MTV Shuts Down Global Music Channels: Streaming Killed the Video Star

Posted in: MTV, TV | Tagged: mtv

MTV Shuts Down Global Music Channels: Streaming Killed the Video Star

Though the main channel remains, it's the end of a long era for MTV, as channels such as MTV Music, MTV Live, and others have been shut down.

Published Wed, 31 Dec 2025 09:02:03 -0600
by Ray Flook
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In terms of the television landscape heading into 2026, we've been saying all along that we could be looking at a very brutal reckoning for linear television. With Comcast having spun off its cable assets into a separate company and Warner Bros. Discovery attempting to do the same, we are already starting to see the tidal wave of change that's set to hit. Now, forty-four years after the cable channel first hit screens with The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" in 1981, MTV is shutting down its remaining 24-hour music channel globally. To clarify, the main MTV channel will still be available, but its programming shift will focus on reality series and pop culture coverage. But for viewers of channels such as MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, MTV Live, and other MTV-based channels, 2026 will mark the end of those channels.

Launching in the U.S. in 1981, the music channel would go on to have an undeniable impact on not just the music scene but also entertainment, politics, and much more. A European version of the musical channel would debut six years later, with the UK kicking off its version of the music channel in 1997 (with the video for David Baddiel and Frank Skinner's Three Lions). In 2011, the main UK channel began shifting music videos to its offshoot channels, although the annual MTV European Music Awards continued to air on the main channel.

"We need to support these artists, and we all need to dance again and listen to music," former MTV VJ Simone Angel told BBC News. "And I know we do that online in our own little bubbles, but MTV was the place where everything came together. So it really does break my heart." She added that the move has left her "really sad, and I'm a little bit in disbelief, and I know it's been a long time coming". With the growth of streaming and social media, the access that listeners have to music videos has undergone a dramatic change. Whether MTV is strong enough of a brand to rebrand itself in the age of TikTok and Spotify remains to be seen.

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