MTV Begins Shutting Down Music Channels After Four Decades

MTV launched with a message embedded in its very first broadcast: video killed the radio star. But decades later, the music video is no longer a part of its core business model.

This New Year’s Eve, five of MTV’s UK channels will sign off for the last time, marking a quiet but profound end to a chapter that once defined global pop music and its culture.

The decision, confirmed by parent company Paramount Global, comes as part of a broader cost-cutting initiative reportedly aimed at trimming more than $500 million from MTV’s global media holdings. The move impacts five of the brand’s UK-based music channels: MTV Music, MTV 80’s, MTV 90’s, Club MTV and MTV Live.

The flagship MTV HD channel will remain available in the UK, but viewers hoping for a return to music programming will be disappointed. Since 2011, the channel has pivoted entirely toward reality television, with no music video content in its rotation.

MTV’s retreat from linear music broadcasting in the UK is not a surprise, but it is symbolic. From its earliest transmissions in the 1980s, the iconic network turned music into a lifestyle and artists into cultural forces. But that was before the advent of YouTube and TikTok, when the music video moved from primetime to portable screens.

The immediacy of mobile platforms rendered appointment viewing obsolete. Discovery is now algorithmic, and music video premieres are more likely to debut on an artist’s social feed than on any TV channel.

However, this is not an obituary for the brand itself. Paramount has made clear that MTV will continue to operate in the UK through MTV HD and its digital channels, with a growing emphasis on reality programming and global tentpoles like the VMAs. It’s unclear at the time of this writing what the network’s plans are for the United States.