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VIVA To Close & Be Replaced With MTV OMG?

(January 2018)

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ZE
zeebre12
Why did VIVA go back to all music videos when it was getting a lot better ratings when it showed programmes?
KE
kernow
Why did VIVA go back to all music videos when it was getting a lot better ratings when it showed programmes?


It happened following the takeover of Channel 5 by Viacom.

Viva was removed from Freeview, and at the same time, its entertainment content moved to 5*
DJ
DJ Dave
DJGM posted:

MTV hasn't been any good for well over 15 years now.


Agreed. MTV was at it's best (IMO) back in the 1990's ... it started going downhill after they let their best VJ Ray Cokes go after what I like to call "The Hamburg Incident" in 1996, and then when MTV Europe was split into a network of separate country-specific channels.

Good old MTV Select Smile
DJ
DJGM

DJGM posted:


MTV hasn't been any good for well over 15 years now.


Agreed. MTV was at it's best (IMO) back in the 1990's ... it started going downhill after they let their best VJ Ray Cokes go after what I like to call "The Hamburg Incident" in 1996, and then when MTV Europe was split into a network of separate country-specific channels.


Good old MTV Select Smile


Or "Select MTV" as it was previously called. Even in the days when Donna Air presented it on MTV UK, circa 1998, when they had that little studio in Leicester Square. If I could just find a certain VHS tape among all my VHS tapes . . .
RE
Rex
This information slide, which has been testing on Virgin TV, indicates that Viva is to be closed:

*

Viva in retrospect, shined as a shop window for Viacom's programming, but it had fallen by the wayside as Channel 5 has become the de-facto FTA branch of Viacom's UK television presence. Even the presentation used by Viva reflected this.

Rumours circulating on DS have indicated that the replacement for Viva might not be on Freeview...if correct, we could see a 24 hour stream for 5USA+1.
PF
PFML84
It would be a shame to lose Viva on Freeview and not have it replaced with whatever music channel is replacing it, that basically just leaves us with 4 Music showing music videos in between the mass amount of programming, a lot of it not even music themed, that it shows.
RE
Rex
It would be a shame to lose Viva on Freeview and not have it replaced with whatever music channel is replacing it, that basically just leaves us with 4 Music showing music videos in between the mass amount of programming, a lot of it not even music themed, that it shows.

It's not just 4Music that is in the fray for music channels - The Vault is there too, albeit with reduced hours on Freeview and much of the programming on that channel is teen sitcoms.

Whether this direction is preferred by viewers or not - the non-music programming is there is attract more viewers to those channels; especially because music channels just don't have the viewership that they had a decade ago. That void has been swooped by YouTube and Vevo.

It really isn't a surprise to see Viva being closed down, it's been on life support since the Spike launch in 2015. And they're pulling the plug in a matter of days...
IN
Interceptor
I must have lost months of my life as a teenager hopping between The Hits and TMF. I seem to remember the first programme shown was an evening showing of Spongebob Squarepants. Not long after that they started the 'Noggin' block in the morning.

I remember going to Alton Towers and for some reason in the queue for the Black Hole roller coaster they had television screens showing MTV Germany, which had identical presentation to TMF (UK) at the time.
VM
VMPhil
It was MTV2 Pop that had the same graphics wasn't it?
IN
Interceptor
It was MTV2 Pop that had the same graphics wasn't it?

Aye sounds familiar.
JF
JetixFann450
It's a shame really, VIVA could've had potential, like all the other worldwide versions of VIVA, but ended up just becoming the black sheep of the Viacom family.


JA
james-2001
The Black Hole originally had MTV UK in the queues from around 1998 onwards, it switched to MTV2 Pop because that took MTV UK's frequency on Astra 19.2 after it closed on analogue.

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