Picture format 576i (SDTV 16:9) Language English | Country Australia
New Zealand | |
Launched April 2007
(Australia)
1 December 2011
(New Zealand) Closed 1 January 2014
(Australia)
1 December 2015
(New Zealand) Owned by MTV Networks Asia Pacific | ||
MTV Hits (formerly called The Music Factory, or more commonly by its abbreviation TMF) was a 24-hour Australian and New Zealand subscription music channel focused on hit music and viewer interaction. The channel first launched in Australia in April 2007 (as TMF), and later launched in New Zealand on 1 December 2011. The channel ultimately closed on 1 December 2015 to be replaced in all markets by MTV Music.
Contents
TMF
TMF Australia was soft-launched in April 2007 on the Optus Television pay TV service and allowed viewers to interact with the channel via the web and mobile (3G Network) 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
Relaunch as MTV Hits
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 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 (and sister channel MTV Classic) 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.