Paramount Global yanks five MTV music channels off UK airwaves after December 31, 2025, capping 44 years since the network’s 1981 launch with The Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star.
MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live vanish from Sky and Virgin Media lineups first, with Europe, Australia, Brazil, Poland, France, and others following suit. Flagship MTV HD stays put, stocked with reality hits like Geordie Shore and Naked Dating UK that pull steadier crowds.
Viewership craters as habits flip. July 2025 stats clock MTV Music at 1.3 million UK minutes and MTV 90s at 949,000, peanuts next to YouTube’s billions of daily video plays or TikTok’s short-form music clips.
Spotify streams dominate discovery, leaving linear TV relics unplugged. Paramount Skydance, fresh off an August 2025 merger, chases $500 million in global savings through these trims.
Cuts tie into bigger bloodletting. Third-quarter 2025 revenue hit $6.7 billion but netted a $257 million loss, pushing CEO David Ellison to slash 15% of staff, including 1,600 South American jobs from Telefé sales and 1,000 U.S. roles across CBS, MTV, and BET.
Music channels bore the brunt, their contracts expiring without renewal as digital rivals eat ad dollars.
Business logic rules. Former VJ Neil Cole recalls music as MTV’s heartbeat, but reality reruns and Paramount+ bets yield steadier cash.
U.S. music feeds linger on regional cables for now, but global pullback signals cable’s death rattle. Ellison’s squad eyes $30 billion revenue and $3.5 billion operating income in 2026 by pivoting hard to streamers.
Nostalgia Tsunami Floods Fan Feeds
Social scrolls erupt with heartbreak clips of moonman logos and VJ shoutouts. X users post grainy VHS rips of Madonna’s Like a Virgin at the 1984 VMAs or Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit takeover, captioning them as the final nails in MTV’s music coffin.
One viral thread laments 80s ident magic like Tusic Melivision spoofs, crediting 10-second bursts for iconic branding.
Millennials lead the charge. Posts recall post-school rituals, tuning into MTV Base or Hits for fresh drops before dial-up internet.
Indian fans note local MTV swapped music for Roadies years back, but the global shutdown stings universally. Reddit’s r/decadeology counts down hours to UK blackout, sharing Club MTV dance-offs and 90s grunge marathons.
Ex-VJs fuel the fire. Martha Angel, Europe alum, pins decline on ditching edgy breaks for smaller acts, once MTV’s secret sauce.
Paramount (Credit: NBC)
She begs Paramount archive the vaults for public access, preserving Live Aid marathons or Spring Break beach bashes that wired youth culture. Fans echo calls, flooding petitions to digitize Total Request Live countdowns.
Memes mix laughs with loss. One swaps Buggles lyrics to YouTube Killed the Video Star, another mocks reality pivot with Jersey Shore guidos claiming the moonman throne. Indian outlets like MTV India clap back at shutdown rumors with sassy Hum Kahin Nahi Ja Rahe videos, but global users see it as pop culture’s slow fade.
Reality Pivot Sparks Culture Wars Ahead
MTV HD soldiers on with unscripted hooks, but purists decry the soul swap. Launched as Music Television, it birthed VMAs, Unplugged sessions, and I Want My MTV campaigns that pressured cable ops to carry it nationwide.
Black artist breakthroughs like Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean shattered color barriers after David Bowie’s callouts, reshaping video rotation.
Shift mirrors industry quake. Cable subs dipped from MTV’s 99 million U.S. peak in 2011 to 67 million by 2023, per Nielsen. Paramount+ absorbs music clips, but communal channel surfing dies. Artists lose a promo ladder; indies once broke via heavy rotation, now chasing algorithms.
Fan splits sharpen. Boomers hail 1981 moon landing IDs, Gen X owns 90s alternative explosion, millennials mourn TRL street vibes. Younger eyes shrug, glued to Reels. PTC watchdog ghosts resurface, nodding past smut peddler raps over Spring Break antics, but focus stays nostalgic.
Future bets on hybrids. MTV Classic echoes faded to a video jukebox in 2017, and MTV Live lingers stateside for HD gigs. Skydance probes talent divisions, eyeing streamer exclusives like revived Beavis and Butt-Head. VMAs endure as cash cows, but without channels, Moonmen feel adrift.
Petitions push back. UK viewers demand Sky archive playlists, Brazilians rally for Brazil beats preservation. As 2026 dawns, MTV’s corpse fuels debates on cable’s corpse dance. Reality rules the remnant, but music’s ghost haunts every skipped ad on the next scroll.
In a significant show of organized fan activism, the global fandom of RIIZE has officially concluded a relentless three-week truck protest directed at SM Entertainment.
The demonstration, which ended on December 22, 2025 (KST), was a response to what fans describe as systematic mismanagement and a failure to capitalize on the group’s immense potential.
As the protest wraps up, the fandom has made it clear that while the trucks may be gone for now, their demand for fundamental structural change—specifically within Center 5 (C5), the internal management division responsible for RIIZE—remains as urgent as ever.
The Scope of the Protest
The three-week campaign was a massive collaborative effort involving both domestic (South Korean) and international fanbases.
- Global Participation: Chinese fanbases played a major role in fundraising for the trucks, while fans worldwide contributed through slogan submissions and synchronized hashtag campaigns on social media.
- The Message: The trucks displayed messages criticizing the current management’s direction, calling out specific failures in styling, content production, and comeback frequency.
- Targeted Criticism: The protest specifically aimed at the decision-makers within C5, accusing them of wasting the group’s “youthful potential” and the company’s capital on outdated and ineffective strategies.
Core Grievances: A “Broken Clock”
The fandom’s official statement released at the end of the protest was scathing in its assessment of SM’s Center 5.
They argued that the occasional positive decisions made by the center are merely a matter of chance, comparing C5 to “a broken clock that is right twice a day.” Key complaints listed by the fans include:
Ineffective Creative Direction: Fans allege that the planning direction imposed by C5 reflects “outdated sensibilities” that are out of touch with modern K-pop audiences.
Missed Opportunities: Despite reasonable demands for more frequent domestic comebacks, a higher volume of original music, and high-quality performances, fans claim they have been consistently ignored for the past two years.
Styling and Content Issues: The statement highlighted styling that sometimes hinders stage performances and a lack of trend-aligned short-form content (such as TikToks and Reels) that is crucial for maintaining global visibility.
Inefficient Management: Fans expressed frustration that talented individual staff members’ efforts are often neutralized by the poor choices of final decision-makers within the executive layer of C5.
Demanding a “Center Transfer”
The protest has brought a radical demand to the forefront: the transfer of RIIZE to a different management center or a complete replacement of the Center 5 head.
Fans questioned how they and potential investors could continue to trust a company that manages a high-profile boy group—the first to be introduced under a new name after seven years—in such a “careless manner.”
The fandom warned that if SM Entertainment fails to acknowledge the underlying causes of this discontent, the long-term health of the group’s intellectual property (IP) and the company’s 30-year legacy could be permanently damaged.
Not the End, But a Pause
The statement concluded by clarifying that no fan participates in such expensive and time-consuming protests for enjoyment. It was a “last resort” to ensure their voices were heard.
While the second round of truck protests has ended, the fandom emphasized that “nothing is truly over” until SM implements concrete improvements and structural changes.
They have pledged to continue taking collective action through their organized social media accounts if their demands remain unmet.
As of early January 2026, SM Entertainment has yet to issue an official response to the specific grievances raised during the three-week campaign.
However, the pressure on Center 5 is at an all-time high, especially as RIIZE prepares for the grand finale of their debut world tour in Seoul.
Industry observers are watching closely to see if SM will pivot its management strategy to appease one of its most vocal and economically significant fanbases.
