The Demise Of Music Video Channels

We Americans like to reminisce about the old days when MTV actually played music videos. Well apparently the situation is similar in Canada. If you had cable TV up there in the great white north where MTV was not an option, there was a Canadian music video channel called MuchMusic. It was owned by the same group that owns popular Toronto radio station CHUM.

I rarely turn on the hotel television when I'm visiting Canada so I missed the rebranding of MuchMusic to just Much. Now owned by Bell Media, the channel has rid itself of most music video programming as it goes after the teen and young adult market with lifestyle shows and teen dramas. Like most Canadian radio and television channels, they're required to have a certain percentage of Canadian-made content.

Sadly, Germany's music video channel VIVA closed at the end of 2018.

MTV Europe still operates in several European countries but sadly too, music videos are scarce.