Parent company Paramount was shutting down all MTV channels in late 2025.
MTV’s 24-hour music channels in the United Kingdom did shut down, with other closures reportedly taking place in European countries, Australia, and Brazil.
However, MTV had not shut down completely. U.S. channels were still running, as was MTV UK.
As the year 2025 came to an end, many online claimed that MTV — a decades-old cable television channel known for airing music videos — was shutting down completely. Numerous clips spread online stating that the music channel’s last played video was the 1979 song, “Video Killed the Radio Star.”
While parent company Paramount did shut down MTV’s 24-hour music channels in the U.K. and other countries, MTV as a channel still existed. In the U.S., MTV was still running, except the main channel largely aired reality shows such as “Ru-Paul’s Drag Race” and re-runs of old programs, not solely music videos, which is what MTV focused on for decades. As such, we rate this claim a mixture of truth and falsehood.
We reached out to Paramount to determine where exactly the channel had been shut down and will update this post accordingly.
MTV’s U.S. channels were still on air as of this writing. Per the schedule (archived) available on the channel’s website on Jan. 2, 2026, MTV Classic was still showing music videos, while MTV and MTV2 were airing reality shows and other programming.
MTV’s U.K. channels had partially shut down. According to an online programming schedule (archived and screenshot below), MTV Music UK, MTV Hits UK, MTV Live, MTV 80s UK, and MTV 90s UK, all had stopped the 24-hour music video airing they were known for. However, the remaining channel MTV UK was still airing old movies and re-runs of programs like the reality show, “Catfish: How Not To Date.”
(Screenshot via mtv.co.uk)
The music channel closures hit other markets. According to a report in entertainment media outlet Deadline, the 24-hour music channels had also stopped running in Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Australia and Brazil (archived). We have asked Paramount to confirm these international closures.
BBC journalist Jono Reed posted a video of MTV Music UK’s last ever music video, “Video Killed The Radio Star.” The 1979 song by the Buggles was reportedly the first music video ever aired on MTV in the U.S. in 1981.
An unnamed spokesperson told entertainment news outlet Variety: “MTV’s specialist music channels in the UK will no longer operate as linear channels. The flagship MTV UK channel will continue to broadcast… Paramount is reviewing and adjusting its international Pay TV portfolio, given shifts in audience behavior towards streaming and digital platforms.”
Through 2025, Paramount sought to cut costs of around $500 million according to the BBC, which included shutting down Paramount Television Studios. MTV’s brand was still visible on social media channels and Paramount’s streaming service.
While MTV still existed at a smaller scale as a television channel, it was unknown if this would remain the case in the future. As of now, the channel had not shut down completely.
Snopes has previously covered Paramount’s other shutdown efforts, including the July 2025 cancellation of comedian Stephen Colbert’s late-night talk show on subsidiary television network CBS.
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