After starting on Foxtel in 1997, today the television broadcast network has announced the end of an era, with the shutdown of Channel V. Beginning initially as Red – when Foxtel was known as Galaxy – the channel was a core part of Australia’s festival and music culture and coverage for a long time, hosting tonnes of events and also launching the careers of many young television presenters. Read excerpts from some leaked Foxtel correspondence, courtesy of Pedestrian.
“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 album hits from Australia and around the world. There are no changes to MAX, CMC or Smooth.
Over the past several years music clips have become ubiquitous with availability on services like YouTube, whilst linear broadcast audiences for music channels have been in steady decline. In order to run the Foxtel music services more efficiently we have decided to merge Channel [V] and [V] Hits.”
Though it’s upsetting to see [V] go on a nostalgic level, it’s also completely understandable. Subscription television is dying with the introduction of services like Stan and Netflix, and not to mention the ability to stream both music and video content seamlessly across devices. The demise of Channel [V]’s dynamic and host-driven content was unfortunately inevitable, with all of us being able to get the same type of content almost anywhere at any time online.
Many of [V]’s old and new hosts have shared their feelings on Twitter, which you can check below.
Channel V is closing on Friday. Must have been a tough call to make for MGMT. 20yrs of cutting edge TV, sad to see it go.
— Osher Günsberg (@oshergunsberg) February 23, 2016
In 4 months time I'll celebrate my 14th year at Channel V. That is nearly half my life and 1000s of hrs of live TV. I loved every moment
— Danny Clayton (@DannyjClayton) February 23, 2016
Love to all the talented people at @channelv… It must be tought times for the final curtain. Loved working with you… luv you guys x
— Jane Gazzo (@JaneGazzo) February 23, 2016
We will remember Channel [V] though – for many of us it was the only way to watch music videos and get music coverage for a very long time. A moment of silence please.
Photo: Foxtel