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 (
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. 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|[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. 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 of channel in New Zealand 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.
Revival On 1 July 2020, the channel returned to
Foxtel channel 801, taking the slot of
Channel [V] and replacing
MTV Music, alongside
Fetch TV and
Sky (New Zealand). On 1 August 2023, MTV Hits was replaced by the European version in Australia, sharing the same schedule but 9 hours ahead. New Zealand retained the local version until early September. ==Programming==