End of an era "MTV was so powerful that it defined youth culture"
MTV is shutting down its music channels at the end of the year: Fans are lamenting the end of an era that began in 1981 and at times had a huge cultural impact on youth culture. The channel itself as well as social media and streaming have led to the end of MTV.
13.12.2025, 09:08
13.12.2025, 09:13
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No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Paramount Skydance is shutting down MTV's international channels at the end of the year, ending an era that began in 1981.
- The article pays tribute to the revolutionary beginnings of the channel, which helped shape music and youth culture through creativity.
- Not only did MTV itself contribute to its decline with unsuccessful concepts, but also the emergence of YouTube, social media and streaming services.
- Yes, there are also embedded videos that make you nostalgic.
A station that only broadcasts music videos - a groundbreaking idea when MTV launched in 1981. Significantly, "Video Killed the Radio Star" was the first music clip to be broadcast on Music Television.
More than 40 years later, streaming services and social media are now putting an end to the music channel. At the end of the year, parent company Paramount Skydance is shutting down the international MTV music channels. Disappointed fans and former MTV presenters regret the end of an era.
But everything that made MTV a culturally "revolutionary" channel no longer exists, says film and media scholar Kirsty Fairclough from Manchester Metropolitan University. Digital platforms such as YouTube and TikTok "have completely changed the way we interact with music and images".
Today's audiences expect "immediacy" and "interactivity", which videos on television cannot offer, explains the popular culture expert.
"It was so exciting"
The channel was successful when the internet was still in its infancy, says James Hyman, who produced dance shows for MTV Europe in the 1990s. "It was so exciting because that was basically all people had."
Hyman and presenter Simone Angel were the creators of MTV Party Zone - a show that celebrated club culture and played new techno, house and trance music at the time.
Both left the channel when MTV Europe was split into regional subsidiaries in the early 2000s and reoriented away from music programs towards reality shows.
"I was heartbroken when it was split into different regions. For me, it was like the beginning of the end," says the Dutchwoman. According to her, the reason for MTV's declining popularity was the move away from original, innovative music content, which was crucial for the breakthrough of lesser-known artists.
Turning away from music
"In the beginning, MTV Europe wasn't just about making as much money as possible. It was the willingness to experiment that made the channel so exciting."
The German-language MTV channel was launched in 1997 and made presenters such as Kristiane Backer, Ray Cokes, Nora Tschirner and Christian Ulmen known to an audience of millions.
Since Paramount merged with Skydance at the beginning of the year, the group has been trying to cut costs and announced in October that 1000 jobs would be cut. Other cable television offerings are also under scrutiny. Some MTV music channels will continue to be broadcast in the USA.
"The 'M' in MTV stood for music, and that's gone now," laments Hyman. "MTV has really fundamentally changed pop music," summarizes researcher Fairclough. The channel brought both famous and unknown artists into the living rooms of music fans all over the world.
"Defining youth culture"
The shutdown of broadcasters in many countries "definitely marks the end of an era in the way we experience music, both visually and culturally," she says. Moments such as the premiere of Michael Jackson's music video "Thriller" and Madonna's performance of "Like a Virgin" at the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984 shaped the cultural debate.
"MTV was so powerful that it defined youth culture," says Hyman, recalling the channel's far-reaching influence on fashion, film and music. In his living room in London, the old MTV comes back to life. He has carefully preserved the VHS tapes of the programs he produced and pops them into the player: clips from the 90s, experimental music videos, interviews.
Since it became known that the music channels were about to be shut down, Hyman and former presenter Angel Paramount have been pushing for archive tapes to be made available to the public. "To me, it feels like MTV has been on artificial life support for a long time," says Angel. "But now that the plug is actually going to be pulled, we've all suddenly realized how much it means to us."
