MTV Shuts Down Music-Only Channels, Marking the End of 24-Hour Music Television

An era officially came to a close at the end of 2025. On Dec. 31, MTV shut down several of its music-only channels, bringing an end to decades of 24-hour music video broadcasting. The network announced the move in October, according to Rolling Stone.

MTV originally launched in the United States on Aug. 1, 1981, famously debuting with “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles. More than four decades later, the same song served as the final video aired on MTV Music before the channel went dark on Dec. 31.

Reflecting on the change, former MTV DJ Daisy Fuentes acknowledged the emotional weight of the moment while emphasizing the need for evolution. “While it’s a bit sad, it’s been a bit sad for a while,” Fuentes told PEOPLE in October 2025. “I think MTV had its time and history that time will never repeat, and it’s time to change. We all change. We have to evolve.”

Despite the shutdown of its dedicated music channels, MTV’s flagship networks will continue to operate, airing regular programming such as The Challenge and RuPaul’s Drag Race. According to Variety, MTV ranked as the 49th most-watched cable network in 2025, ahead of Comedy Central.

The channels taken off the air include MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live. The shutdown affected viewers in multiple regions, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Australia, and Brazil, per the BBC.

Each channel signed off with a final music video. MTV Music closed with “Video Killed the Radio Star,” while MTV 90s ended its broadcast with the Spice Girls’ “Goodbye,” a fitting farewell.

Viewers attempting to access the shuttered channels now see a rotating display of channel logos, accompanied by a message directing them to MTV’s main channel, MTV HD, for content. Neither MTV nor its parent company, Paramount, has publicly explained the decision to discontinue the music-focused networks, according to Rolling Stone.

The move is part of a broader pattern of cutbacks at the network. Earlier in 2025, MTV paused several award shows, including the MTV Europe Music Awards and MTV Latin America’s MIAW Awards, amid cost-cutting measures tied to Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Skydance, completed in August 2025, per the Associated Press.

This follows the shutdown of MTV News in May 2023, which ended a 36-year run. At the time, Chris McCarthy, president of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks, cited “pressure from broader economic headwinds” as the reason.

For longtime viewers, the disappearance of MTV’s music-only channels represents more than a programming shift—it marks the final chapter of a cultural institution that once defined how the world discovered music.