by Abb Jones
The Reelness

After four decades of defining youth culture and launching countless musical careers, MTV is bidding farewell its music-oriented TV channels. MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV and MTV Live will all cease broadcasting worldwide on December 31, 2025. The move is seen as an effort by its parent company, Paramount, to shed $500 million in expenses from its global portfolio.

The flagship MTV HD channel will remain, with a continued focus on reality programming instead of the music videos that made it a household name.

From its historic August 1, 1981 launch (see above) with The Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star, and other iconic moments like Michael Jackson’s Thriller premiere, Madonna’s boundary-pushing Like a Virgin, and Live Aid concerts, MTV quickly became the center of nearly all genres of music for two decades. But with the advent of on-demand platforms like YouTube Music, Vevo and TikTok, music video fans have been able to access new content immediately, leading MTV to seek other avenues to remain relevant.

Four of the five original MTV VJs are still active in the music industry. Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman and Alan Hunter host Sirius XM’s The 80s on 8. Martha Quinn left the satellite network in 2016 and is now at iHeartRadio’s iHeart80s. J.J. Jackson died of an apparent heart attack in 2004 at the age of 62.