ABSTRACT
Music Television (MTV)'s premiere in 1981 sparked public fascination with music video and was considered partially responsible for a resurgence of the record business in the mid-1980s, which had undergone a prolonged recession. MTV responded to this burgeoning diversity of music programming by adopting anticompetitive policies to undermine these new services and regain monopoly control over the market for music video programming. In June 1984, MTV announced that it had reached agreements with four major record companies: CBS, RCA, MCA, and Geffen. Official information about the MTV agreements is limited because MTV and the record companies were unwilling to discuss the pacts' terms, most likely due to confidentiality clauses. MTV's parent company, Viacom, practices the vertical integration both through contract and common ownership throughout its various subsidiaries. MTV and the major labels continually reevaluate their commitment to these exclusivity agreements as the pacts expire and are considered for renewal.
