Paramount Global will shut down MTV’s remaining music-video channels (MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV and MTV Live) at the end of 2025. The shutdown begins in the UK & Ireland and is then scheduled to roll out across European markets. The flagship MTV/MTV HD service will remain on air, but it largely carries reality and entertainment shows rather than continuous music videos.

Paramount’s move follows years of audience migration from linear music TV to on-demand and social video and is part of a broader cost reductions after the Paramount–Skydance merger.

Industrial/EBM on MTV was shortlived

In its early years, industrial and EBM acts appeared regularly in specialist blocks. In the U.S., “120 Minutes” (launched 1986) programmed alternative videos, including Front 242 (“Quite Unusual”), Skinny Puppy (“Dig It”), Front Line Assembly (“Virus,” “Mindphaser”), and Nine Inch Nails (“Head Like a Hole,” “Down in It”). In Europe, late-night strands such as “Party Zone” (hosted for most of the 1990s by Simone Angel) also featured left-field electronic and industrial material. Industrial-adjacent content surfaced on other franchises too, for example KMFDM’s “A Drug Against War” being aired within Beavis and Butt-Head in 1994, and Ministry guesting on Headbangers Ball in 1992.

By the mid-to-late 1990s and 2000s, these windows narrowed. Headbangers Ball was cancelled in the U.S. in January 1995 (the European edition continued until 1997). 120 Minutes was pushed deeper into late night in 2002 and cancelled in May 2003 (it briefly returned on MTV2 in 2011). The broader schedule change was completely tied to its profitable pivot into reality formats beginning in the early 1990s and accelerating in the 2000s (e.g., “The Real World” in 1992), reducing the overall volume of music-video programming.

The long-term effect was clear by the 2010s–2020s: industrial/EBM clips were largely absent from the flagship schedules, with most remaining music videos relegated to theme channels (e.g., MTV 80s/90s, MTV Music) rather than mainline programming.

We checked the The 120 Minutes Archive to find the MTV appearances by industrial / EBM / industrial-rock acts.

About MTV in Europe

MTV Europe launched on 1 August 1987, providing a pan-European feed from London. It quickly established itself as the continent’s primary source for 24-hour music video programming, artist interviews, and chart shows.

In the late 1990s the TV channel shifted from a single European feed to localised channels. MTV UK & Ireland launched on 1 July 1997 with a remit to feature local artists and region-specific shows. Over time, the portfolio expanded (e.g., MTV Base, MTV Extra/MTV Hits, MTV Classic), then later contracted or was rebranded (e.g., MTV Base → MTV 90s in 2022; MTV Hits closed in April 2025).

As online platforms took over music-video viewing, MTV Europe’s flagship channels rebalanced toward reality/unscripted entertainment, with music blocks moving to spin-off channels. By the 2010s, the main MTV (UK & Ireland) feed was largely entertainment-led.

To concentrate music content, MTV ran theme channels such as MTV 80s (launched as a brand in Europe in 2020; UK relaunch 2022), MTV 90s, Club MTV, MTV Music, and MTV Live. These became the final linear homes for round-the-clock music videos, archival countdowns, and live performance blocks.

All these remaining music-video channels are scheduled to cease broadcasting by 31 December 2025 in the UK and subsequently across Europe. The main MTV channel continues but is no longer positioned as a dedicated music-video outlet.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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