The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / MTV Canada to shut down on Dec 31, 2024

**Posted by haydenmatthews14** October 30, 2024 12:57 pm

Over on the Digital Home forums. It looks like another MTV channel will be shutting down at the end of this year. Bell Media announced that MTV will no longer be offered. Just like MTV2 shut down this past March it looks like MTV will suffer the same fate as well. MTV is available on Pluto TV and it appears that Paramount Global is parting ways with Bell Media.

Bell Media to shut down MTV on December 31, 2024

**Posted by Radiowiz** October 30, 2024 3:13 pm

Am I reading this right? An 11 million dollar loss? Good reason to shut MTV Canada down!!

**Posted by cash** **Online!** October 30, 2024 3:18 pm

Revenues went from $17.1 million to $7.7 million in four years. No one was watching.

**Posted by paterson1** October 30, 2024 3:26 pm

And no staff, zero.

**Posted by Easily Amused** October 30, 2024 3:28 pm

I want my MTV! 😠

**Posted by Binson Echorec** October 30, 2024 3:30 pm

Easily Amused wrote:
I want my MTV! 😠

Call Bell, I'm sure they'll let you have it for a song!

**Posted by RadioAaron** October 30, 2024 3:33 pm

cash wrote:
Revenues went from $17.1 million to $7.7 million in four years. No one was watching.

And subscriber revenue down close to the same percentage...cord-cutters abound

**Posted by betaylored** October 30, 2024 4:11 pm

Binson Echorec wrote:
Easily Amused wrote:
I want my MTV! 😠
Call Bell, I'm sure they'll let you have it for a song!

Maybe the Buggles can update their classic to "Digital Killed the Video Star."

**Posted by tvguy** October 30, 2024 5:38 pm

the "Zombie" channels are falling one-by-one. Wonder if they will be missed?

**Posted by RadioAaron** October 30, 2024 5:53 pm

tvguy wrote:
the "Zombie" channels are falling one-by-one. Wonder if they will be missed?

Don’t be ridiculous(ness)

**Posted by haydenmatthews14** October 31, 2024 12:42 am

Now another channel is also shutting down on Dec 31st along with MTV Canada. It is CBS Sports and it will be ceasing broadcasting in Canada. I am not a 100% sure if it will shut down in the US. But I could not find any more information. So the shut down will be just in Canada.

CBS Sports Discontinued December 31, 2024

Last edited by haydenmatthews14 (October 31, 2024 12:43 am)

**Posted by mic'em** October 31, 2024 7:04 am

Maybe if MTV had stayed with it's original mandate of broadcasting music videos and interviews etc, it may not have suffered such a decline in viewers.

**Posted by RadioActive** November 1, 2024 5:33 pm

The official confirmation via the Canadian Press.

**Posted by RadioAaron** November 1, 2024 7:38 pm

mic'em wrote:
Maybe if MTV had stayed with it's original mandate of broadcasting music videos and interviews etc, it may not have suffered such a decline in viewers.

The switch away from that content was *because* of the decline in viewers.

Music videos are alive and healthy; just not in a linear format.

**Posted by Paul Jeffries** November 1, 2024 8:53 pm

RadioAaron wrote:
mic'em wrote:
Maybe if MTV had stayed with it's original mandate of broadcasting music videos and interviews etc, it may not have suffered such a decline in viewers.
The switch away from that content was *because* of the decline in viewers.

Music videos are alive and healthy; just not in a linear format.

Actually, MTV Canada wasn't initially licensed by the CRTC to be a music channel.

As per Wikipedia:

"The channel launched as Talktv in 2000 by Bell Globemedia, but was not as widely available prior to its relaunch in March 2006. Unlike MTV channels in the United States and elsewhere, the channel was restricted in its ability to carry music programming until 2015, due to conditions in the channel's licence issued by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Thus, the channel never used the "Music Television" tagline as its international counterparts did prior to 2010.

"On September 28, 2005, CTV and MTV Networks announced that Talktv would be relaunched as a new Canadian incarnation of MTV, while continuing to maintain its licence requirement of "documentary programming" with over 68% Canadian content."

MTV (Canadian channel) - Wikipedia

PJ

**Posted by mic'em** November 2, 2024 9:00 am

RadioAaron, thanks for your reply. To be honest, I haven't watched MTV Canada in probably 20 years, especially after it just became a channel for old sitcoms etc.

**Posted by Shorty Wave** November 2, 2024 9:05 am

mic'em wrote:
RadioAaron, thanks for your reply. To be honest, I haven't watched MTV Canada in probably 20 years, especially after it just became a channel for old sitcoms etc.

You and me both mic’em, In fact, I’m pretty sure that I only watched their original launch here and maybe once or twice after that. Wasn’t a fan I guess.

**Posted by Radiowiz** November 2, 2024 11:26 am

betaylored wrote:
Maybe the Buggles can update their classic to "Digital Killed the Video Star."

The Limousines already managed to do something similar with Internet killed the video star.

**Posted by torontostan** November 3, 2024 5:54 pm

mic'em wrote:
Maybe if MTV had stayed with it's original mandate of broadcasting music videos and interviews etc, it may not have suffered such a decline in viewers.

MTV Canada was never allowed to run music videos (at least not more than 10% per broadcast week) as per their conditions of license.

**Posted by RadioActive** November 8, 2024 4:55 pm

torontostan wrote:
mic'em wrote:
Maybe if MTV had stayed with it's original mandate of broadcasting music videos and interviews etc, it may not have suffered such a decline in viewers.
MTV Canada was never allowed to run music videos (at least not more than 10% per broadcast week) as per their conditions of license.

Rolling Stone has published an article on the end of MTV Canada, and zeroes in on this point.

"Unlike MTV channels in the United States and internationally, the channel was restricted in its ability to carry music programming until 2015, due to conditions in the channel’s license issued by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

"Those restrictions meant that, unlike its international counterparts, MTV Canada never employed the “Music Television” tagline. As a result, in terms of music programming, the channel struggled to compete with the homegrown and much-beloved MuchMusic channel, which is also owned by Bell Media."

Given those restrictions, you have to wonder why they even bothered in the first place. Why have a channel called "MTV" if it couldn't play a lot of music? It never made any sense for Bell to compete against itself with this thing, and I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did, even if the brand was well known.

In Canada: MTV Leaving Airwaves in 2025, Citing ‘Changing Audiences’

**Posted by RadioAaron** November 8, 2024 5:05 pm

The idea would have been that MTV would be a good compliment to music-centric(ish) MUCH. If they hadn't brought in the MTV programming, someone else would have. The "M" never stood for music to the target audience for MTV Canada's reality-based programming anyway.

**Posted by paterson1** November 9, 2024 11:55 am

MTV Canada launched in 2006 and by then the popularity of music videos on cable started slowly to decline. It wouldn't have made sense for Bell to have two stations competing with each other as music channels, playing the same music. And Much already had MMM (muchmoremusic) which had been on the air since 1998. So MTV being lifestyle oriented likely was the best choice at the time.

**Posted by RadioAaron** November 9, 2024 12:07 pm

They also would have been packaged together for sales purposes, so audience overlap wasn't a problem, but rather a benefit.

**Posted by torontostan** November 9, 2024 12:51 pm

The original MTV Canada was also not launched by Bell/CHUM Limited. It was first brought into the fold by Craig Media. Later, CHUM's TalkTv was rebranded as MTV Canada.

**Posted by Walter** November 9, 2024 6:07 pm

Having never watched a single second of MTV Canada, I am neither shocked or dismayed by this turn of events. I did watch Much Music occasionally, and did enjoy it. When it became nothing but reality TV schlock, they lost me too. That was probably around 20 years ago. Gee, time flies.

**Posted by RadioAaron** November 9, 2024 6:10 pm

Walter wrote:
Having never watched a single second of MTV Canada, I am neither shocked or dismayed by this turn of events. I did watch Much Music occasionally, and did enjoy it. When it became nothing but reality TV schlock, they lost me too. That was probably around 20 years ago. Gee, time flies.

It survived for 24 years.