MTV first launched in the 80s (Picture: REX)
MTV News is shutting down following massive layoffs across Showtime and Paramount Media Networks groups.
The entertainment news programme first launched in the early 80s, where the show started as a brief roundup of music news that popped up once an hour between music videos.
In recent years it began to expand its digital coverage, featuring more longform journalism, but in 2017 it drastically downsized, and heavily featured more video content.
In a memo sent out to staff, Paramount Networks’ Chris McCarthy wrote that while they’ve had ‘success in streaming, we continue to feel pressure from broader economic headwinds like many of our peers.’
In a statement shared with Variety, it read: ‘Senior leaders in coordination with HR have been working together over the past few months to determine the optimal organization for the current and future needs of our business. As a result, we have made the very hard but necessary decision to reduce our domestic team by approximately 25%.
‘This is a tough yet important strategic realignment of our group.’
The programme was dedicated to all things pop culture. (Picture: WireImage)
MTV News also earned Emmy and Peabody Awards for its coverage on the Iraq War and other significant world events.
There’s been a lot of action behind the scenes in Hollywood lately as thousands of TV and film writers in the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are staging a walkout after major studios failed to offer an adequate pay deal.
It’s the largest strike of its kind in over 15 years, with WGA writers heading out on picket lines in California and New York, chanting outside studios, and waving signs with snappy slogans.
Members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and its supporters staged the largest strike of its kind in over 15 years this week (Picture: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)
The strike has also resulted in various shows going dark, including The Talk, Saturday Night Live, and late-night programmes presented by Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert.
US chat show host Seth Meyers came out in support of the WGA on Monday’s episode of Late Night, calling the salary increase ‘a reasonable demand.’
He said: ‘I love writing. I love writing for TV. I love writing this show. I love that we get to come in with an idea for what we want to do every day and we get to work on it all afternoon and then I have the pleasure of coming out here.
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‘No one is entitled to a job in show business. But for those people who have a job, they are entitled to fair compensation. They are entitled to make a living. I think it’s a very reasonable demand that’s being set out by the guild. And I support those demands.’
Echoing Meyer’s sentiment, Fallon told Variety at the Met Gala: ‘I wouldn’t have a show if it wasn’t for my writers, and I support them all the way.’
Metro.co.uk has reached out to Paramount Plus for comment.
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The programme first launched in the 80s.
