MTV (Australia and New Zealand)
MTV was a 24-hour general entertainment channel specialising in music and youth culture programming which served Australia and New Zealand. Paramount Networks UK & Australia headquartered in London with a local office at Network 10's headquarters in Sydney is responsible for marketing and advertising in Australia and New Zealand. The channel was replaced by MTV Global in August 2023.
History
MTV on the Nine Network
The "MTV" brand was launched in Australia during April 1987 as a music program that aired late on Friday and Saturday nights for its full six-year run on the free-to-air Nine Network. The program was hosted by Richard Wilkins and Joy Smithers with music news from Alison Drower. Its competitors at the time were ABC TV's Rage and Network Ten's Video Hits.MTV Australia's focus was predominantly on Australian, British, Canadian and American artists and the program rarely played other forms of rock and pop music. The program presented a mixture of music videos, interviews and segments, and depended heavily on imported US content. In its early years it also showed the MTV USA game show Remote Control.
The program was discontinued in 1993 when Nine chose not to renew the licence with Viacom. Nine said the axing was due to high production and licensing costs. Saul Shtein brought MTV to Australia with Richard Wilkins.
ARC Music Television
"ARC Music Television", owned by Austereo, was launched three years after MTV ended on the Nine Network on 14 June 1996 in a joint venture with, then, music giant Austereo and Village Roadshow through Optus Television to become a twenty-four-hour music channel playing pop music and airing original programming. After a year on the air the network was approached by MTV Networks in the US and through a deal once again with Austereo, Village Roadshow Entertainment and Optus Vision ARC was re-branded as MTV Australia.Re-launch and expansion
Five months after the initial announcement of ARC's re-branding, MTV Australia was officially re-launched on Optus Television on 20 March 1997. The channel originally produced local programmes but due to cost cutting the channel aired mostly American content.In December 2002 MTV was added to the Foxtel platform and was added in 2004 to the Austar platform. In the same year the channel set up MTV Networks Australia, which began work on launching its own original programming with the launch of the Australian version of the hit American show TRL on 10 September 2004 with host Kyle Sandilands from 2day fm. MTV Networks Australia launched sister channel Vh1 on 14 March 2004 when cable company Foxtel launched its digital network.
In 2005 MTV premiered more original programming with MTV Full Tank and on 3 March MTV launched the first inaugural MTV Australia Video Music Awards at Luna Park's Big Top with hosts The Osbournes. In April 2006 SelecTV began carrying the channel. At the end of 2006 it was announced that MTV would premiere its latest original show, MTV's The Lair which premiered on 26 January 2007 and is aired live every Thursday at The Metro Theatre. In the mid to late 2000s MTV Network took ownership of the channel from Optus. At the beginning of 2007 MTV re-located its head office from Ryde to Yurong St in East Sydney. In April MTV Networks Australia launched TMF Australia on the Optus Cable Service. In February 2010 it was announced that MTV would replace sister channel VH1 with MTV Classic which launched on 1 May 2010. On the eve of the launch for MTV Classic a spokesperson for MTV Australia announced that a third channel would be launched later in 2010. It was later revealed on 20 September 2010 that MTV would launch three new channels in Australia; MTV Hits, MTVN Live and MTVN Live HD. MTV Hits will play music 24 hours a day and MTVN Live will have concerts and festivals from around the world as well as documentaries. The channel's are set to launch on 1 November 2010. As part of expanding its local programming, MTV Australia announced its first reality series Freshwater Blue which follows the lives of twelve Australian teenagers in the Northern Beaches suburb of Freshwater.
2010–2025
In June 2010 the channel became available on the new FetchTV service. In 2010 the MTV Australia and MTV New Zealand feeds were merged and the combined MTV Australia and New Zealand began broadcasting out of the network's Sydney offices.As of Autumn 2013, Viacom International Media Networks in Sydney has relocated its MTV and Comedy Central channels to VIMN in London. The channels advertising department will remain in Sydney for the time being.
In February 2018, MTV Australia was made available in HD on Fetch TV, becoming the first and only provider in Australia to do so. Sky also broadcasts the channel in HD.
On 17 September 2019, it was reported that sister channel Network 10 would launch a free-to-air MTV Australia in the coming months. A further announcement was made in May 2020 regarding a fourth multichannel from Network 10, which is expected to feature content from the back catalogue of ViacomCBS properties such as MTV and Nickelodeon. This was confirmed by the network on 13 July 2020, with the new channel launching as 10 Shake in September 2020. It will air kids content, primarily from Nickelodeon, from 6am to 6pm, with MTV, Comedy Central and CBS programming targeting young adults and adolescents airing from 6pm onwards.
On 1 August 2023, MTV was removed from Foxtel, coinciding with the relaunch of 10 Shake as a free-to-air version of Nickelodeon. At the same time, a suite of MTV-branded Pluto TV FAST channels were made available on Paramount-owned BVOD service 10Play. MTV Australia and New Zealand was replaced by MTV Global in August 2023.
The decision to change the feed to the international channel was confirmed by Paramount Global in October 2023. The decision to axe Australian music and programming was criticised by the music industry in Australia. MTV will continue to operate country specific content through its Australian themed social media.
As of June 2025, Foxtel dropped all MTV branded channels in Australia, therefore viewers can only access MTV content via Paramount Plus.
Presenters and VJs
Past VJs
- Richard Wilkins
- Joy Smithers
- Darren McMullen - joined in January 2007 as host of the live music show The Lair.
- Erin McNaught - former Miss Universe Australia, joined MTV Australia as a guest presenter in September 2009, before becoming a full-time member in December.
- Ruby Rose - hired through the 2007 VJ search.
- Jason Dundas - hired through the 2003 VJ search. In 2007 he left the channel and joined the show Getaway on the Nine Network.
- Mike Fitzpatrick. Radio host of the Triple M breakfast show The Cage. In 1999 he hosted the Australian version of Video Clichés. Was also the host of Pepsi Taste of Summer in 2000 and fill in host of MTV Most Wanted.
- Christine and Sharon Muscat. Hosted Australia Top 30 Show.
- Kyle Sandilands. Radio host for the Austereo network. Originally joined in 2005 for TRL Australia. Later left the channel when he became a judge for Australian Idol.
- Lyndsey Rodrigues - joined MTV Australia in 2005. She left Australia in summer 2007 to temporarily co-host the States’ version TRL. She was the permanent co-host of the USA version along with Damien Fahey.
- Ian Rogerson
- Lisa Hamilton
- Kate Peck
- Keiynan Lonsdale
- Josh Slyka
- Phil Ceberano
Programming and schedule
Imported programmes
- 16 and Pregnant
- Are You the One?
- Audrina
- Brothers Green: Eats!
- Catfish: The TV Show
- The City
- Disaster Date
- Ex on the Beach
- Friendzone
- Geordie Shore
- Jersey Shore
- Laguna Beach
- #mtvitgirls
- MTV's Bugging Out
- Pimp My Ride US
- Punk'd
- Ridiculousness
- Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory
- Teen Mom OG
- ''Teen Mom 2''
Defunct local shows
- Digital Lili
- Fan vs. Band
- Live @ the Chapel for Carlton Cold
- MTV Full Tank
- MTV Mobbed
- MTV Most Wanted
- MTV News
- MTV's Official Motorola ARIA Chart Show
- MTV's The Lair
- My Pix
- Scrambled Megs
- The Rock Chart
- TRL Australia
- Verushka's Closet
- ''Vodafone Live at the Chapel''
Availability
Currently MTV is carried by all English-language pay TV providers. It is available as a basic channel on Foxtel, Austar, TransTV, Neighbourhood Cable and Fetch. On Optus Television the channel is available in add-on tiers. It was formerly available on SelecTV until the closure of its English service in late 2010.