Forty-five years ago, English new wave outfit The Buggles boldly declared, “Video Killed the Radio Star”, as the cable TV channel MTV dawned on the U.S. Initially, it was all music, all the time, although the iconic brand eventually branched out into groundbreaking reality TV territory with programs like The Real World. Sadly, the golden age of music television ended when MTV signed off for the last time on Dec. 31, 2025. However, Paramount CEO David Ellison isn’t so quick to permanently draw the curtains.
Videos by American Songwriter
MTV officially shut down its 24-hour music channels on 31st Dec, 2025. They ended their final broadcast with 'Video killed the radio star' by The Buggles, the very first video broadcasted by MTV on August 1st, 1981.
— Eric Hunley (@hunleyeric) January 5, 2026
At least they had a sense of irony…pic.twitter.com/E0RThGZilO
Legendary Founder Expresses Optimism
Tom Freston, the media mogul who oversaw MTV at his peak, hinted in a November interview with The Hollywood Reporter that the brand may not be gone for good. Now 80, Freston recalled a dinner meeting where he discussed the future of MTV with Ellison and a few Paramount senior executives.
“They were like, ‘You guys were there in the golden age. We don’t know what’s happened?’” Freston said. “I said, ‘First of all, when they sawed the ‘music television’ off the bottom of the logo, they lost me.’ But all the music people had left and MTV didn’t have any real value as a music brand. I don’t know if you can resurrect it, but I think you might be able to.”
[RELATED: MTV’s Music Era Comes to a Bittersweet End After Nearly 40 Years: “We Had So Much Fun”]
The former president of MTV Networks, Freston headed the “I Want My MTV” marketing campaign that transformed the network into a cultural touchstone. So, he knows better than anyone just how deep the MTV well runs. And in his personal opinion, David Ellison is the ideal choice to lead the charge during this time of transition.
“One, they have a huge library of shows. The Unpluggeds and some of the reality shows were pretty good. They also have a huge library of music videos and MTV News — everything that happened from 1980 on,” Freston added. “So, why couldn’t you do some kind of digital curation thing? Anyway, I’m really happy to see Ellison there. I mean, if someone was going to buy Paramount, the Ellisons got my vote.”
Featured image by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images
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