MTV Channels Go Dark
Several MTV music-only channels that were available in the U.K. and other countries officially went off the air on Wednesday night.
The channels that ceased operations include MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live.
In contrast, U.S. channels like MTV Classic and MTV Live continue to broadcast into the new year.
MTV Music paid homage to its legacy by airing “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles as its final video, a nod to the first video ever played on the original channel in 1981.
The MTV 90s channel concluded with “Goodbye” by the Spice Girls.
The shutdown of music-only channels also affected audiences in Australia, Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, and Poland.
Simone Angel, a former video jockey for European MTV, expressed her sadness over the closures: “We need to support these artists and we all need to dance again and listen to music. 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.”
The closures are part of a broader downsizing initiative by Paramount Skydance, which owns MTV.
