For the second 12 months in a row, the MTV Film & TV Awards present are on ice.
The choice follows final 12 months’s cancellation, which got here after the 2023 version pivoted to a pre-taped format when Drew Barrymore withdrew as host in solidarity with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike.
The newest pause comes as Paramount World — which owns CBS, Paramount Footage and cable networks resembling Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and MTV — undergoes vital restructuring forward of its anticipated merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media, a deal anticipated to shut within the first half of this 12 months, in response to the Hollywood Reporter.
As a part of that shake-up, a number of marquee awards exhibits, together with the MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) and the CMT Music Awards, have been shelved whereas the corporate reinvents its tentpole occasion technique.
A Nickelodeon spokesperson confirmed to Yahoo Leisure that the annual Youngsters’ Selection Awards within the U.S. will transfer ahead as deliberate, with an official date anticipated to be introduced “within the subsequent month or so.”
Whereas the Paramount-Skydance merger has been broadly cited as a driving power behind these choices, a giant query stays: What does the long run maintain for these awards, and are they susceptible to disappearing altogether?
Which awards exhibits are affected?
In a companywide memo despatched final month, Paramount president Bruce Gillmer framed the choice to cancel a number of awards exhibits as a part of a broader effort to “reimagine and optimize our occasions slate going ahead,” in response to the Hollywood Reporter.
Among the many exhibits underneath evaluate are:
The MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs)
Nickelodeon’s Youngsters’ Selection Awards Mexico
The MTV MIAWs (previously the MTV Millennial Awards), which honors Latin American music and youth tradition
Paramount’s highest-profile occasions — the Video Music Awards (VMAs) and the U.S. version of the Youngsters’ Selection Awards — stay unaffected, in response to the outlet.
Company merger or deeper issues?
Gillmer’s memo got here amid Paramount’s aggressive cost-cutting measures, which have reshaped the corporate over the previous 12 months.
In August 2024, Paramount introduced plans to slash its U.S. workforce by 15% in a bid to save lots of $500 million. That very same month, Selection reported that the corporate posted an enormous working loss, writing down $5.98 billion on the worth of its cable TV networks.
The primary spherical of layoffs quickly adopted, resulting in the closure of Paramount TV Studios and the departure of a number of high-profile executives. A second wave within the fall hit main divisions like CBS Information, with further restructuring anticipated because the merger progresses.
Yahoo Leisure contacted representatives at Paramount however have had no response.
Jelly Roll on the 2024 CMT Music Awards in Austin, Texas. (Taylor Hill/WireImage by way of Getty Photos)
Scores for MTV and CMT Awards
The MTV Film & TV Awards, which launched in 1992 as a celebration of blockbuster movies earlier than increasing to incorporate tv in 2017, is at present on indefinite pause.
The final reside occasion, in 2023, noticed a slight scores enhance, drawing 2 million viewers throughout varied platforms, up from 1.6 million in 2022, in response to the Wrap. The 2021 broadcast, hosted by Leslie Jones, introduced in 1.3 million viewers. In 2020, the occasion was canceled because of the pandemic and changed with a Best of All Time particular hosted by Vanessa Hudgens.
As of now, there aren’t any plans to convey the present again or to formally retire it, in response to a number of retailers.
Equally, the CMT Music Awards have additionally been positioned on maintain as Paramount reassesses its awards present technique.
Nevertheless, in contrast to MTV’s present, the CMTs have remained a powerful scores performer. The 2024 broadcast drew 5.38 million viewers on CBS, following 5.43 million in 2023 and 5.16 million in 2022, in response to Selection.
What this implies for future exhibits
Paramount isn’t scrapping all of its awards franchises, together with the VMAs, which drew greater than 4 million viewers final 12 months.
Nevertheless, as the corporate navigates its merger with Skydance and seeks to chop prices, it’s unclear whether or not the awards exhibits will return of their earlier kind. Whether or not that’s as a result of monetary necessity or just a case of reimagining its method stays to be seen.
