After more than four decades shaping global pop culture, MTV has quietly closed down its remaining dedicated music video channels, bringing an era to a symbolic close with the same song that launched the network in the first place, The Buggles’ Video Killed The Radio Star.
As of December 31, MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV and MTV Live have all been removed from broadcast platforms across the UK, including Sky and Virgin Media.
The closures extend well beyond Britain, with the same channels switched off in Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Australia and Brazil. The flagship MTV channel will continue to operate, although its schedule is now firmly centred on reality television and pop culture programming rather than music.
The final broadcast choice was deliberate. Video Killed The Radio Star, released in 1979 and recorded by Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes as The Buggles, was the very first music video aired when MTV launched in the United States at 12.01am on August 1, 1981. Ending the channel’s music output with the same clip closed a historical loop that began when music television was still an untested idea.
MTV debuted as a 24 hour music network at a time when promotional videos were secondary marketing tools rather than cultural events. Within months, the channel had transformed how music was consumed, turning clips into must see moments and elevating artists who understood the visual language of the medium. MTV’s influence was felt globally, from the world premiere of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which redefined what a music video could be, to its unprecedented 16 hour live broadcast of the Live Aid concerts in 1985.
The network expanded rapidly. MTV Europe launched in 1987, opening with Dire Straits’ Money For Nothing, a song that famously referenced the channel itself. MTV UK followed in 1997, while Australia experienced several incarnations of MTV, first as a music video program in the late 1980s and later as a dedicated subscription television channel. Over time, however, audience habits shifted. By 2011, the main MTV channels in many territories had largely stopped airing music videos, pushing clips to specialist sister stations while the primary brand pivoted toward reality formats.
That slow retreat from music television has now become a full stop. The decision follows the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media, a deal valued at more than $8 billion, which triggered a broad cost cutting exercise across the company’s international media assets. While there has been speculation about possible digital reinventions of the MTV brand, including streaming based models, the closure of the remaining linear music channels signals a clear end to the format that made MTV famous.
The irony of Video Killed The Radio Star serving as both the opening and closing chapter is not lost on music history. Written by Horn, Downes and Bruce Woolley, the song was itself a meditation on technological change and the uneasy relationship between innovation and nostalgia. Released as The Buggles’ debut single and later included on their album The Age Of Plastic, the track topped charts around the world, including Australia, and became one of the defining recordings of the new wave era.
Its accompanying video, directed by Australian filmmaker Russell Mulcahy, was visually futuristic yet emotionally reflective, qualities that made it a perfect emblem for MTV’s original mission. At the time, few could have predicted that music videos would one day migrate almost entirely to online platforms, consumed on demand via YouTube, social media and streaming services rather than scheduled television.
For MTV, the shift away from music was gradual but decisive. Reality series such as Teen Mom and Ex On The Beach delivered younger audiences and consistent ratings, while music video consumption fragmented across digital ecosystems. Apart from award shows like the MTV European Music Awards, the channel’s connection to its musical roots became increasingly symbolic rather than practical.
With the final music channels now silent, MTV’s legacy as a revolutionary force in music remains intact, even as its original format fades into history. The medium that once relied on television to define pop culture has moved on, leaving behind a catalogue of moments that reshaped how artists were seen and heard.
In the end, MTV exited the stage exactly where it began, acknowledging that the future it once predicted has finally arrived.
Stay updated with your free Noise11.com daily music news email alert. Subscribe to Noise11 Music News here
Be the first to see NOISE11.com’s newest interviews and special features on YouTube. See things first—Subscribe to Noise11 on YouTube
Follow Noise11.com on social media:
Bluesky