MTV

MTV is by far the most established and well-known music channel to date. It launched on August 1, 1981 and originally had on-air hosts. It showed thowed the world that the time for a video-based outlet on tv was here, providing not only music videos, but news, events and promotion also. The channel launched with footage of the first space shuttle launch countdown of Columbia and the launch of Apollo 11. They did this to associate MTV with the most famous moment in television history. The first music video ever shown on the channel was 'Video killed the radio star' by the Buggles. Within a matter of months, due to the effect of MTV, record stores found themselves selling music that not even their local radio stations were playing. Later came various sister channels such as MTV Base and MTV Tempo.

MTV has also covered global benefit concerts live such as Live Aid and Live Earth. As time went on, MTV began  showing less and less music videos. In 2000, the channel would air up to eight hours of videos, whereas in 2008 this was reduced to just three. This was signalled by the rise of the internet as a way of accessing music. It changed it's focus to convential tv shows targeted at the 12-18 year old age group. Reality tv shows have been a big hit since the late 1990s with shows such as 'Jackass,' 'Pimp my ride' and 'Super sweet 16'. They showed the world how certain teenagers are living with the shows '16 and pregnant' and the follow up series 'Teen mom'. These shows are possibly very beneficial to teenage viewers as they show the struggles and difficulties that burden you if you aren't careful.

MTV branched out to the internet in 1993 when one of the TV hosts started experimenting with the internet. It served as a home base for all MTV content and news. It then had a HTML based website desing with embedded video clips, like those of youtube and other video-based websites. Today, MTV.com is still the official website of MTV, and it expands on the channel's broadcasts by bringing additional content to its viewers. The site's notable features include an online version of MTV News, podcasts, and a video streaming service supported by commercials. There are also movie features, profiles and interviews with recording artists and from MTV's television programs.

http://www.mtv.co.uk/