After over forty years, MTV has officially ended 24/7 dedicated music programming throughout Europe on December 31, 2025 with only reality programs being aired on the channel. This has occurred largely because viewers have shifted to favor streaming platforms instead to watch videos. For the time being, MTV will still feature music videos in Asia and the US in a weekly block. I must admit it has been many years since I actually turned to MTV to watch videos but it's very sad to hear about the end of an era of actual music being on this groundbreaking channel.
Since it's launch back on August 1, 1981 with the first video played was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles, MTV quickly became a highly influential channel that helped introduce new music stars with inventive visuals, enhancing their images and inspiring the culture. Guided by television personalities known as video jockeys or "VJs" to introduce the clips, MTV would expand internationally, launch the MTV Video Music Awards, feature special events and live concerts with the channel at it's peak in 2011 being in 99 million households.
The world has evolved considerably since MTV first hit the airwaves with social media, streaming and other distractions to fill-in for the activity of turning to a specific channel to only watch music videos. But I would like to thank MTV for opening my eyes and broadly widening my musical horizons. I know for certain that without the channel, I would not have heard certain genres of music (new wave, for example and later hip-hop) without my MTV. MTV helped make each song that they played an event, enriching, in some cases, songs that greatly benefited from having a video to heighten the appeal of the tune.
And to pay tribute, here is the video that would kick-off MTV and regretfully bring the channel to its conclusion:
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