Established.....

MTV's roots can be traced back to 1977, when Warner Amex Cable, a joint venture between Warner Communications and American Express, launched the first two-way interactive cable TV system, Qube, in Columbus, Ohio. The Qube system offered many specialised channels, including Sight On Sound, a music channel that featured concert footage and music oriented TV programmes. The popularity of the channel on the Qube system prompted Warner Amex to market the channel nationally to other cable services. MTV was founded on August 1 1981 as an operation of MTV Networks. It became available in most of the United States in the mid-Eighties with the nationwide expansion of cable. From its beginnings, MTV grew to be an outlet for a variety of different materials aimed at adolescents and young adults, and in 1984, the network successfully produced its first MTV Video Music Awards show. In 1992 it added a movie award show which proved to have a similar impact. MTV was subsequently acquired by Viacom Inc. in 1985, becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary.