Australia is set to bid farewell to MTV’s music channels this month.
With the channels set to exit Fetch TV at the end of the month, Paramount will shut down the linear MTV music channels locally. This includes MTV 80s, MTV 90s, MTV 00s, MTV Club, and MTV Hits.
The channels will remain on IPTV subscription streaming platform Fetch TV until 31 October.
The decision to shutter the channels follows the decision by Paramount not to renew its deal with Foxtel in June this year. Foxtel replaced the MTV music channels with a set of music channels curated locally in Australia by the Brisbane-based Nightlife Music.
A Paramount Australia spokesperson told Mediaweek that the MTV brand will continue in Australia, while indicating that the linear music channels would not shift over to streaming platform 10 (formerly known as 10Play). The spokesman said: “MTV music channels are not currently available on 10 streaming. MTV music and entertainment programming can be found on the brand’s global YouTube channel and on Paramount+ in Australia.”
In Australia, the MTV music channels were managed by Paramount Networks UK & Australia. It oversaw Comedy Central, which was exclusive to Fetch TV and also shuttered earlier this year.
This appears to be part of a global cost-saving strategy with the BBC reporting overnight that the MTV linear channels will close in the UK, Poland, France, and Brazil. The BBC linked the closures to efforts to cut costs at the company by as much as AU$769m (£376m) across its global business.
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In the UK, the channels will close on New Years Eve.
The MTV brand launched in Australia in 1987, airing for six years as a compilation music video show hosted by Richard Wilkins on Nine. MTV was later reintroduced in Australia as a linear music video channel on Optus Television, with the channel later added to Austar and Foxtel.
MTV has been a fixture on Fetch TV since it launched in 2010, with MTV channels MTV Music Television, MTV Classic, and MTV Hits part of its initial lineup.
Fetch TV streams music video FAST channels including Now 70s, Now 80s, and Now 00s. The Vevo music app, which provided on-demand music and similarly-themed linear music video channels, was discontinued on the platform early this year.
