NEW YORK (Billboard) - When MTV: Music Television debuted on August 1, 1981, many media experts felt it was doomed.
It was an experimental format trying to get established on an experimental platform -- cable TV. The idea of a 24-hour music video channel never would have worked on traditional broadcast TV at the time. Only in the niche environment of cable could such an idea take root. And did it ever.
FACING THE UPSTARTS
Today, 25 years after it aired its first music video ("Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles), MTV finds itself in a much different business environment. No longer the upstart challenger to the big media status quo, it is itself a media giant targeted by digital-age challengers. Internet destinations like MySpace, YouTube and even Yahoo are vying for a piece of MTV's once-defining content -- music videos -- as well as competing to be the next purveyor of cool, youth-driven pop culture upon which MTV built its empire.
Read more of the story @ Reuters.
