MTV played the same video to open its music channels and to close them.
On August 1, 1981, a cable channel seen only in parts of New Jersey played its first music video, the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star”. Forty-four years later MTV ran reality shows, and on December 31, 2025, its owner shut the last music-video channels in the UK and eight other countries. The channels signed off with the Buggles.
MTV on Brandseum