of course. That would get way too crowded. The network is putting on a broadband program to run concurrently with the VMAs on Aug. 31 and give people at home a taste of what is happening beyond the reach of the TV station’s cameras.

The programming experiment is a milestone for MTV as it heads into its 26th year with the goal of expanding into as many media realms as possible, and for television in general as it explores the limits of multitasking. “What does Beyonce do before she goes onstage?” said Christina Norman, MTV’s president. “Does she pray? Does she cry? Does she check her make-up?” Whatever it is, it won’t be private (with limits, of course).