MTV

MTV is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. At one time, MTV had a profound impact on the music industry and popular culture. MTV has spawned numerous sister channels in the U.S. (MTV Dance, MTV Hits, MTV Base, MTVX, VH1 Classic etc), and affiliated channels internationally. MTV's moral influence on young people, including issues related to censorship and social activism, has been a subject of debate for years. The original purpose of MTV was to be "Music Television," playing music videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The original taglines of the channel were "You'll never look at music the same way again," and "On cable. In stereo." Although the concept of playing music videos 24/7 has long been abandoned, MTV US still promotes and plays a limited selection of music videos on its TV channel and website. Internationally, the station continues to support a broad selection of music including 4 channels in the UK that broadcast 23 hours of music video per day.

From 1997, the airing of rock videos was reduced on MTV, with skeptics saying 'Rock is Dead.' From then to 2004, MTV made efforts periodically to introduce more pop/rock videos to the channel. They have been playing pop/rock music on the channel ever since, however today most of the airtime is devoted to pop and R&B videos on MTV.