RIP MTV Australia music channels, hello Apple TV by another name, and a big hello to Taylor Swift who is now doing TV.
When MTV was at its cultural peak, Australia didn’t have MTV. Yeah, we had a weekly late night MTV-branded show with music videos and we had our own overnight music video show Rage. But that’s just not the same as having a 24/7 open tap of music videos.
I’ve talked about this in the newsletter before, but I’ve only really come to music videos in the last couple of years. Watching music video channels from the 80s and 90s has become family viewing in my household with a music-obsessed little person. Yes, at four years-old she has strong thoughts on Hall & Oates and Talking Heads. She has also developed some thoughts on the Custard song Girls Like That after meeting Custard frontman Dave McCormack for real life last week.
While she has strong thoughts, I also have strong feelings about music videos… it’s just a shame that culturally I’m about 35 years too late.
Yesterday I spent chasing a story that Paramount in Australia is closing down the MTV linear music channels in Australia. It’ll continue to make use of the MTV brand, but for the time being, it won’t be pumping out 24 hours a day of music videos.
The music video channels were being curated/programmed out of the UK by the Paramount team, where the MTV channels are also being shuttered. In Australia, the channels will come to an end at the end of this month. In the UK, it’ll be on New Years Eve where I can assume it’ll be a frustrating NYE party for those houses relying on MTV music videos to see them through into the early hours of the morning.
I assume the end dates are tied to the expiration of contracts with local broadcasters. In Australia, we saw Paramount end its deal for music video channels in June of this year with pay TV company Foxtel.
The last service to carry MTV channels will be Fetch TV in Australia. Fetch also had Comedy Central locally, which it shuttered early this year, so the writing seems to be on the wall for a lot of these branded Paramount linear channels playing out on subscription platforms.
RIP MTV in Australia (though, I note that the Vevo 80s channel is always a bit better… and I quite like those Nightlife Music channels on Foxtel too).
You can read more about the MTV channels closing via Mediaweek, where I broke the story last night.
The quiet rebranding of Apple TV+
Streamer Apple TV+ is evolving its brand to be known simply as ‘Apple TV.’
In itself, that’s not very interesting.
It’s the way that they made the announcement that is interesting: It was the final paragraph in a media release about the Apple TV streaming release of Brad Pitt F1.
The paragraph in full:
Apple TV+ is now simply Apple TV, with a vibrant new identity. Ahead of its global streaming debut on Apple TV, the film continues to be available for purchase on participating digital platforms, including the Apple TV app, Amazon Prime Video, Fandango at Home and more.
Why bury it at the end of a media release?
My assumption, which I think is logical, is that they are about to meet rumour mill expectation and release new Apple TV hardware by the end of the year. But, the whole reason Apple TV (the streaming service) was branded as Apple TV+ was to avoid confusion between the hardware and the streaming platform.
So, if the streaming platform is going to be branded as Apple TV, where does that leave the hardware?
Either the hardware is going to be ended as a product (which I don’t believe is the case) or it is going to be rebranded entirely - possibly with a new capability (there’s been rumours for some time about a built-in webcam).
Anyway, watch this space.
(What it won’t be is the ‘iTV’… sorry ABW reader JB.)
Taylor Swift has generously given us more content to consume
Great news for Taylor Swift fans. She has generously gone out of her way to provide more material of her work to sell. Coming to Disney+ on Dec 12 will be a new concert movie: The Eras Tour | The Final Show.
But wait… there’s more.
On the same day Disney+ (by way of Taylor’s generosity) will be a six-part docuseries that covers the Eras tour.
Per the logline, the docuseries gives an intimate look at Taylor’s life as her tour made headlines and thrilled fans around the world. In addition, the series spotlights performers, family members, and friends – including Gracie Abrams, Sabrina Carpenter, Ed Sheeran, and Florence Welch – offering never-before-seen insight into what it took to create a phenomenon. Two episodes will debut each week beginning December 12.
Filmed in Vancouver, the concert film captures the final show of the Eras Tour and features the entire set of The Tortured Poets Department, which was added to the tour following that album’s release in 2024.
Read more at Deadline
News Desk
Indiewire has celebrated Tim Robinson’s ability to come up with clever fake company names in his shows with the debut of new HBO Max show The Chair Company.
M. Night Shyamalan is directing a live-action TV series about a magic 8-ball. Read: THR
If for some reason you want to know this far in advance the runtimes for each episode of the first batch of final season Stranger Things episodes… Read: Deadline
Variety has a feature exploring the impact of the contracting animation production sector in Europe. It’s always concerning when production companies talk about scaling up staff numbers and scaling down based on project volumes - it doesn’t speak well to a sector that has the appropriately trained professionals, or a sector with enough work for all the professionals with the appropriate training to maintain regular employment.
The Miniature Wife is a TV series being shopped at Mipcom starring Elizabeth Banks and Matthew Macfadyen. The title tells you what you need to know about the premise of the show, which Macfadyen says is ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’ crossed with ‘Scenes from a Marriage’. Of course, I’d suggest it is really The Incredible Shrinking Woman, but nobody remembers that Lily Tomlin film. Read: Variety
Screencrush has its list of the ten worst Netflix movies of all time. Reading the list, I suspect Matt Singer hasn’t seen that many Netflix films, but yeah, these all stink.
Trailer Park
Bridgerton is back on Netflix for season 4.
Season 4 will arrive in two parts with Part 1 premiering January 29 and Part 2 on February 26.
That’s the newsletter for today.
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