"The end of an era" - Internet reacts to MTV shutting down 5 of its music channels after a 40-year run 

MTV (an acronym for Music Television) will reportedly shut down five of its music channels, including MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live, in the UK as of December 31, 2025, according to the BBC. However, the network's flagship channel, MTV HD, will reportedly remain on air and continue broadcasting reality TV shows, including Naked Dating UK and Geordie Shore.

The shutdown in the UK is reportedly part of a cost-cutting initiative within Paramount, the network's parent company. The shutdown of the network's music channels in Australia, Brazil, France, and Poland is also expected in an effort to save Paramount $500 million.

This news was met with mixed responses from netizens on X, with one user reminiscing over the music channel and calling it the "end of an era."

"The end of an era. The new generation will never know what MTV was. TRL with Carson Daly forever and ever be the greatest music channel of all time. It was a good while it lasted."

Go Dodgers!

@MaskaF56959

@SaycheeseDGTL The end of an era. The new generation will never know what MTV was. TRL with Carson Daly forever and ever be the greatest music channel of all time. It was a good while it lasted.

Several netizens echoed similar sentiments, adding that the network's run was legendary.

Diet💦

@DietWaterGUY

@SaycheeseDGTL So many memories. Not many networks can match this run. Legendary!

NoHero

@NxHeroes

@SaycheeseDGTL Dont be mad at mtv, be mad at the music industry for no longer wanting to pay mtv for the artists’ they were showcasing and highlighting daily

Jerome K Morris

@xxxxBLAZE

@SaycheeseDGTL Kids today just dont know music videos were an absolute staple growing up. It'd be MTV and VH1 in the morning before school and Rap City and 106 & park after school.

Blok--Head

@HeadBlok

@SaycheeseDGTL Bevis and Butthead, The Maxx, Aeon Flux, Jackass/Wildboyz, Rob and Big among many others. Even if they didn't always play music videos, they at least had a specific vibe that was fun to watch during the early 2000's.

However, some blamed the network's shift from music videos to reality television as one of the reasons for its upcoming shutdown.

Xavier Hill

@XHill34

@SaycheeseDGTL MTV hasn’t been the s**t since they used to air animated shows like Liquid Television, Aeon Flux, Beavis and Butt-head, Daria, Celebrity Deathmatch, Station Zero, The Maxx, The Head, Undergrads, etc

Mr. Nobody (Fantastic Four and Superman Enjoyer)

@Abs0luteN0b0dy

@SaycheeseDGTL It’s about damn time they put that channel outta it misery. MTV became really s**tty when they cancelled TRL and started playing less music videos over the years. It was basically a husk of it former self That being said I will always have fond memories of MTV 🙏🙏🙏

🧸🏅

@Ghostthesehoes

@SaycheeseDGTL Wow maybe if they played Music Videos on the Music TV channel theyd have a consistent audience. We did not need 2470 consecutive hours of ridiculousness followed by teen mom

Team Bigg Clay

@BiggClayMusic

@SaycheeseDGTL That’s what they get for not listening to what the ppl wanted instead they kept putting stupid reality tv shows and running Ridiculousness reruns for 6 hours straight when all they had to do was just play music videos 24/7, like the ppl asked for at every mtv music award show

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MTV was first started in 1981 in the US

According to Rolling Stone, the channel was first launched in the US in 1981. The first music video the network broadcast was The Buggles' Video Killed the Radio Star. In 1987, the network launched its European counterpart, premiering Dire Straits’ Money for Nothing as its first music video.

In 1997, the network started an exclusive channel for the UK, which began airing live shows such as TRL (Total Request Live) along with music videos. While the channel stopped playing music videos in 2011, it continued to air the annual Europe Music Awards (EMA) till 2024. In 2025, the awards ceremony was paused due to Paramount's merger deal with Skydance Media.

Simone Angel, a former VJ who reportedly worked for the network's European and UK channels in the 1990s, addressed the impending shutdown in a statement to the BBC, adding that while she was sad and in "a little bit of disbelief," the news of the shutdown was "a long time coming."

"I am really sad, and I'm a little bit in disbelief, and I know it's been a long time coming. We need to support these artists and we all need to dance again and listen to music. And I know we do that online in our own little bubbles, but [the network] was the place where everything came together. So it really does break my heart."

Angel described the experience as "being on a school trip without any teachers." She also suggested that the heart of the network was the music and not its reality shows, adding:

"We were the most widespread TV channel in the world at that point. We had between 100 and 150 million viewers...You've just got to move with the times. To this day, it's one of the most recognisable brands in the world. Why on earth throw that away? It's not thrown away, but it's just reality TV."

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Greg Johnson

@MusicWorld203

🚨𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: MTV will shutdown all music channels after nearly four decades of broadcasting.. The reasons for the cancelling of channels is that audiences now watch music videos on YouTube and other social media platforms..

As of this article, it is unclear why the network is shutting down five of its music channels, and Paramount has not publicly addressed the issue. However, the BBC reported that low viewership could be a reason for the shutdown, as viewers have migrated to other platforms such as YouTube to watch music videos.