MTV to Shut Down Global Music Channels by December 31, 2025. After 44 years, Paramount pulls the plug on the network’s original "M"
The "M" is officially gone. Paramount Global confirms the permanent shutdown of five iconic MTV music channels by December 31, 2025. This $500 million "strategic amputation" marks the final death knell for the 24-hour music broadcast era.
After 44 years, the "M" for Music is being erased as Paramount Global pulls the plug on December 31.
The "M" in MTV is officially irrelevant. In a move that signals the final death knell for traditional music television, Paramount Global has confirmed it will permanently shut down five of its iconic music channels worldwide by December 31, 2025.
The decision, described by industry insiders as a "strategic amputation," will see MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live go dark in the UK, Ireland, and across international markets including Germany, Australia, and Brazil.
This is not a pause; it is an erasure. Paramount Global, fresh off a merger with Skydance Media, is executing an aggressive $500 million cost-reduction strategy. The casualty is the very DNA of the network: the 24-hour music broadcast.
While the flagship MTV channel (MTV HD) will survive in the US, it will effectively function as a reality TV silo, broadcasting reruns of Catfish and The Challenge rather than the music videos that built the empire.
The shutdown is the inevitable result of a decade-long war MTV lost to the algorithm. Viewership data paints a grim picture: MTV Music averaged just 1.3 million viewers in July 2025 a fraction of its peak influence.
"The conditions that once made MTV revolutionary simply don't exist anymore," said Kirsty Fairclough, a screen studies professor. "Viewers expect immediacy and interactivity. Traditional TV cannot match YouTube or TikTok."
For Gen X and Millennials, this is more than a business restructuring; it is the closure of a cultural cathedral.
- No more music blocks: The curated playlists of MTV 80s and 90s are being replaced by on-demand streaming.
- Global blackout: The shutdown begins in the UK and Ireland before sweeping across Europe and South America.
"The 'M' stood for music, and that's gone," lamented former VJ Simone Angel. As 2026 approaches, the network that invented the "video star" will finally succumb to the radio star’s fate: becoming a memory.
