Iconic television channel MTV has made the commitment to its Australian viewers that it will be bringing the music back. This change has come in response to viewers becoming increasingly critical of the channel over the years, due to its shift away from music and onto reality TV shows.

With other dedicated music shows and channels being taken down in recent months, fans in Australia have been left with very little in the way of musical entertainment. The Loop, Channel V and Max are all gone, with Rage and The Set all that are left for Australian music fans.

This problem has become further compounded with the COIVD-19 crisis, which has meant that bands are no longer able to tour, a massive blow to the Aussie music scene. Fans have instead embraced the live streaming offerings and throwback concert footage and videos being shown by their favourite bands. This has awoken a trend that MTV cannot, and will not ignore. People need music. 

MTV first made its way to Australia all the way back in 1987 and has seen many different brandings and packaging over the years until landing on Foxtel in 2002, the country’s largest Pay-TV network. Since then, the channel has seemed to step away from music, ironic for a channel literally called “Music Television.” But with reality TV soaring in popularity ever since the dawning of shows like Big Brother, MTV understandably wanted in on the action.

Given the Australian version of MTV is directly influenced by its US parent channel, the reality shows soon took over the majority of airtime, much to the chagrin of music lovers. Such complaints were heard around the world, and finally, MTV is taking action by creating four brand new channels to cater to a variety of musical tastes.

MTV Hits (current charting music), Club MTV (hip-hop and RnB), MTV Classic (dedicated to the MTV brand and history) and CMT (Country Music Television) are all due to start airing on 1 July. The channels will run 24/7, be locally programmed, and include brand new productions aimed specifically at unearthing Aussie talent. MTV Unplugged Melbourne, Call & Response and MTV Upload are a few of the named examples that Aussie music fans and artists can look forward to.

Author: Harley Houghton

Harley Houghton is a writer and blogger, based in Melbourne, Australia. Her passions include music, especially metal, gaming and comics. Check out her blog www.harleysmadhouse.com and follow her on Twitter.