A NOSTALGIC Christmas channel is returning to Sky and Virgin tomorrow.
And this year it’s particularly poignant as it’s likely to be the last time the channel will be back ever.
MTV Xmas is bursting onto screens bringing viewers a festive flavour of seasonal hits.
The name will take over MTV 90s for the duration of the Christmas period, starting from 6am on Monday.
But MTV is set to close all its music channels at the end of the year.
The Sun exclusively revealed in October that all the iconic broadcaster’s music channels will cease in every country except the US.
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Bosses will keep the flagship MTV channel which only airs reality TV shows like Geordie Shore.
This means that it’s very unlikely MTV Xmas will be back after this year.
Music channels have fallen considerably in popularity due to the rise of streaming and YouTube.
Long-running channels The Box, Kiss, 4Music, Magic and Kerrang were all closed by owner Channel 4 back in June 2024.
The Box was the longest running of the bunch, having launched in 1992 as a competitor for MTV at the time.
MTV is set to announce the cull after a deal between Paramount Global and Skydance Media was finalised last year.
Stars including Kelly Brook, Emma Willis, Cat Deeley, Greg James and Joel Dommett all appeared on the station early in their careers.
Once MTV’s music channels are gone, only a handful will remain on Sky and Virgin Media from the Now That’s What I Call Music brand.
Will more channels close soon?
Analysis by Jamie Harris, Assistant Technology and Science Editor at The Sun
The BBC announced in 2022 that CBBC and BBC Four would disappear as traditional linear channels in a few years and go digital only via iPlayer.
However, the pair may have had a bit of a reprieve for now, after the BBC’s head of children’s programmes, Patricia Hildago, recently said “it’s really important… that if children still need us on a linear network, we’re going to be there for them”.
When Channel 4 announced the closure of The Box and other music channels it owned in January, the broadcaster hinted that more could come.
At the time the company said it was proposing to “close small linear channels that no longer deliver revenues or public value at scale, including the Box channels in 2024 and others at the right time”.
So which could the “others” be? It really depends what Channel 4 considers “small” but its other channels include More4, E4, E4 Extra, Film4 and 4Seven.
Image credit: Getty / The Sun
