As of today, December 31, MTV’s remaining 24-hour music channels across the globe are officially going dark, bringing a definitive end to an era that shaped pop culture for more than four decades.
MTV’s U.K.-based music channels — MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live — all ceased broadcasting today. Local media outlets have also confirmed shutdowns affecting MTV music channels in Australia, Poland, France, Brazil, and multiple other regions worldwide.
MTV’s flagship channel will remain on the air, though it will continue prioritizing non-music reality programming rather than round-the-clock video rotation. In a striking bit of historical symmetry, MTV Music signed off by airing The Buggles‘ “Video Killed the Radio Star” — the very first music video ever broadcast when MTV launched in 1981.
The decision arrives as Paramount Skydance moves to reduce costs across its global media portfolio following its merger earlier this year, with niche linear channels among the casualties.
MTV first launched in 1981, immediately redefining how music was consumed and marketed. For years, it was a cultural tastemaker — breaking artists, defining fashion, and shaping entire generations. In the 21st century, the network reinvented itself once again through massively successful reality programming such as Jersey Shore, The Hills, Teen Mom, and Catfish.
But with today’s shutdown, the final traces of MTV’s music-video roots have vanished from traditional television. And I know, MTV sucked in the past few decades.
Still, there’s no denying MTV’s impact on the world of heavy metal. By the mid-1980s, bands like Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Quiet Riot, and later Metallica proved that metal could deliver both ratings and record sales. MTV’s willingness to air heavier videos—sometimes late at night—helped bring metal out of the underground and into mainstream youth culture.
That relationship peaked with Headbangers Ball (1987–1995), which became MTV’s primary metal showcase and a crucial tastemaker for the genre. Airing weekly, the show exposed millions to thrash, glam, death metal, and emerging extreme styles, while also providing interviews and scene coverage.
During this period, metal was not just tolerated but central to MTV’s identity, with artists like Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Ozzy Osbourne, and Pantera receiving regular rotation across the network.
By the mid-1990s, MTV’s focus shifted toward alternative rock, nü-metal, and eventually reality programming, leading to the cancellation of Headbangers Ball and a steady decline in dedicated metal coverage. Brief revivals on MTV2 in the 2000s catered more to nostalgia than cultural leadership.
Want More Metal? Subscribe To Our Daily Newsletter
Enter your information below to get a daily update with all of our headlines and receive The Orchard Metal newsletter.
