Remember this?
For a generation who grew up in the 80s and 90s, the sight of the MTV logo, with that giant block “M” crashing onto the screen, was the sound and vision of youth itself. It was more than a TV channel; it was a cultural portal. Now, in a move that feels like the end of an era, MTV is pulling the plug on its dedicated music video channels in the UK, signalling a final surrender to the on-demand age.
It is understood that MTV Music, along with its nostalgic siblings MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live, will cease broadcasting on 31st December. The channels that once provided a continuous, curated stream of pop anthems will fall silent, leaving the flagship channel, MTV HD, to carry on with a schedule dominated by reality series like Geordie Shore and Naked Dating UK.
The reason is a simple, stark reflection of modern life: the video star has been killed by the scroll. A spokesman for MTV’s parent company, Paramount, declined to comment, but the move speaks volumes. Why wait for your favourite song to appear on television when the entire history of music video is available on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram at the tap of a screen?
From Revolution to Relic
When MTV launched in the US in 1981, it was a revolution. It brought pop videos “on demand,” presented by enthusiastic “VJs” who became celebrities in their own right. Its early years were punctuated by groundbreaking moments: the world premiere of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, a 16-hour broadcast of Live Aid, and the birth of the anarchic MTV Video Music Awards.
The channel arrived in the UK with a dedicated service in 1997, launching aptly with the video for the football anthem Three Lions. It became a breeding ground for presenting talent like Cat Deeley and Zane Lowe, and for a time, it was the undisputed arbiter of musical taste.
The Slow Fade to Reality
The writing has been on the wall for over a decade. In 2011, the main MTV channel in the UK abandoned music videos altogether, pushing them to its sister stations. The channel’s identity slowly morphed from music curator to reality TV powerhouse, with original programming like Ex On The Beach and Teen Mom UK taking centre stage.
Even its flagship live event, the MTV European Music Awards (EMAs)—the scene of iconic moments from The Spice Girls’ final performance in 1997 to countless other pop culture milestones—is currently “on ice” as Paramount focuses on a recent merger.
A Global Retreat
The closure of the UK channels is not an isolated event. It’s part of a wider retreat, with Paramount set to shutter MTV music channels in other countries including Australia, France, and Poland. The parent company is on a mission to cut costs by a staggering $500m across its global portfolio, a purge that has already seen the closure of Paramount Television Studios and the cancellation of original MTV productions in the UK like Gonzo and Fresh Out UK.
While the soon-to-close music channels still attracted modest audiences—1.3 million for MTV Music in July—their fate was sealed by the shifting tectonic plates of media consumption.
The era of gathering to watch the world premiere of a video, of having your taste shaped by a VJ’s selection, is over. The MTV of old, the 24-hour music video jukebox, is finally signing off. The brand will linger on through social media and on the Paramount+ streaming service, but its original, revolutionary heartbeat—the endless, rolling pop video—has been stilled by the very online views it once championed.
