MTV Classic (United States)
American pay television music channel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
MTV Classic (formerly VH1 Smooth, VH1 Classic Rock, and VH1 Classic) is an American pay television network owned by Paramount Media Networks (part of Paramount Skydance). It was originally launched in 1998 as "VH1 Smooth", an adult contemporary and smooth jazz channel. It was relaunched as "VH1 Classic Rock" in 1999 (later renamed "VH1 Classic" in 2000), with an emphasis on classic rock. On August 1, 2016, in honor of MTV's 35th anniversary, the channel was rebranded as "MTV Classic". The channel currently exclusively airs music videos from all genres from the 1980s to the early/mid-2010s.
| |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Network | VH1 (1998–2016) MTV (2016–present) |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York, United States |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Paramount Skydance Corporation |
| Parent | MTV Entertainment Group |
| Sister channels | |
| History | |
| Launched | August 1, 1998 |
| Former names |
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| Links | |
| Website | www |
| Availability | |
| Streaming media | |
| Service(s) | DirecTV Stream, FuboTV, Hulu + Live TV, Philo, YouTube TV |
As of December 2019[update], MTV Classic is available to approximately 39,000,000 pay television households in the United States.[1]
History
1998–1999: VH1 Smooth
VH1 Smooth launched on August 1, 1998, as a part of the "Suite" digital package, it was initially set to launch a day earlier but was delayed.[2][3] The channel focused on smooth jazz, new age, and adult contemporary music.[2][4] The first music video to air on the channel was a cover of "Makin' Whoopee" by Branford Marsalis.[5]
1999–2016: VH1 Classic
The channel relaunched on August 1, 1999, as VH1 Classic Rock, which primarily featured a mainstream rock/adult hits-formatted mix of music videos and concert footage from the 1960s to the 1980s, though it originally included a wider range of diverse genres and time periods.[6] The channel was renamed to VH1 Classic in 2000.
The network only played music videos upon launch, but would expand to a varied lineup of music-themed programs. This included themed music video compilation blocks (with categories such as heavy metal music, or popular music of the 1980s), full-length concerts, music documentaries such as the Classic Albums and Behind the Music series, music-oriented films (such as Prince's Purple Rain and The Blues Brothers), and an original talk show, That Metal Show.[7] It also rebroadcast programs first aired on the main VH1, including Pop-Up Video and I Love the '80s.
From January 28 to February 15, 2015, VH1 Classic aired a 19-day marathon of NBC's Saturday Night Live in promotion for the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special.[8][9] As a result, the network broke a previous record for the longest continuous marathon in television history set by FXX's twelve-day marathon of The Simpsons.[10]
2016–present: MTV Classic
In July 2016, it was announced that the network would rebrand as MTV Classic on August 1, 2016, the 35th anniversary of MTV's launch. The channel's programming would continue to focus on older music videos and programming (including notable episodes of MTV Unplugged and Storytellers), but shifted more towards from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. The rebranded network schedule also included reruns of older MTV original series such as the 2011 Beavis and Butt-Head reboot, the original Clone High series and Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County.[11] The network was relaunched at 6:00 a.m. ET with a rebroadcast of MTV's first hour on the air, which was also simulcast on MTV and online via Facebook live streaming, branded as "MTV Hour One" (the channel, as VH1 Classic, had previously aired it to mark the network's 30th anniversary in 2011).[12][13] Several VH1 Classic programs were retained in the schedule, albeit in late night hours.
From December 28 to December 30, 2016, MTV Classic aired a three-day 24-hour block "Decade-a-thons" consisting of music videos from the 1980s to the 2000s.[14] Afterwards, MTV Classic unveiled an automated all-music video schedule, with all of the older MTV and VH1 Classic series content removed.[11] Since then, the only deviation from the automation has been "roadblock" simulcasts of the annual MTV Video Music Awards and MTV Movie & TV Awards to avoid any competition from other Paramount Skydance networks, as well occasional marathons of older MTV shows to promote new series or season launches (such as with The Hills to promote The Hills: New Beginnings).
By the end of 2016, the channel was one of the least-watched English-language channels on most American subscription providers, averaging only 30–35,000 viewers on an average night in primetime (a decline of nearly a third from the already-low numbers VH1 Classic had in 2015), which was likely a factor in the network quickly discarding their new format after five months.[15][16] At the end of May 2017, its numbers had declined even further to an average of 14,000 viewers per night, behind Esquire Network and beIN Sports, which at that time of the year was in its non-prime sports season.[17] The channel's low numbers worsened by the end of July 2017, as that month's ratings showed it averaging 7,000 viewers per night, behind only the beIN networks.[18] If not for the addition of the seven Entertainment Studios Networks to Nielsen monitoring at the end of 2017, alongside a decline in beIN Sports's ratings, it would have been the lowest-rated, English-language network in 2017, with a 14,000 viewers per night average.[19] Since then, it has frequently remained the fourth-to-last ranked network, behind beIN Sports and ESN's Comedy.TV and its five-network cumulative "ESN Lifestyles" entry for the remainder of its networks.[20][21]
Occasionally, the channel interrupts regular music video programming to air specific music videos in tribute to recently deceased musicians such as Ozzy Osbourne. Following Tony Bennett's death on July 21, 2023, MTV Classic exclusively aired Bennett's music videos and live performances for the subsequent weekend, regardless of whatever block was scheduled. Some musicians or performers, such as Steve Harwell of the rock band Smash Mouth, had their music videos broadcast periodically throughout the day of their death, mixed into regular programming.