MTV, now ripe with reality TV, ends 24-hour music channels in the UK
- - MTV, now ripe with reality TV, ends 24-hour music channels in the UK
Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAYJanuary 2, 2026 at 12:01 AM
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MTV shut down five of its music channels in the United Kingdom.
The television channel officially stopped broadcasting on its MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV and MTV Live channels in the country on Wednesday, Dec. 31, according to multiple reports, after reports of the move first surfaced in October. 24-hour music channels in other countries are also said to be off-air.
BBC journalist Jono Read captured MTV Music's final moments in an X post on Wednesday. The station ended its run with The Buggles' 1979 single "Video Killed the Radio Star" – the first video ever to air on MTV – followed by a sign-off animation. At the bottom, a news ticker read: "MTV Music is now closed. Continue watching over at MTV."
MTV Music's last song was Video Killed The Radio Star pic.twitter.com/48WNnbgesb
— Jono Read (@jonoread) December 31, 2025
USA TODAY has reached out to MTV for comment.
The flagship U.K. station MTV HD remains on air, and its American MTV channels – including MTV, MTV2, MTV Live, MTV Classic and MTV Tres – are unaffected.
Four decades after the revolutionary station aired music videos 24/7, MTV's decision is a further sign of the times. MTV's flagship channel began increasingly circulating reality-show-heavy programming in the 2000s with series like "The Real World," "Teen Mom" and "Jersey Shore." The network's sister channels feature more music-centered content, though with significantly less reach, distribution and revenue.
In 2023, MTV shuttered its music news division and website, MTV News. Its campus-centered offshoot, MTVU, ceased airing at universities in 2018, and currently airs only as a digital cable channel.
MTV turns 40: Iconic music videos we watched on the network that brought music to TV
MTV changed the television landscape with its launch in 1981, playing music around the clock and related programming guided by video jockeys, or VJs, and was influential in the growth of the music video as an artistic medium. The channel also evolved in the genres of music videos it promoted. MTV moved from rock to pop and R&B – and later, hip-hop – after it broke its own color barrier in the 1980s with the promotion of Michael Jackson's music videos for "Billie Jean" and "Thriller."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MTV ending, shutting down music channels in the UK
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