MTV Hits (Australian and New Zealand TV channel)


MTV Hits is an Australian and New Zealand subscription music channel focused on hit music. The channel first launched in Australia in April 2007, and later launched in New Zealand on 1 December 2011.
The channel closed on 1 December 2015 to be replaced in all markets by MTV Music, but was revived 5 years later on 1 July 2020 as a rebrand of MTV Music.

History

MTV Hits Australia & Hits first launched as TMF Australia in April 2007 on the Optus Television pay TV service and allowed viewers to interact with the channel via the web and mobile commencing on 22 June 2007. Unlike sister channel MTV, the channel only played music related programming. The channel was said to be picked up by cable TV providers Foxtel and Austar as a standalone channel soon, but was available via the interactive My MTV Service.

Shows

TMF was relaunched as MTV Hits on 1 November 2010. The channel later launched in New Zealand on Sky Television on 1 December 2011.
On 1 July 2011 MTV International channels launched new logos

Cessation of Service in Australia

On 29 October 2013, MTV announced they had been working with Foxtel since early 2013 to offer more diversity on the Foxtel platform, as MTV Classic and MTV Hits fought for the same audience as Foxtel Networks channels MAX and V Hits| Hits respectively. The channel to replace MTV Hits is MTV Music, the number one UK music channel, which will feature Pop, Rock, urban and alternative music. Although MTV Classic and MTV Hits will no longer be available on Foxtel, they will continue to be offered by Australian IPTV service FetchTV and New Zealand pay TV provider Sky Television. The changes took place on 3 December 2013.
On 16 December 2013, FetchTV announced via their Facebook page that as of 1 January 2014, MTV Music would replace MTV Hits on their service, as was done by Foxtel the month earlier. This meant that MTV Hits would become exclusively available in New Zealand.

Closure

On 1 December 2015, Sky Television replaced MTV Hits with a localized version of MTV Music. Ultimately, this resulted in the closure of the channel, as Sky was the last remaining provider of MTV Hits.

Revival

On 1 July 2020, the channel returned to Foxtel channel 801, taking the slot of V |Channel and replacing MTV Music, alongside Fetch TV and Sky.

MTV Hits Australia & New Zealand Shows (2020-onwards)