MTV (Latin America)

MTV is a Latin American subscription television channel of American origin and is the regional version of the American channel. The programming is carried out through a system of two different signals that are distributed in most of the region. The channel is operated by Paramount Global through Paramount Networks Americas. To this day, MTV is the largest television music network in Latin America.

MTV Latin America inaugurated its broadcasts on October 1, 1993, operating the signal only from Miami, United States. The first video clip to be broadcast was "We Are Sudamerican Rockers" by the Chilean group Los Prisioneros.

History

Background (1988-1993)

The roots of MTV Latin America date back to 1988, when the host of Cuban descent Daisy Fuentes hosted a program called MTV Internacional, broadcast weekly on open television channels from the Latin American and American region where the most recent music video scene from both places of the time was presented. In those years, pop artists like Luis Miguel and Chayanne began to record videos with a good budget.

It was precisely at that time that in several Latin American countries (with great effervescence in Argentina and Mexico) the fever of rock in Spanish was lived, whose main exponents were the Argentines Miguel Mateos and Soda Stereo, who stood out from the rest not not only because of its high sales, but also because of its avant-garde musical concept.

In 1989 they were nominated by the chain (for the first time) for the best «Latin» video, the videos “This rhythm is danced like this” by Chayanne (winning video), “Y sin pensar” by Miguel Mateos (the first Latino video with animation in the style of “Take on Me” by A ha) and “La última luna” by Emmanuel.

This event, added to the furor caused among the Hispanic community in the United States by the first rock concert in Spanish performed by Miguel Mateos on September 7, 1989 (and his subsequent "Obsesión Tour") and the second by Soda Stereo on December 8 of the same year, both in the "The Palace" auditorium, aroused the curiosity of the network's executives, who realized the quality and convening power of music in Spanish.

Launch (1993-1999)

After analyzing the possibilities and results that would make bringing a signal to the Latin American region feasible, the executives of MTV Networks, based in the United States, decide to manage the project based on the good results that had previously been obtained with international channels of the same company such as MTV Europe in 1987 and MTV Brasil in 1990. Thus, on October 1, 1993 the channel was officially launched under the name MTV Latino with a single signal for the entire Latin America, thus becoming the third music video channel in the Spanish-speaking world, being the Canadian-Argentine channel MuchMusic on September 1, 1992 and the Mexican channel Telehit, which was established just weeks before MTV Latino, on September 27. August 1993. The official launch was held at the Paragon club in Miami Beach, together with great celebrities and top executives from the chain and the music industry.

The programming began that same day, being the first video broadcast on the new channel “We Are Sudamerican Rockers” of the Chilean band Los Prisioneros. The operation center of "MTV Latino" was located only in Miami and the programs that were transmitted were recorded and produced in that same city, in the Post Edge studios. The programming initially consisted of programs such as Top 20, Headbangers, In Situ, Lado B, MTV Clásico, Conexión among others, which were presented by the channel's first group of video presenters (better known as VJs) made up of Ruth Infarinato from Argentina, and Alfredo from Chile. Lewin, the Mexican Gonzalo Morales and the Cuban-American Daisy Fuentes, who was already known on the channel at that time. All of them resided in said American city and presented the shows from there.

In 1994, the Argentine band Los Fabulosos Cadillacs is the first to record an Unplugged for MTV, thus opening the format of the US network for Spanish-language artists.

At the beginning of 1995, the channel began to grow in popularity, reason why it integrated new faces; This is how Daisy Fuentes moves away from the screen to make way for the Mexicans Arturo Hernández and Edith Serrano. At the same time, new shows were added to the schedule, such as Top 10 US, Hora Prima, Nación Alternativa, Raizónica, and the beginning of broadcasts of series not directly related to music, which were animated segments such as Beavis and Butt-Head, Liquid Television and the animated short Chico Migraña, the latter aired in commercials.

In addition, at the beginning of that same year, Semana Rock, a weekly news program focused on musical and entertainment events in Latin America, the United States and other latitudes, was presented with great acceptance among the audience; space hosted by the Argentine journalist Javier Andrade.

Given the growth of the channel both in a social and economic aspect, in August 1996, the channel is divided into two regional channels called "North" and "South" to achieve a greater approach to its audience; however, the shows continued to be produced in Miami. The North signal corresponded to Mexico, Central America, Colombia and Venezuela, while the South signal corresponded to the remaining Latin American countries with Argentina as the base. At the same time, a series of events based on prototypes previously presented on MTV in the United States were created, such as Playa MTV, Rocangol and MTV Latino programs such as Gustock. In this way, according to studies carried out by "Latinoamérica y Negocios", in 1996, MTV became the number one music signal in all of Latin America.

In that same year, Argentines Alejandro LaCroix and Leandro O'Brien were added to the channel's VJ team, while shows like Ozono, Rendez Vous and Mondofunk were produced over the next few years.

Regionalization (1999-2000)

In August 1999, the channel undergoes one of the biggest changes it has undergone since its inception. When the channel started in 1993, the same scheme used a couple of years earlier by MTV Europe was adopted, which consisted of "creating a micro-world where many countries from the same continent with different cultures coexist", based on the city of Miami. (for the European case it was London). It is here where a strong process of regionalization and musical opening adapted to the fashionable rhythms of the moment begins, which is why artists never thought of before, such as Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, Thalía and Luis Miguel, enter the normal rotation of the channel. The shows are no longer produced in Miami and the two already existing channels start to reflect a strong local trend, so the programs start to be carried out in Mexico for the North signal and in Argentina for the South signal to achieve a greater connection. with the audience.

The interactive program Los 10+ Pedidos is created, the most important program within the programming, where the 10 videos most voted for by the audience were shown daily through the website. The channel's musical line begins to accept Latin American and popular influence, broadcasting videos of artists that were not common before, while all thematic music programs disappeared to make way for Videorama, Videosomnia and 120 Minutes, blocks of videos not presented that occupied a large part of the daily programming. In the field of VJs or drivers, a large part of these are eliminated and the channel left only Ruth Infarinato as the only driver making Connection from Miami. Arturo Hernández is assigned to the MTV studios in Mexico and Alejandro LaCroix to the MTV studios in Argentina, each conducting the local versions of Los 10+ Pedidos and Top 20. .

The first contest organized locally on the channel was called "Se busca VJ", which consisted of 3 massive castings (one in Mexico for the North signal and another in Argentina and Chile for the South signal) to search for the new channel face. The winner would be chosen by the audience through the website and would go on to host the program Los 10+ Pedidos from the streets of Mexico City or Buenos Aires on a daily basis. In Mexico, the winner turned out to be Carmen Arce, while in Argentina, the winner was Sebastián "Berta" muniz.

Another novelty, but of less relevance that also happened in 1999, is the continuous renewal of the channel's graphic package that occurred approximately every 6 months or a year (until 2005), such as logos, show tickets, bumpers and advertising, in addition to launching a new system that would put the video data automatically.

Beginning in 2000, MTV created a new signal aimed at Chile, which repeated the signal from Mexico but with Chilean time. At first it was thought to create it as a repeater of the Argentine signal due to the proximity of both countries, but due to cultural features, it was preferred to adapt it to Mexican programming. The new signal was also broadcast throughout the southwestern area of Latin America.

Also in that year, the channel began to perceive a lesser preference for programs of Latin origin, and thus began to premiere a series of programs brought from the United States and subtitled in Spanish, such as Behind The Music, The Tom Green Show and Making The Video.

Signal changes (2000-2004)

In September 2000, the channel carried out the second edition of «Se busca VJ», including the recently created Chilean channel. For this, the program Los 10+ Pedidos would become totally local within the new Chilean signal, while the rest of the usual programming would continue to be an MTV repeater in Mexico. The winner in Chile turned out to be Úrsula Eggers.

On April 1, 2001, the signal MTV Suroeste was officially born. The new signal line that had been created a year ago, began to be managed with the Chilean public as its center (although it was also transmitted to Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador), which would mean a great change within the musical rotation of the channel. which was totally adapted to the tastes of that country, while the Argentine channel was renamed MTV Sureste. That same year the last edition of "Wanted" is held but instead of a VJ they would be talented; however, for reasons that were not disclosed, the winners only appeared in the commercials.

2002 was relevant for MTV, since in July of that year Ruth Infarinato left Conexión to make way for the local version of the program, which began to be produced within the three regional channels of the channel (Mexico, Argentina and Chile); said program would end up being canceled in December. In addition, in October of the same year was the premiere of the MTV Video Music Awards Latin America, the Hispanic version of the already consolidated American awards.

On December 30, 2002, MTV Southwest began to wreak economic havoc on the channel, since the number of viewers for which the signal was intended was very small and it was not convenient to continue operating for an audience so small compared to other areas. They stopped producing local programs in Chile and the channel was renamed MTV Centro. In this way, the new signal continued to operate based in Chile in addition to the countries that were part of the Southwest signal, while Mexico continued with its respective signal and Argentina recovered the name of MTV Sur.

In 2003, MTV celebrates 10 years in Latin America, which is celebrated with various awards, a Renault Clio MTV car as a draw, sponsorship of several magazines and radio stations, and a free concert on April 22 of that same year. at the National Auditorium of Mexico called El Día de MTV.

On March 1, 2004, barely a year after its official creation, MTV Centro closed in order to reduce costs for the launch of VH1, a new music channel which would also be operated by MTV Networks Latin America. This is how MTV Argentina becomes the official channel for Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay. The rest of the region began to receive the signal from Mexico, and five months later, Colombia and Ecuador also became part of this signal.

Notable changes (2004-2009)

In 2004, new and various programs were created for the public to express themselves through the internet or cell phone. This is how programs such as Contra 2.0, El clic were born., Emonic and Asterisk.

In that same year, series were produced and broadcast that have generated controversy due to their irreverence, in which liberal themes are treated with vulgar and obscene language, but which are successful among their viewers. Such is the case of the series South Park, Drawn Together (adapted into Spanish as «La Casa de los Dibujos»), Happy Tree Friends and Alejo y Valentina, the latter 2 were initially broadcast as shorts in the advertising batches of Los 10+ Pedidos and later they began to have their own half-hour series.

At the end of 2005, a new signal distributor based in Colombia was created, recovering the name of the already closed MTV Centro a year ago. The countries Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela are beginning to be part of this new signal. The signal Sur, based in Argentina, is once again limited for its broadcast in that country, Uruguay and Paraguay. The North signal, based in Mexico, remains the exclusive signal for that country, being the only one in the region to have its own signal.

In February 2006, the so-called "I want to be on MTV" was announced, with which the production intends to find participants for the Latin American versions of American programs, as well as the creation of new programs during that year and at the beginning of 2007.

In March of this last year it was renamed under the legend «Generated by Me (GXM)», keeping the same objectives of its predecessor. Now «GXM» has been left to take on a more colorful and minimalist idea, programs created during that time such as DansinRopa and KaraoQue were left off the air.

Recent changes (2009-present)

On July 1, 2009, MTV changed its image by adding new IDs, bumpers and unique identifiers, this being its last logo change while maintaining the «Music Television», so on July 1, 2011 it changed its logo and acquired a new look to forget what MTV meant a couple of years ago.

During 2018, there were programming differences between the Sur signal and the Norte and Centro signals, with the Sur signal prioritizing music programs and playlists. These changes are widely accepted in the countries where the Sur signal arrives, and (in Argentina more precisely) the signal and its viewers quickly manage to make the hashtags #NosZarpamosEnMúsica and #MTVesMúsica as support for this new stage. For their part, the North and Central channels of the continent are not far behind with the impact and the audience asked MTV to make the same decision in the rest of its channels.

Programming

Ruth Infarinato recording an episode of the 2001 season Connect MTV.

The channel's programming is varied and covers several topics:

Its programming is dedicated only to certain musical genres and does not include other types of popular music in the countries for which it is intended, unlike other channels of its type in Latin America. Its music menu mainly covers the pop, rock, reggaeton (since 2005), hip hop, trap, electronic and Kpop (since 2018) genres. Said musical classifications are in English, Spanish and sometimes in Korean.

The programming also includes a small space every hour called MTV News (formerly called «MTV News») in which information is exposed, most of the time mixing subjective tone with objective, about artists, cinema and shows, although topics of general interest such as politics and social events are also included. In addition, special documentaries were produced on topics of interest to young people. Currently, the format is still broadcast, but in daily microprograms of one to two minutes during commercial breaks.

Much like its US counterpart, MTV Latin America airs video clips, concerts and special shows. It has also organized Latin Unplugged concerts since 1994, and in 2002, the chain began organizing awards in Latin America, being Los Premios MTV (formerly called the "MTV Video Music Awards Latin America") the first to take place, which later changed to MTV Millennial Awards in 2013.

Although MTV's initial objective was to broadcast music videos of the artists of the moment 24 hours a day, it also broadcasts animated series and reality shows that are aimed at young and adult audiences, since MTV is aimed at this type of audience. The channel censors music videos, dialogues and scenes from series when necessary, due to content issues (inappropriate language, nudity, incitement to drug use, etc.) during times suitable for all audiences. In the South feed, high content is broadcast without any censorship from 10:00 p.m. m. to 6:00 a.m. m. (UTC-3).

Most of the series that airs on the channel are produced by ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks and ViacomCBS Networks Americas under the Paramount Global banner. Likewise, there are programs produced under the coordination of both companies. Other programs are produced by companies also dependent on Paramount Global, such as Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, among others. Independent series are also broadcast completely from the companies that own the channel and are purchased from other production companies, including Latin American production and animation companies.

Recent Programming

Starting in 2009, the programming changes, with new reality shows and shows. Music videos on MTV can only be seen at dawn and dawn, in an afternoon show called Tu Top 10 (temporarily replacing the 10+ orders) and in commercial breaks, the rest are based on series such as A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, From G's to Gents, Busted, That& #39;s Amore!, Run's House, Making The Band, Life of Ryan and many more. Another noticeable change was the disappearance of the MTV drivers and programs hosted by them, giving way to the aforementioned reality shows and foreign programs.

During April of the same year, VJ Gabo and Mecha reappeared in the return of the program Los 10+ pedidos, which returns with a new image and structure. Also, in May the program El 20 returns, with Jero as host; only, unlike the first season, it is broadcast on Sundays presenting the 20 videos in two hours, and not segments of five videos from Monday to Thursday with their countdown on Friday, as it was the previous year.

As of April 2012, MTV Latin America began airing new episodes of Beavis and Butt-Head in its 8th season, after 15 years without airing new episodes. It begins to broadcast productions acquired from other television networks and companies, previously seen on other television channels, such as The O.C. (series produced by Warner Bros. Television, and previously broadcast on Warner Channel), giving thus a new course in the channel's programming, in addition to this being the first series of the live-action genre to be broadcast with its respective Spanish dubbing, something that had never happened in the history of MTV's programming, since it had always broadcast this type of series in its original language with subtitles (until then, animated series were the only programs that were broadcast with Spanish dubbing). Likewise, the television station also began to include in its programming series such as Degrassi, Dawson's Creek, Sueños de Hollywood and Gilmore Girls. It also broadcasts the original series Chica Rara, Del Montón and Los Mal Pagados, being also translated into Spanish, with the exception of Chica Rara, which had previously been released on MTV, but in English (its original language) and with Spanish subtitles.

On May 5, 2013, a new animated series of Mexican origin called La familia del barrio arrives, likewise, it also begins to broadcast youth series produced in Mexico such as I'm your fan , Primer Amor a 1000 X hora (the only Mexican telenovela broadcast on MTV Latin America) and Bienvenida realidad, in addition to the telenovelas produced by the network in Latin America. In the same year, since July 8, MTV adds to its programming a block called Marvelunes showing the Marvel Anime in prime time, which is based on adaptations. from the Marvel comics (as Wolverine). This block manages to have a good arrival to the viewers.

In November 2016, with the purchase of Telefe (the leading audience channel in Argentina) by Viacom, and the great influence of the multinational in the south of the continent, noticeable changes were produced in the feeds from 2017:

The North and Central channels continue to bet on the daily and (sometimes) marathon broadcast of Latin, North American and European reality shows (Acapulco Shore, Geordie Shore, Catfish, etc.), as well as series. The broadcast of music videos is maintained during the early mornings and mornings of the channel, giving musical priority to the MTV Hits and VH1 channels as in the last decade. In the same way, these feeds broadcast other types of programs that may be directly or indirectly related to music, but always have to do with youth culture.

In an effort to increase the audience on the Sur signal, at the beginning of 2017, in addition to the existing programs in the other feeds, comes Bachelorette Party: MTV After Hours with Mikki Lusardi, the show at dawn that showed the best scenes and broadcast live after the gala of Stag Party, a program broadcast by its sister channel Telefe, and also premieres Clickbait hosted by Argentine youtuber Lucas Garófalo. In September 2017, Caniggia libre (the first Argentine reality show produced by MTV) arrived and was widely accepted by the public. Later, at the end of February 2018, the channel turned its schedule around, leaving aside most of the canned programs broadcast until then, replacing them with a large number of daytime playlists, as well as special thematic video clips, and even a weekly live tweeting show (MTV Hits) where viewers interact via Twitter. The musical prioritization in this feed is so notorious, to such an extent that up to 18 continuous hours of music are shown every day, leaving aside the broadcast of reality shows and programs, showing them only during business hours. central. On July 1, 2022, the music program MTV Hits leaves the programming of the Sur signal after 7 years on the air, being replaced at noon by a music program called MTV Especiales three days later, while at sunset it was replaced with another musical program called Tu Mix de Hoy from August 15, becoming a music channel of 17 hours a day.

Programming

Signs

From December 10, 2010 to July 1, 2011, the Norte signal was distributed in Chile. Then, the country would return to the Centro signal. Chile is included in the "Sur" signal on May 21, 2012 only for the cable operators VTR, Claro and TuVesHD, after a censorship by the CNTV due to the transmission of a chapter of South Park which contained pornographic material at a time not allowed for the public. On October 1, 2012, this signal reaches Entel TV Digital on channel 190, in Chile. Finally, this change of signal reaches Movistar Chile on October 15, 2012, replacing the "Center" feed with the "South" feed and the latter remaining as the official one for Chile, the same happens with Venezuela from that same moment. anus.

In March 2021, due to the launch of the Paramount+ platform, the Centro signal closed like the Centro signals of Comedy Central and Paramount Network, unifying with the Norte signal that broadcasts from Mexico.

Since 2021, the channel is made up of 2 signals, which are broadcast in high definition simultaneously with the signal in standard resolution:

Country(s)	Signal structure	Head	Time zone	Headquarters(s)
Mexico Mexico ColombiaColombia Peru Peru EcuadorEcuador BoliviaBolivia Central America Caribbean	Northern signal	Mexico	Centro de México - CDT (UTC-6/-5 DST) Colombia - COT (UTC-5)	Mexico City Bogotá
Argentina ChileChile Venezuela Venezuela Paraguay Paraguay Uruguay Uruguay	Southern signal	Argentina	Argentina - ART (UTC-3) Chile - CLT/CLST (UTC-4/-3 DST)	Buenos Aires Santiago

Availability notes:

• In Latin America, DirecTV, Movistar TV and Claro TV Satelital distribute the South signal.

Other notes

• In the Southern Sign, it contains the time identifiers for all audiences based on the Buenos Aires time zone since 2011. It also contained the time and temperature of Buenos Aires since May 2018, and from November 2021 to July 2022 it was only seen on MTV Hits. Its programming is based on music up to approximately 17 hours a day, in contrast to the other signal.

Block on Telefe

• Since December 2017 it has a block in the Argentine channel Telefe in the early morning called High Hours next to Comedy Central programs.

Drivers

The channel's hosts, also called VJs, mainly host the programs Los 10+ pedidos and the editions of MTV News, as well as other special and alternate programs.

The program Los 10+ pedidos was hosted in Mexico by Gabriel "Gabo" Ramos Villalpando and in Argentina by Jerónimo Oriana. For its part, the news edition was broadcast every hour by Camila Zuluaga from Bogotá, Ricardo from the MTV studios in Mexico City and by Nicolás Artusi from the Buenos Aires studios. There were alternate hosts who participated to a lesser extent in programs hosted by a more important VJ, such were the cases of Hábacuc Guzmán, who was the presenter of the program Joystickeros, and Jazz, who was presenter of the program La Zona de Combate.

Since Monday, July 14, 2008, the version of Los 10+ Pedidos Centro (Colombia) was broadcast, since mtvla.com forum members requested it, so from this region (Colombia, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Central America) began voting for favorite artists to enter the count. In addition, MTV invited different artists to the studio of Los 10+ Pedidos center such as Johanna Carreño (Ecuador), Libra (Chile), Delisse (Chile) and Don Tetto (Colombia).

During February 2016 to July 2022 on the MTV Hits program on the Sur signal, there was a virtual VJ named Mabel who was the host of said space and who also interacted with viewers through Twitter.

Currently Belu Drugueri is the VJ of MTV from Argentina and Jimmy Sirvent from Mexico.

Image and graphics of the channel

Logos

• 

  1993-2011

• 

  2011-2021

• 

  Since 2021

• 

  Since 2021 (alternative)

MTV Idents (edgy, short commercials)

Since its inception, both in the United States (1981) and in Latin America (1993), MTV has stood out for exposing the so-called "Idents" or "MTV Commercials" between commercial breaks. These idents last between 5 seconds and even 3 minutes, the latter is due to cable operators having a place to broadcast their ads, as well as regional advertisements. The difference with the idents of other channels is that those of MTV usually contain a message.

On MTV Latin America since 1998, some of these commercial breaks are starting to last longer and are created by artists from all over Latin America and the world.

In 2000 there was a special «Animation Weekend» in which 1 hour of idents was broadcast one after the other, apart from episodes of Daria and Ren & Stimpy, this special aired sporadically until 2005.

Since the first half of 2001, MTV Latin America began to broadcast commercials called "MTV Global" from all MTV networks around the world (Japan, Russia, Brazil, United States, Germany, Italy, Korea, Singapore, Australia, United Kingdom, Poland, among others). The difference between these commercials and the previous ones is that they distinguish which country their creators are from in a small strip on one side of the screen. These commercials changed approximately every 6 months until in March 2004 they stopped indicating the country of each ident, although they continued to broadcast other MTV-style commercials.

Starting in 2006, MTV idents dropped a bit from the long-running, avant-garde style, began to get shorter, and air them during commercial breaks and program-to-program handovers, but mostly lasting for 10 seconds approximately.

From July 1, 2009 to July 1, 2011, 18 exclusive and extravagant idents were broadcast for the channel. Many of them were characterized by their innovative design and content, which reflected the new image of the channel's design. These were the last ones where the title "Music Television" and the old MTV logo are included. Only 4 of them lasted until January 2012.

It arrives on July 1, 2011, after the "Rebrand" of the channel, the logos as well as the idents of the channel changed drastically to the present, thus leaving aside 18 of a channel only dedicated to music.

In January 2012, MTV launched the website http://artbreaks.mtv.com/. On the page several artists exhibit their own creations called "MTV Art Breaks", among some videos an avant-garde style is appreciated, as were the old MTV ident commercials, with the difference that MTV Art Breaks are not necessarily idents exclusively to promote MTV, Art Breaks was discontinued the following year.

Video credits

In their channel's debut in October 1993, the credits of the videos they broadcast only see the lyrics without animations (name of the performer, song, album and director) having variants at the beginning of 1997 and in September 2000.

After changing the logo and on-screen graphics on August 28, 2005, on September 12 of that same year, the channel changed the view of the credits of the video clips it broadcast after almost 12 years of the credits without animation. Instead of static letters, the credits appear "running" in animated form across the bottom width of the screen at the beginning of the videos. These included the artist name in large letters, the song name in medium letters, and the album title in small letters. The director's name was omitted in this new sequence. The credits would appear five seconds after starting the video and last fifteen seconds. In the end, they appear twenty seconds before the end of the video and disappear fifteen seconds later. This new sequence of video credits became a novelty in the area of music videos, so much so that Pepsi used a very similar style in its advertising campaign where small clips of videos of the group RBD appeared, even though the videos of said musical group were not broadcast by MTV Latin America, as well as the news of the channels.

On September 9, 2007, along with a new MTV makeover (taken from the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards), the credits are displayed in a blue cube at the bottom left of the screen, where the name of the director of the video is mentioned again.

On July 1, 2008, the channel debuted a new graphics package. The credits were shown in the lower left part of the screen with very large letters, months later the size of the song, album and director are reduced, while the performer is the only one who retains the large size.

On July 1, 2009, with the release of another graphics package, MTV again changed the display of the credits. Now, it consisted of a box with a blue background with small letters. Later, almost at the end of 2009, the use of credits was stopped and that continued until May 10, 2010, in the Centro signal.

On July 1, 2011, with the release of another graphic package and the logo no longer visible for «Music Television», they changed the credits again for a transparent one. From October 2012 to October 2013, MTV again removed the credits on all signals, leaving only the logo on the screen.

On October 1, 2013, with the revamp of the logo and graphics, the credits are accompanied by the "now", where the name of the artist and the song are first seen and then change to the album name and director.

October 1, 2015 (during charts re-release) showed, first time without album name and director, only shows song name and artist (other color) but very large sizes by 1 minute and 13 minutes separate the letters that are joined with the gradient squares and the MTV logo in the lower right.

As of August 21, 2017 during the chart relaunch, the credits now display in single lowercase letters ("now + performer: song") with only yellow and black. Where in some songs it makes a movement from right to left (only where there are long credits). Since October 2018, the southern signal has adopted various colors according to the program, while the northern and central signal have adopted the same since 2019.

On October 20, 2021 on the North signal and on November 14 of the same year on the South signal, in conjunction with the relaunch of the channel, the credits appear on the upper right (North) and lower left (Sur) from the screen in lowercase letters, where the "now" of the credits ("artist - song"), adding an animation (similar to the one in MTV Hits and Tus 20), where they adopt the red color as a predefined color. The MTV logo changes from semi-transparent to red when the credits roll.

Video openings

A change that was introduced in August 1999 was to classify videos into five categories: Premier Video, New Video, Exclusive Video, ReGüeno Video and Revolutionary Video, these last two were eliminated in September 2000. In this way, it was possible to achieve better control over the videos that were recently added to the musical staff of the channel.

On August 28, 2005, new openings or sections are created for some videos. This is how the classification of New Video came to be called Nü Video (the word “nü”, pronounced as “niu”, refers to the English word “new” which means "new"). The Exclusive Video category is renamed Nü Primicia and the Video Premiere category is renamed Nü Debut and was also Alertable Video, while in Los 10+ Pedidos there was First Notice, which only appeared as a debut in position 10. Commercial batches include new classifications such as Nü Artist, Nü Rotation and Nü MP3´s.

On September 9, 2007, some categories were eliminated, while Nü Video, Nü Debut and Nü Primicia were renamed New Video, Premiere Video, Exclusive Video and MTV Ojo appears. With the change of graphics on October 1, 2015, the categories were no longer visible.

Side Projects

The television station also has side projects created by the same company and some of them in collaboration with other companies in order to obtain greater popularity and audience. Some of these projects are:

MTV News

Created under the voice and image of Ilana Sod, in 2004 the segments began at the edge of the hour during the daily programming of the television station. The topics that were dealt with were of interest to young people, mainly musical, although they also delved into topics not related to music but with an important social aspect oriented towards young people, such as politics, sex, education, violence, ecology, employment, pornography, use of the internet, among others. It was presented from three different places, in Mexico City by Ilana Sod covering all the events that occur on MTV Norte. Also in Bogotá, Colombia, Camila Zuluaga who reported on the news generated in the countries of the MTV Centro signal and finally from Buenos Aires Argentina Nicolás Artusi reporting on the MTV Sur News.

The news published on the channel can also be seen on the television station's website in its corresponding section.

MTV Unplugged

Like the proposal initiated by the American predecessor, the television station has also held concerts called MTV Unplugged (literally: “MTV Unplugged”), in which they select a well-known artist from the region to interpret generally known songs acoustically before an audience.

Originally, the Unplugged by Hispanic artists were recorded in Miami Beach (where the MTV Latin America studios were located), but little by little they took place in different cities such as New York, Buenos Aires and Mexico City.

The performances are broadcast on television and some of them have been released as albums on CD and DVD. The artists invited to participate in the Ibero-American editions of MTV Unplugged have been a total of 34, added to the respective guests of each session.

Country	Editions	Year
Mexico	17	1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2008, 2010, 2010, 2010, 2014, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
Argentina	8	1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1997, 2004, 2018
Colombia	3	1997, 1999
Spain	3	2001, 2016
Chile	2	1995, 2001
Puerto Rico	1	2006
Total	34

Spanish-speaking artists who have recorded an MTV Unplugged

Number	Date of recording	Artist	Album	Notes
1	May 5, 1994	The Fabulous Cadillacs	MTV Unplugged de Los Fabulosos Cadillacs	First MTV Unplugged is recorded by a Spanish-speaking band, although its format was rigorously electric.
2	October 1994	Caifan	Caifanes MTV Unplugged	First Mexican artist to record a Unplugged MTV, even though it was mostly electric.
3	April 28, 1995	Charly García	Hello! MTV Unplugged	First Unplugged MTV released on CD. With the participation of Maria Gabriela Epumer.
4	May 15, 1995	Café Tacuba	Café Tacvba MTV Unplugged	Ten years after his recording, he would go out for sale in CD and DVD format.
5	June 1995	The Tri	The Tri MTV Unplugged	It was recorded in 1995, but it was published in 2004 in CD and DVD format.
6	September 14 of 1995	The Three	The Three Unplugged MTVs	First Chilean artist to record a Unplugged. His album was one of the best sellers in Chile during the decade.
7	March 12, 1996	Soda Stereo	Comfort and music to fly	Unplugged "electric" (or "Plugged"). Special participation of Colombian Andrea Echeverri of Aterciopelados.
8	April 26, 1996	Illya Kuryaki and the Valderramas	Ninja Mental MTV Unplugged	It has the participation of Luis Alberto Spinetta in the tracks recorded in study.
9	October 12, 1996	Damn Neighborhood and the Children of the Fifth Patio	MTV Unplugged of Damn Neighborhood and the Children of the Fifth Patio	Recorded at MTV Studios in Miami, Florida. It was the fourth Mexican band to record a Unplugged MTV. It was never edited on CD or DVD.
10	April 2, 1997	Santa Sabina	MTV Unplugged de Santa Sabina	First Latin American Unplugged MTV with a "Palomazo" on Dizzy Gillespie's 'Birk's Works'.
11	April 3, 1997	Landed	MTV Unplugged of velvets	First Colombian artist to record a Unplugged MTV. It was not edited on CD or DVD.
12	September 20, 1997	Spinetta and Desert Partners	MTV Unplugged	It was the longest Unplugged MTV in the channel cycle.
13	September 1997	Paranoid Mouths	MTV Unplugged Paranoid Mouse	Charly García and Pappo participate, Argentine rock legends.
14	March 24, 1999	Mana	Maná MTV Unplugged	First Unplugged to be edited on DVD.
15	August 12, 1999	Shakira	Shakira MTV Unplugged	He was the first Unplugged of MTV Latino in many things: first to be recorded in New York, first to be broadcast by the U.S. MTV. and first to win a Grammy Award.
16	June 28, 2001	The Law	The Unplugged MTV Act	Special participation of Mexican Ely Guerra.
17	October 2nd, 2001	Alejandro Sanz	Alejandro Sanz MTV Unplugged	First Unplugged by MTV Latin America made by a European artist (Spain).
18	March 4th, 2004	Diego Torres	Diego Torres MTV Unplugged	First Unplugged by MTV Latin America to be performed outside the United States, being recorded in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Participan Julieta Venegas, Vicentico and La Chilinguita.
19	August 17 of 2006	Ricky Martin.	Ricky Martin MTV Unplugged	First Puerto Rican artist to record a Unplugged MTV. The Mari and Tommy Torres participate.
20	March 6 of 2008	Julieta Venegas	Julieta Venegas MTV Unplugged	First MTV Unplugged engraving in Mexico, at the Churubusco Azteca Studios. Gustavo Santaolalla, Marisa Monte, La Mala Rodríguez, Juan Son and Natalia Lafourcade participate.
21	June 23, 2010	Camila	MTV Unplugged de Camila	First MTV Unplugged made entirely by the MTV Tr3s chain. It was not edited on CD or DVD.
22	October 5, 2010	Zoé	MTV Unplugged/ Background Music	Adrian Dargelos, Denise Gutiérrez, Chetes and Enrique Bunbury participate.
23	October 6 of 2010	PXNDX	Panda MTV Unplugged	Special participation of the singer Denisse Guerrero, of the group Belanova.
24	February 8, 2011	The Northern Tigers	MTV Unplugged: The North Tigers and Friends	First MTV Unplugged made by a group of the Mexican regional genre. Paulina Rubio, Diego Torres, Andrés Calamaro, Zack De La Rocha, Juanes and Resident of Calle 13.
25	February 4 of 2012	Juanes	Juanes MTV Unplugged	Produced by Juan Luis Guerra for MTV Tr3s with the participation of Paula Fernandes and Joaquín Sabina.
26	June 3, 2014	Kinky	Kinky MTV Unplugged	Produced by Phil Vinall, with the participation of Voice of Mando, Beto Zapata of the Pesado Group, Carla Morrison and Los Recoditos.
27	June 5, 2014	Pepe Aguilar	Pepe Aguilar MTV Unplugged	First Unplugged gender Ranchera. Produced by Emmanuel del Real, who was also one of the guests. With the participation of her children, Angela Aguilar and Leonardo Aguilar. Miguel Bosé, Natalia Lafourcade, La Marisoul, of the group La Santa Cecilia, Melissa, Amandititita, Reyli Barba and Saul Hernández also participate.
28	September 1 of 2015	Enrique Bunbury	MTV Unplugged: The Book of Mutations	Draco Rosa, Vetusta Morla, Carla Morrison, Pepe Aguilar and León Larregui of Zoe participate.
29	May 12, 2016	Miguel Bosé	Bosé: MTV Unplugged	Sasha Sokol, Pablo Alborán, Marco Antonio Solís, Fonseca, Juanes, Benny Ibarra, Álex González and Sergio Vallín de Maná, Natalia Lafourcade and Ximena Sariñana.
30	June 15, 2017	Emmanuel	MTV Unplugged: With the naked soul	Recorded in the newly re-enacted Frontón Mexico. Nacho, his son Alexander Acha, Kinky, Ana Torroja, Julión Álvarez and Manuel Mijares participate.
31	April 12, 2018	Molotov	MTV Unplugged: The Desconecte	Money Mark and Ana Tijoux participate.
32	May 24, 2018	The Authentic Decadents	MTV Unplugged: National Party	Rubén Albarrán, Ulysses Bueno, Chaqueño Palavecino, La Bomba de Tiempo and Mon Laferte.
33	March 5, 2019	Café Tacuba	One second Unplugged MTV	First Latin American band to record a second Unplugged MTV, with which they celebrated 30 years of career. Catalina García, Gustavo Santaolalla and David Byrne participate.
34	December 17th, 2020	Fobia	Fobia MTV Unplugged	First Unplugged MTV without public in the study due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Annexed data

In 2008, the compilation album The Best of MTV Unplugged was released in a double CD + DVD format, with songs from some of the presentations carried out under this musical format and which included hitherto unpublished songs, by Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Maldita Vecindad y los Hijos del Quinto Patio and Aterciopelados, but excluding the participation corresponding to Illya Kuryaki and the Valderramas, adding instead an MTV Unplugged song by the Brazilian Lenine performed as a duet with the Mexican Julieta Venegas from who also did not include any selection from her album MTV Unplugged, despite the fact that its edition was prior to the moment that her compilation was published.

Artists like Babasónicos and Kudai were invited to participate in similar shows, but with other formats. Some artists had to wait ten years for their presentations to be released on CD and DVD, as was the case with El Tri and Café Tacuba.

The MTV Awards

Due to the success achieved by the television station throughout its first nine years, at the end of 2001 MTV Networks Latin America, supported by the management of MTV Networks, analyzed the possibility of creating its own and exclusive awards ceremony for the television station latin american. Previously, only one award representing the taste of the Latino population was given at the MTV Video Music Awards in the United States in the "Video of the Masses" category, later changed to "Video of the People" 3. 4;. However, as of 2002, the project analyzed from a year ago is carried out and thus, on October 24, 2002, the first awards ceremony called MTV Video Music Awards Latin America, or abbreviated as VMALA, takes place. Its first three editions were held in the US city of Miami. In 2005, after three editions delivered in Miami, the ceremony was planned to take place in a Latin American city whose potential participants were the city of Guadalajara and Playa del Carmen, both in Mexico. The winning venue was Xcaret Park in the city of Playa del Carmen, in Quintana Roo, Mexico. It would become the first time that the awards would be given in Latin America but, due to the ravages of Hurricane Wilma that hit Mexican beaches in October 2005 days before the awards ceremony, the production was forced to cancel the awards ceremony, the winners they were revealed on December 22 of the same year.

On October 19, 2006, the fourth official awards ceremony was held, with the Palacio de los Deportes, located in Mexico City, as the venue for the event. For said award, the name was changed to Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica. The 2007 ceremony was held on October 18 of the same year again at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City.

The 2008 ceremony was held again in Mexican territory in the city of Guadalajara. For its part, the 2009 ceremony was held from various cities in Latin America and the United States on October 15 of that year: Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and Los Angeles. These awards stopped being made since 2010, due to a decision by the network, since they later decided to bring the "MTV World Stage" event to Mexico, this as part of the celebration of the bicentennial of independence, and therefore Therefore, there was no budget to continue carrying out these awards or to carry out the MTV World Stage concerts, until finally in 2013 they were replaced by the MTV Millennial Awards.

MTV Millennial Awards

This ceremony replaced Los Premios MTV starting in 2013, broadcasting on the internet, but as of 2016 it began to be broadcast on the MTV channel in Latin America.

Digital projects

Mtvla.com

It is the official website of the television station. It was created in 1998 and has become the main link with viewers. The page has been criticized for being badly designed and not very accessible. Most of the comments that are displayed on the screen are received through the page in which information is also shared through the so-called forums. The same website has sub-alternate projects such as "Mercado Negro" in which you can see, listen to and sometimes download new multimedia material, such as music videos (only available for IPs in the United States), songs, protectors of screen, among others, on specific artists. All this legally through the contracts that MTV celebrates with various record companies.

MTV Revolution

In 2005, MTV Latin America entered into a contract with the Mexican telecommunications company Avantel, through which MTV Revolution is created as a secondary page of the television station's site. The project was launched for the first time on September 30, 2005 On said special website, material from the television station is published, such as music videos, episodes of some MTV series, news previews, reports, interviews, special concerts, live performances, among others. Avantel is part of the advertising both on the channel and on the website.

MTV Play

It was an application available for iOS and Android devices, which is part of the Viacom Play Plex project, in which the user can tune in to a live signal, as well as view on-demand content. At the time of its launch in Mexico in January 2016, it managed to reach first place in the Top Charts on the App Store. The app was officially discontinued on December 17, 2020 along with the Nickelodeon Play and Comedy Central Play apps and would use Paramount+ instead.

Social culture

In addition to having the characteristic television programs of the channel, MTV Latin America has produced and collaborated in the organization of other programs with themes that are not related to music, but with social and cultural aspects that involve Latin American youth. Some of these programs include topics on politics, sexually transmitted diseases, care for the environment, sexuality, among others.

Scream

In August 2003 Ilana Sod co-produced and participated in MTV's sexual awareness campaign Grita (winner of the first Promax 2004 award for best prosocial television ad).

Shout: We are 30 million

One month before the presidential elections in Mexico in 2006, from May 29 to June 2, MTV News broadcast the series Shout: We Are 30 Million as part of the prosocial effort of the channel to invite the political participation of young Mexicans in these elections. In this way, Ilana Sod was the journalist who allowed young Mexicans to ask each and every one of the candidates for the Presidency of the Republic directly. Sod interviewed and moderated the special programs Talks with Candidates for half an hour, every night each candidate (in alphabetical order of their last names) both for the MTV Mexico signal and later for MTV Tr3s, dedicated to Hispanics in the United States The dates of the interviews were in the following order:

• Felipe Calderón, Monday, May 29.
• Roberto Campa Cifrián, Tuesday, May 30th.
• Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Wednesday, May 31.
• Roberto Madrazo Pintado, Thursday, June 1.
• Dora Patricia Mercado Castro, Friday, June 2.

These interviews would become the only television program aimed at young Mexicans in which all the candidates for the presidency of Mexico were present.

Staying Alive

On November 27, 2004, the international signal of CNN and CNN en Español broadcast for the first time a co-production with MTV International for Staying Alive on the global HIV-AIDS epidemic. Days later, on World AIDS Day, all MTV channels globally premiered this 30-minute special that included investigations from the United States, Brazil, England, China, Russia, and Africa. Ilana Sod was in charge of reporting the situations in Mexico City, Bogotá and Buenos Aires.

Change Agents

From the beginning to the middle of 2007, MTV Latin America was dedicated to the production of the series of specials that the Government of Finland, through the Inter-American Development Bank, sponsored on MTV for the pro-social project "Agentes de Cambio" to which more than six thousand young people with development plans were registered. These documentaries were recorded in several countries of America such as Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, Colombia and Bolivia to record the capsules that were broadcast by this chain for 5 weeks starting on Saturday 7 July 2007, taking advantage of the broadcast of the Live Earth concert organized by Al Gore.

At the moment, Agentes de Cambio already has four documentary series after the first general campaign. The second documentary program dealt with Sports for Social Development, sponsored by Nike and recorded in Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Mexico and São Paulo. The third had Technological and Scientific Innovation as its theme, with OAS funds and recordings in Colombia, the United States and Israel. The most recent production was released prior to COP15 in Denmark, with the title "Making Switch" and covering actions to stop climate change from Argentina, the United States, France, Kenya and Mexico, which was recently recognized with the Silver Globe in the World Media Festival in Hamburg, Germany.

Audience

Most of the network's viewers are primarily audiences between the ages of 10 and 34. The largest age group that tunes in to the channel is 18 years old, although the majority of the audience is older than this age. 76% of viewers belong to the medium-high economic sector. Likewise, the channel has a large number of university viewers.

According to a study carried out by TGI Latina in 2004, MTV Latin America has an audience distributed in the following proportions:

• Men: 57%
• Women: 43%

Age distribution

• 18-24 years: 35%
• 10-17 years: 32%
• 25 to 34 years: 20%
• 35 years on: 13%

Survey of percentages of viewers per country in Latin America.

MTV Latin America is distributed throughout this region by cable and satellite television systems. Likewise, it has internal competitors within each of the countries such as MuchMusic, CM and Quiero música en mi idioma in Argentina, Telehit, Telehit Música and Exa TV in Mexico, Vía X and Zona Latina in Chile, Puma TV (until 2007 where it became Canal I) in Venezuela, HEI TV and Tigo Music in Paraguay and HTV at the Latin American level.

According to studies carried out by "Los Medios y Mercados de Latinoamérica" data on ages and viewers have been provided by country. Mexico has the highest percentage of viewers with 58%. Then follow Venezuela with 57%. Central America with 54%. Argentina and Chile with 50% and 49% respectively. Colombia owns 48% and finally, the remaining South American countries together accumulate 38%.

The signal is transmitted from the ViacomCBS Networks Americas operations base, located in Miami, USA. The signal is transmitted to the two feeds located throughout Latin America.

The signal counts, like most cable television stations, with closed caption decoding where applicable.

Criticism and controversies

MTV Latin America, like the other MTV channels around the world, have been one of the main television channels to receive criticism from their own viewers, especially in recent years. The indications are diverse; some of them, due to their nature, apply to all MTV channels, however there are some that are exclusively applicable to its headquarters in Latin America. Another detail is that unlike US MTV, certain videos and reality shows made in Latin America (especially in Mexico) are not censored against high-sounding words and scribbles.

One of the main accusations against MTV Latin America is based on the fact that it is supposedly a purely commercial channel whose video broadcasting is based on economic interests and not on audience requests. Due to its visibility as an advertising tool by music companies, MTV has been accused of being excessively commercial and belittling the importance of music in the music industry (replacing it solely with visual aesthetics), putting it at a public image disadvantage..

It has also recently received criticism for the fact that it broadcasts mostly series and reality shows (taking up a large part of the channel's daily programming), thus moving away from the primary concept for which the channel was created, which was to broadcast programming musical and referring to it. The constant and strong focus that has been given towards this concept has put the television station in constant comments and accusations against it. For its part, MTV has stated that the series and other similar programs include songs by contemporary artists in their soundtracks, such as the series Laguna Beach, which has caused great controversy among viewers for offer content completely removed from music. MTV points it out as a series in which background songs and background songs related to new trends are presented. However, the accusations have not stopped. This is demonstrated through the definitive cancellation of MTV's iconic music programs, since 2005, to the point that the channel no longer has music programs and videos, bringing with it a progressive decline in the channel's audience ratings in the Center feeds. and Sur, making its sister channel VH1 more popular than MTV.

On the other hand, he has been mentioned for disseminating and promoting inappropriate behavior among youth both in the videos and in the series. Some of these accusations are based on exposing content about sex, premature pregnancy, violence, drug use as something normal, celebrities drinking or smoking on a daily basis, domestic violence, among others.

In 2005, the campaign titled Don't Kill The Music, broadcast on television between November 2005 and early 2006, was recognized for trying to convey a message of awareness towards youth about music in general. In the same way, MTV Latin America has created various projects to support independent Latin American bands and artists whose project includes programs such as Alerta, Alerta Live, Nü música, and contests such as Adiós Garaje and MTV Rally that are held through the website lazona.com.

In February 2010, the television station announced that it would broadcast the episode "The Pinewood Derby" of the series South Park in which the president of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, was mocked. The episode was announced several days during the channel's programming and even in national newspapers. However, on the night of February 8, the day the episode was to be broadcast, MTV did not broadcast said chapter, and the episode was broadcast without any prior explanation. "The ring". Said event caused it to be the target of national media and even several Mexican viewers of the network who considered MTV as a product of the corruption and censorship that exists in Mexico, alluding to the fact that Calderón could have been responsible for the channel taking the decision not to air the episode, but ironically they aired it on March 22, 2010 at 10 p.m. m. for the rest of Latin America, so there were even some who said they were disappointed with the television station. The next day, Erick Zermeño, Senior Manager of Corporate Communication for MTV Networks Mexico, issued a statement stating that the episode was It had been censored, but it was not broadcast since it shows the Mexican flag as a national symbol and doing so would have meant a violation of the Law on the National Coat of Arms, Flag and Anthem. He explained that MTV requested permission from the Mexican authorities to use the flag, but until then it had not been granted, so they could not air the episode.