Music Television: MTV

MUSIC TELEVISION: MTV 

MTV (Music Television) is the oldest and most influential American cable network specializing in music-related programming. It was launched on August 1, 1981, with the words "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll," spoken on camera by John Lack, one of the creators of MTV. This introduction was immediately followed by the music video clip Video Killed the Radio Star, featuring a band called the Buggles. The title proved somewhat prophetic as MTV greatly transformed the nature of music industry stardom over the next several years. At the same time, MTV became a major presence in the cable TV industry and in fact in the overall American cultural landscape.

One of the earliest and greatest cable success stories, MTV was established by Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment Company (WASEC) after extensive marketing research. The key to MTV's viability, at least initially, was the availability of low-cost programming in the form of music videos. Originally these were provided free by record companies, which thought of them as advertising for their records and performers.

MTV presented one video after another in a constant "flow" that contrasted with the discrete individual programs found on other television networks. Clips were repeated from time to time according to a light, medium, or heavy "rotation" schedule. In this respect, MTV was like Top 40 radio (it even had video jockeys, or vjs, similar to radio djs). Moreover, it soon became apparent that MTV could "break" a recording act (move it into prominence, even star status), just as radio had done for decades.

Many of the earliest MTV videos came from Great Britain, where the tradition of making promo clips was fairly well developed. One of the earliest indications of MTV's commercial importance was the success of the British band Duran Duran in the American market. This band had great visual appeal and made interesting videos but was not receiving radio airplay as of 1981. In markets where MTV was available, the network's airing of Duran Duran's videos made the band immediately popular. Ultimately MTV proved to be immensely important to the careers of numerous artists, including Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince, Peter Gabriel, and U2, as well as Duran Duran.

As MTV launched other, more genre-specific channels (MTV Base, MTV Dance, VH1, MTV Hits) MTV itself moved into broadcasting reality TV. In fact, for a few years MTV featured practically no music at all. Many of its reality shows were a success (The Hills, My Super Sweet 16, The Osbournes) but the channel received criticism for broadcasting cheap trashy reality TV instead of music videos.

In February 2011 channel 350, recently MTV’s slot, became MTV Music, a channel devoted to music! MTV shows launched on channel 352

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