Foxtel to close youth music station Channel V
Foxtel is set to shut down its music youth music channel Channel V in what is thought to be a major cost-cutting exercise at the broadcaster, creating a new 24-hour music video channel instead.
Staff were told yesterday the stations were set to close, with most being given notice of redundancy. The station’s biggest name is currently ‘VJ’ Danny Clayton.
The station has struggled to create a compelling proposition and attract decent audiences in recent years, losing 28% of its audience on the second half of 2015.
News was first broken by industry website The Music.
Foxtel said in a statement: “We are making some changes to our music channels on Foxtel. Starting from this Saturday, February 27 you will begin to see some changes to Channel [V]. Following on from that, from March 25, we will no longer use the Channel V brand, which will change to V Hits and V Hits +2.
“V Hits features a line-up of music videos and countdowns, including the latest hits from Australia and around the world. There are no changes to MAX, CMC or Smooth.”
Younger audiences have migrated away from TV in recent years, sourcing music videos on demand through services like Youtube and Vevo instead.
Last year Universal Music also pulled all videos from its artists, including Taylor Swift and Justin Beiber, from the network in a stoush over royalty payments.
Channel V morphed from the Red network, which started with the launch of pay-TV in Australia in 1995, turning into its current incarnation in 1997.
Over the years it has launched the careers of the likes of Clayton, Yumi Stynes, Osher Gunsberg and Jabba, and was at one time fronted by Molly Meldrum.
Alex Hayes
Was only a matter of time. Southern Cross Austereo should do the same with 2dayfm in Sydney. Low ratings and costing a fortune. Only a matter of time.
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That is really sad to hear. Some very clever and passionate people over at V. I can’t help but think it has in part been caused by the current state of the Australian music industry. No value left in content (album sales v streaming), the dire state of live music (thanks nsw gov for shaving 40% off the $400m revenue it was generating) and a never ending procession of festivals collapsing. Music is still a dominant youth trend influencer but we seem determined to kill it off in this country..
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V Hits will feature a line-up of music videos and countdowns?
So pretty much exactly the same as it was… endless repeats of the same songs on identical channels, still minus the Beiber :I
No wonder people were switching off. Where was the original content?
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@Who Turned Off The Music
Don’t forget to give credit to the talent shows and reality shows for killing off music. Why would a record company invest in a band/muso playing real music when they can sink some chump change into a ready-to-go pop star? The shows make sure that they’re already known and they can be assured that there won’t be any pushback from the pop star over pesky things like musical integrity. There’s nothing but product in the charts, no artists. And when there’s no artists, the music dies. Foxtel was never going to champion that cause.
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V was an amazing place to work, staffed with incredibly creative people delivering zeitgeist TV. At its zenith led by the truly great Barry Chapman. Probably never fully understood or appreciated by the (edited under Mumbrella’s content moderation policy) running Foxtel. A very sad day
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Kind of sad there are virtually no outlets for music on TV anymore.
For years millions of Aussies grew up watching Countdown, Sounds or in later years Rage and Video Hits.
Those days are long gone.
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Gary – that’s quite funny. You obviously missed Southern Cross Austereo announced a 25% increase in profit on Monday. Things seem to be heading in a positive direction.
Which Network are you from again………….
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Yes but Siri Dear, we all know that was from cuts in the bush and getting one drive news presenter and 100 other things you don’t know about. And not selling 2day breakfast spots. Its all about the music!
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Over years of working on 18-24 targeted brands, I saw consistent excellent responses from the Channel V team. Wish them the best for the future.
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Vevo, Spotify, band websites with original content, all the artists tweeting, instagramming and facebook directly to the audience – not really a sad story at all for Oz music. It is sad for the people who work there but music TV has had it’s day. It’s why MTV no longer plays any M.
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Gary,
I really don’t care either way but…
Your knowledge of the landscape is outstanding… SCA profits are up 25%.
https://mumbrella.com.au/southern-cross-austereo-half-year-results-201516-348083
2day is fine.
Thanks
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idea : – stop the foxtel magazine and put the money towards channelz (Foxtela) :] Save papes? ?
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