MTV Is Shutting Down Multiple Channels

MTV as we know it is over. After more than four decades, the network is shutting down several of its music video channels.

Per the BBC, five of MTV’s UK channels – including MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV and MTV Live – will cease operations on Dec. 31. BBC adds that that flagship channel MTV HD will remain on air, broadcasting popular reality programs, including Naked Dating UK and Geordie Shore.

MTV first launched in the U.S. in 1981 with a focus on showing the most popular music videos. The first to air was The Buggle’s “Video Killed the Radio Star.” MTV Europe launched in 1987, and by 1997 the U.K. officially got their own channel. The MTV Europe Music Awards followed the popularized MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) in 1994.

Many UK fans are saddened by the ending of MTV stations in their market. Former  MTV video jockey Simone Angel told the BBC that she was “really sad, and I’m a little bit in disbelief, and I know it’s been a long time coming.”

Local artists fear lack of exposure when the channels end. “We need to support these artists and we all need to dance again and listen to music,” Angel continued. “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.”

Of her time on the network in the U.K., she said she had a “wild” time, adding, It was like being on a school trip without any teachers. We had so much fun.” She says the station remains nostalgic. “MTV Europe was really the forerunner to the internet. We were the most widespread TV channel in the world at that point,” she added. “We had between 100 and 150 million viewers.”

Though she knows that it’s important “to move with the times,” that doesn’t mean she’s not sad about the end of an era. “To this day, it’s one of the most recognisable brands in the world,” Simone said. “Why on earth throw that away? It’s not thrown away, but it’s just reality TV. That’s not what MTV is or should be.”