04/01/2026
MTV Base Africa Shuts Down Its Music Channels. The End of an Era.
MTV has officially closed its remaining music only TV channels as of December 31st, bringing nearly 40 years of nonstop music video broadcasting to an end.
Channels like MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live have gone off air across the UK and several other countries including Germany, France, Australia, and Brazil. In the UK, they’ve been removed from platforms like Sky and Virgin Media.
The final song played was symbolic. Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles. The same song that launched MTV in 1981.
MTV HD will still exist, but it’s now focused on reality TV, not music videos.
This wasn’t random. People don’t watch music videos on TV anymore. They watch on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and other social platforms. Culture moved. Technology moved. Consumption changed.
And MTV didn’t move with music fast enough.
What the new generation can learn from this
1. Platforms change, attention shifts
What works today may not work tomorrow. Artists and producers must always adapt to where people actually are, not where they used to be.
2. Own your distribution
MTV once controlled music video exposure. Now artists can upload directly to YouTube and social media. Don’t rely fully on gatekeepers. Build direct access to your audience.
3. Culture rewards speed, not nostalgia
MTV was iconic, but legacy alone couldn’t save it. In music and business, relevance matters more than history.
4. Follow behavior, not tradition
People didn’t stop loving music videos. They just changed how they watch them. Smart creatives follow audience behavior, not old systems.
MTV didn’t die because music died.
It faded because music moved.
Adapt or disappear.
