YouTube killed the video star: Channel V shut down in Australia
Some may have predicted it couldn't have ended any other way. The television channel synonymous with Australian youth will be switched off after 21 years of showtime.
On Wednesday, Foxtel announced Channel V will not exist as of Mar. 25, with the music channel being rolled into V Hits. Despite rarely watching the show in recent times, youth across Australia are in mourning.
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“We are making some changes to our music channels on Foxtel. Starting from this Saturday, February 27 you will begin to see some changes to Channel [V]. Following on from that, from March 25, we will no longer use the Channel V brand, which will change to V Hits and V Hits +2," Foxtel said in a statement emailed to Mashable Australia.
"V Hits features a line-up of music videos and countdowns, including the latest hits from Australia and around the world. There are no changes to MAX, CMC or Smooth."
In other words, Channel V will not exist and V Hits will give you some Hot 50 countdowns to get you through your breakfast.
Channel V kicked off the careers of many Australian music presenters, such as Andrew G (Now known as Osher Günsberg), Jabba, Carissa Walford, Danny Clayton and Yumi Stynes. It started as a program called Red in 1995, before being rebranded as Channel V in 1997.
{cardId: 3107}Hordes of music lovers turning to clips on YouTube was always going to be an issue for the station. In an email obtained by Pedestrian.TV from a former staffer, Foxtel directly made note of this struggle.
"Over the past several years music clips have become ubiquitous with availability on services like YouTube, whilst linear broadcast audiences for music channels have been in steady decline. In order to run the Foxtel music services more efficiently we have decided to merge Channel [V] and [V] Hits," the letter from Executive Director of Television Brian Walsh and Head of Channels Stephen Baldwin read.
"I would like to thank the music team for their hard work and dedication in making Channel [V] an integral part of the Australian music landscape throughout the years."
Many people who made their careers at the station took to Twitter to mourn the loss of the influential brand.
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A sad day for Australian music and the youth of Australia. We thank you for the music.
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Jenni Ryall is Mashable's VP of Content Strategy. She spends her time launching cool, new things such as Mashable Deals and Mashable Reels. On the other days, she is developing strong partnerships with companies including Apple News, Flipboard, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and Reddit.
