{"id":210791,"date":"2026-01-01T00:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T00:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/210791\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T00:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T00:34:07","slug":"mtv-music-channels-sign-off-forever-with-video-killed-the-radio-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/210791\/","title":{"rendered":"MTV Music Channels Sign Off Forever With &#8216;Video Killed the Radio Star&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MTV channels dedicated to 24\/7 music videos began going permanently dark on Wednesday with a nod to the video that started it all: airing the Buggles\u2019 iconic \u201cVideo Killed the Radio Star.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this fall, MTV announced it would shutter its 24-hour music channels in 2025, a move impacting MTV stations worldwide including several channels in the United Kingdom: MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV and MTV Live.<\/p>\n<p>The flagship MTV Music channel ended its decades-long run on New Year\u2019s Eve the way it began, playing the Buggles\u2019 \u201cVideo Killed the Radio Star\u201d \u2014 the music video that launched MTV on Aug. 1, 1981. BBC journalist Jono Read shared the moment the channel went off-air in an<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jonoread\/status\/2006281677035954339\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"> X post<\/a> documenting the video. Each of the U.K. channels aired a different final video on Wednesday, with MTV 90s showing the Spice Girls\u2019 \u201cGoodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">MTV Music&#8217;s last song was Video Killed The Radio Star <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/48WNnbgesb\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/48WNnbgesb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jono Read (@jonoread) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jonoread\/status\/2006281677035954339?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">December 31, 2025<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Viewers who try to tune in to these channels now will see the affected channels\u2019 logos cycling through, telling viewers they can access MTV content on MTV HD. Neither MTV or its parent company, Paramount Skydance, have commented on the brand\u2019s future in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>MTV debuted in August 1981 in the U.S., with a debut in the U.K. and Ireland in August 1987.\u00a0Much of the most popular MTV programming in the U.S. is no longer music videos but reality shows.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/join-pro\/?utm_source=sitereadmore&amp;utm_medium=cyber&amp;utm_campaign=2025r&amp;utm_id=120152025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\" noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"970\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Component-112.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7912771\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Paramount\u2019s CEO David Ellison said he intends to revitalize MTV and the media conglomerate\u2019s other cable properties, but he did not specify how. <\/p>\n<p>MTV\u2019s music channels were not the only property that took a hit due to budget cuts as part of the Skydance merger. MTV also announced that it would shutter several awards shows, including the MTV Europe Music Awards and MTV Latin America\u2019s MIAW Awards (formerly known as the Millennial Awards).<\/p>\n<p>Paramount is also expected to shutter music-only channels in Australia, Poland, France and Brazil.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a class=\"the-wrap-read-more__image\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/paramount-ip-franchise-strategy-mission-impossible-star-trek-transformers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Star-Trek-Transformers-Mission-Impossible-Call-of-Duty.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Chris Pine in &quot;Star Trek,&quot; &quot;Bumblebee,&quot; Tom Cruise in &quot;Mission: Impossible \u2013 The Final Reckoning&quot; and &quot;Call of Duty: Black Ops&quot; (Paramount Pictures\/Activision)\"   data-portal-copyright=\"TheWrap\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MTV channels dedicated to 24\/7 music videos began going permanently dark on Wednesday with a nod to the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,10940,111,139,69,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-210791","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-mtv","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}