Despite its success in the digital and streaming era, division president for MTV and Showtime Chris McCarthy said that the company is pressured by “broader economic headwinds like many of our peers.”
MTV News closes shop after 36 years
At a glance
Iconic Generation X era music news source succumbs to the times.
Alternative music news source MTV News will close down after 36 years on the air.
This after its parent company Paramount Media Networks decided to cut down its workforce size in the United States by a quarter.
MTV News originally covered a range of topics that included pop culture, politics, and music and was a major media brand for the Generation X and Millennial era demographic.
Despite its success in the digital and streaming era, division president for MTV and Showtime Chris McCarthy said that the company is pressured by “broader economic headwinds like many of our peers.”
“As a result, we have made the very hard but necessary decision to reduce our domestic team by approximately 25%.”
As a business unit, MTV News had already been scaled down in recent years. Its “streamlining” and “the elimination of some units” as McCarthy said, was meant to “reduce costs and create a more effective approach to our business as we move forward.”
MTV News started in the 80’s when former Rolling Stone editor-turned-TV host Kurt Loder joined the network via the latter’s “The Week in Rock” program and other specials.
During the 90’s, MTV News was a prime source for alternative news that covered the music of the times that normally get bypassed on traditional cable news networks.
MTV News famously broke the news of Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain’s death and interviewed 90’s pop icons in their early days that included Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G. and Britney Spears to name some.