What next for music on TV? As outlets for music on TV have multiplied, life has become increasingly difficult for pure music shows--and debate continues about the way forward.(TOTP news special)

In a multi-channel environment, television has long since faced the reality that few individual shows can achieve the 10m- or 20m-plus audience figures they once did.

TOTP--a pop music show competing against the power of more than 20 music-focused channels among other, terrestrial, competitors--has simply failed to adjust to that transition.

While MTV'S wide range of music channels and Emap's own stable have helped build more than 20 UK music channels, music is everywhere in the terrestrial world too.

Channel 4 regularly broadcasts video exclusives--including clips from Pink, Madonna, Goldfrapp, Keane and others--in its occasional late-night slot, as do weekend shows such as ITV's Popworld and C4's T4, while Parkinson, Jonathan Ross and daytime programmes hosted by Paul O'Grady, Des & Mel and Richard & Judy routinely offer music.

And that is without factoring in the various broadcasts from festivals --ranging from Isle Of Wight or V to Carling Live 24--new-format series such as the T-Mobile-sponsored Transmission or the Orange Playlist and the likes of Pop Idol and X-Factor.

In such an environment, Top Of The Pops--shifted from pillar to post in the schedules--effectively lost its essential nature. It has simply been left behind by the onward development of music TV.

The concept of a basic chart show--which, for all its revamps, has remained rooted to the same chart-based format it has offered for more than 40 years--simply lost its lustre, suggests Martin Lowde. The CEO of Popworld--which produces T4's music show of the same name--says, "I don't think that the charts have the same prestige that they once did.