MTV (originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television channel and the flagship namesake property of the MTV Entertainment Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Skydance. Launched on August 1, 1981, the channel originally aired music videos and related music entertainment programming guided by television personalities known as video jockeys (VJs).  MTV soon began establishing its presence overseas, eventually gaining an unprecedented cult following and becoming one of the major factors in cable programming's rise to fame, leading American corporations to dominate the television economy in the 1990s.  

 

In the years since its inception, the channel significantly toned down its focus on music in favor of original reality programming for teenagers and young adults. As of November 2023, MTV is available to approximately 67 million pay television households in the United States, down from its 2011 peak of 99 million households.