MTV (originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American pay television channel owned by Viacom Media Networks (a division of Viacom) and headquartered in New York City. Launched on August 1, 1981 the channel originally aired music videos as guided by television personalities known as “video jockeys” (VJs). At first, MTV’s main target demographic was young adults, but today, it is primarily teenagers, particularly high school and college students.